Governor Maggie Hassan and her crony capitalist agenda have failed the people of New Hampshire. It’s time for a new approach to governance and, at the same time, a return to the principles of limited, accountable government that once made New Hampshire special.
I’m running for Governor because I want to see my children grow up in a New Hampshire where Granite Staters are free to live their own lives, spend and invest their own hard-earned dollars and, ultimately, to pursue happiness in their own unique ways.
That, for the most part, is the New Hampshire I grew up in. Today, now that my wife Katie and I are raising our own two children (with a third on the way), I realize just how incredibly lucky I was to have been born into a culture that values individual freedom and expects personal responsibility.
That’s the New Hampshire I want to preserve for future generations. But today, after a decade of Democratic Governor’s, some of our state’s cherished advantages have eroded significantly.
New Hampshire is still a wonderful place to live, but our economy is not bouncing back from the recession the way it should and hardworking Granite Staters are still struggling. By adopting a few innovative reforms to New Hampshire’s clunky system of collecting business taxes, as I have proposed, we could dramatically improve the climate for small business and stimulate job creation. Sadly, the current administration has preferred to foster crony capitalism while at the same time making things more difficult for small businesses.
I have been running a positive campaign focused on solutions. However, I’ve recognized that none of the solutions I’m talking about can be implemented unless voters recognize the failures of the Hassan Administration and become motivated to take corrective action. Accordingly, here are four compelling reasons New Hampshire voters should fire Maggie Hassan:
—If state government was run like a business, Hassan would likely have been fired the day she presented her first budget, which included $80 million in licensing revenue from an industry — casino gambling — that isn’t even legal in our state. Presenting a budget proposal is one of the most important aspects of the chief executive’s job, and under Hassan’s Administration this critical process has been badly mismanaged.
—Hassan’s plan to bring a Vegas-style casino to New Hampshire reeks of crony capitalism. The House appropriately rejected these proposals in 2013 and 2014. Will the House have to waste its energy fighting the Governor’s Office on this issue yet again in 2015 and 2016? I have proposed a very different plan — one that would expand charity gaming in a manner that is consistent with New Hampshire values. Instead of granting a monopoly to an out-of-state corporation, my plan would empower local charities to raise additional millions of dollars for a variety of worthy causes. But will this plan be considered? If Hassan is elected to a second term, we can probably expect yet another effort to reward the gaming interests who have contributed to her campaign.
—Hassan’s top-down, “cronyistic” approach is also evident in many other spheres, notably education. Rather than supporting school choice and educational freedom for lower and middle income families, she tried to get New Hampshire’s school choice law killed in the legislature.
Then, when the repeal effort failed, Hassan supported a lawsuit that dramatically restricted the program. As a result, in most cases, only New Hampshire’s wealthiest families can afford to choose the best educational plan available for their children.
—For many years, gas tax revenues have been diverted away from what ought to be their purpose: repairing New Hampshire’s roads and bridges. Instead of insisting that government agencies set their budget priorities appropriately, Hassan pushed for an unpopular hike in the gas tax. As a result, hardworking Granite Staters now have to pay more every time they stop for fuel.
Crony capitalism and big government are the status quo in many states, and Maggie Hassan is working to make them the status quo in New Hampshire as well. For this, she certainly deserves to be fired.
The good news is that we can do better. By returning to the principles of freedom, limited government, and personal responsibility, we can create an environment where small and medium-sized New Hampshire businesses can flourish and make the most of 21st Century technology and ideas. But first we need to acknowledge that Governor Hassan and her crony capitalist agenda is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Andrew Hemingway unfolded his candidacy for the good subscribers of Foster's Daily Democrat over the weekend:
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