New Hampshire Doesn't Need Another Ideologue in Concord

   The gubernatorial primary season has finally begun in earnest here in New Hampshire. And the major players aspiring to win Democrat John Lynch’s governor’s seat on November 6 offer especially sharp ideological contrasts, which is certainly to be expected considering Concord’s dismal record in the past 1.5 years, mainly due to the Republican Tea Party takeover of the House of Representatives. Plenty has been written during this period detailing the draconian 2011-2012 budget that has eviscerated our schools, hospitals, elderly services, etc., mainly orchestrated by House Speaker Bill O’Brien. And likely GOP candidate Ovide Lamontagne is unfortunately for voters of BOTH sides of the aisle cut from the same cloth as O’Brien and his team of anti-compromise zealots.

   John Lynch was the first New Hampshire governor to win four straight two-year terms, a testament to the outstanding job he’s done in good times and bad since January 2005. Possibly his major intrinsic attribute has been his ability to reach across the aisle to pass many bipartisan initiatives over those years that kept the Granite State afloat even during the economic downturn of 2007 to 2010 while many other states foundered. His list of positive legislation over this period is prodigious, encompassing cutting state spending while keeping essential services solvent during the downturn, passing America’s toughest child sexual predator laws, lowering small-business costs for acquiring employee health insurance, increasing state assistance to our schools and colleges giving New Hampshire one of the nation’s highest graduation rates, attracting many new jobs through tax credits in our North Country, increasing the size of our police force: a formidable list. And this legislation led to many years of favorable national commendations, with the Granite State being recognized as America’s "Safest State/Best State to Raise Your Family/Most Livable State", etc. annually throughout most of his administration. And all this was accomplished without adding a state sales tax or instituting a broad-based income tax, truly an amazing fiscal achievement.

   One would think that Republican challenger Lamontagne would at least give lip service approval of Lynch’s enviable and successful tenure, while at the same time outlining areas that he would deviate from (i.e. the medical marijuana issue), for normal political differentiation. Lamontagne did run an intelligent, issues-oriented Senate campaign two years ago against Kelly Ayotte, it should be remembered, nearly pulling off a big upset. But confrontational politics even against an outgoing predecessor seems the only way to go in the aftermath of the 2010 election, with even thoughtful centrist Republicans having to tow the line for risk of angering the numbers of ultra-conservative Tea Party majorities in our House and Senate that have severely weakened our state’s prosperity that we enjoyed for years.

   So we have Lamontagne declaring that he plans to be a "radically different" governor than Lynch if elected, although any rational person would have to wonder why any "radical" change would have to occur, at least from the governor’s seat, after Lynch’s six successful years before the GOP takeover last year. Until then we had been a national model on how to run a state and deliver necessary services and safety nets, all with America’s lowest state tax bite.

   And then there’s Lamontagne disingenuously (and ridiculously) blaming Lynch with his infamous "lack of leadership" diatribe for the ugly state budget passed by O’Brien last July that has wrecked the very fabric of New Hampshire. Lynch fought tooth and nail against the 48 percent cuts to our state colleges, huge slashes to hospital funding that caused the termination of federal matching money and the loss of almost 2000 jobs in our medical community, and the reduction in nursing home and youth services forced by the $10.3 billion budget. Due to the wide Senate and House majorities this fiscal joke passed by a veto-proof margin, with Lynch refusing to sign it. Ovide Lamontagne blaming Lynch for the carnage caused by these legislators is a canard of the first order.

   Other position points championed by Lamontagne that New Hampshire voters had better get on board with before November include cutting state Medicare benefits, rolling back all abortion rights except when the mother’s life is endangered, ending the newly-passed marriage equality law, and continuing New Hampshire’s firearms purchase-and-carry statutes that are now among the country’s laxest. In general, we’re talking about a candidate who would serve as Bill O’Brien’s rubber stamp in Concord, leaving our state without the buffer that Lynch is currently serving as against even more radical change and fiscal destruction.

   A governor that New Hampshire cannot afford.