Big Week Ahead

By on January 1, 2013 in

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A big week ahead as Governor Elect Maggie Hassan drops the “Elect” from her title and becomes simply Governor Hassan.

The more I hear and see the Gov. Elect speak the more excited I am for her potential as our Governor. I think she will be every bit the leader that John Lynch has been and may well be able to exceed his legacy on several fronts.

The week ahead

  • Thursday 12:00 P.M.:Margaret Wood Hassan Sworn in as Governor of the State of NH. Hassan will be the first Democrat to follow another Democrat into the NH Governor’s Office since 1851!
  • Thursday: As part of the same proceedings- Deborah Pignatelli, Chris Pappas, Colin Van Ostern will be sworn in as Executive Councilors. These three pragmatic problem solvers form the majority on the Executive Council. (At this point all seats for the inauguration have been reserved)
  • Thursday 4:30- 6:30: “Open State House”. Senate Chambers, Reps Hall and Council Chambers open for public viewing with a wide variety of activities for people of all ages- More info on Facebook. I’m going to try to bring the kids over to this.
  • Friday 6:00pm: Inaugural Ball in Manchester (a North County Ball will be held on Jan 11 at the Mount Washington Hotel)

This is the kick off to what will be a great 2 years for New Hampshire, its people, businesses, and natural resources. With great people in place and focused results-oriented legislation, Democrats will not only be able to start to undo some of the most odorous legislation of the past two years, but will set us up well for additional Democratic gains in 2014.

About Mike Hoefer

Mike has been an active member of Blue Hampshire from the early days, and currently serves as the managing editor.
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  • JonnyBBad
  • unhhockey

    I was very concerned last year when Gov. Lynch decided not to run for a fifth term. I will miss him very much, but I’m so excited to have Maggie taking his place.

  • xteeth

    all the critical stuff we want from our government. We are paying the lowest taxes of any generation back to Truman and yet we want all this stuff. It has to be paid for. New Hampshire is second or so from the bottom for the amount of tax burden on our residence. Republicants prefer pulling the monetary rabbit out of the hat. I think taxes are a better bet. But still, party on.
    “You’ve got to fight, for the right, to paaaaaarrrrteeeeeeeee.”

  • BradleyJardis

    I think the Governor-elect will be a ally on many social issues we support.  (ie: gay marriage, medical marijuana)

    Even if she disagrees, she’s very professional.  

    Should be an exciting 2-years!

  • tchair

    Xteeth says ” We are paying the lowest taxes of any generation back to Truman “

    This is only true as a % of income! Remember NH is 6th in per capita income so if you are of average income there is no low tax! NH ranks 35th or so in percapita taxes when you add the highest prop tax in !

    THE BIG ISSUE IS HOW ARE WE GOING TO LOWER THE PROP TAX BURDEN  
    UNTIL WE DO THIS WE WILL CONTINUE TO STARVE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM AND WILL CONTINUE TO DRIVE OUR YOUTH TO LIVE IN OTHER STATES

    • xteeth

      I’m pretty sure that this is what makes it an income tax or it would if we had one. And then on top of that, NH residents pay somewhere near the bottom of the amounts that people pay in other states – I take this responder to have found that we are 35th in that regard out of 50. I thought it was even lower, right next to Alaska. We, of course, continue not to have an income tax in the normal sense – but with many seniors, income comes from investment and that is taxed in a flat rate (regressive) way.
      There are two sources of disagreement on this subject. I take it as agreed that we pay some of the lowest taxes in the country however you compute the tax rate. The problem is two things.

      First, we don’t pay enough in total to pay for the things that we evidently want. Thus education, infrastructure etc. are starved, in general on the backs of teachers and government employees as we steal from their retirement etc. and don’t pay for the level of competence that they have compared to the private sector.
      Second, because of the relative greater amount of taxes collected based upon property, this hurts particularly seniors and those less able to produce the cash necessary for those tax burdens.

      Even if the Second one is altered into some more equitable system, it is still the case that in absolute amounts we don’t produce enough revenue to pay for the things we seem to want the government to produce and continue to have no means to accomplish this funding.

      • tchair

        NH is 47th in per capita state spending in one of the most expensive places to run a state . Our prop taxes are 3rd highest per cap….but NJ and CT have major circuit breakers for those of low income (something NH doesn’t have)making NH the highest prop taxes in the nation !  Something that needs to be addressed is what do you get for your prop tax dollar. Where I live I get nothing for a 9k tax bill that I wouldn’t get if I lived on my neighbors land in a tent !Of the 8 northeastern states (NY and NJ added) NH is 8th in percap student spending and that is why many NH students go away to college……and stay away!

  • Ray Buckley

    In NH the Governor’s title is more than simply governor, it’s Her Excellency Governor Margaret Wood Hassan.  

  • JonnyBBad
    • JonnyBBad