YOUR COMMENTS

Hmmm, Gov. Lynch's state government has a rating according to Pew Research as the least efficient in the country (that's last out of 50 states, folks), and some people are happy that he may get another 2 years?
- judy paris, bradford

Mayor Guinta would have been a great candidate, just look at the coverage he gets when he decides not to run. Rock star status in the GOP ranks. The problem is he is one of few stars. He is one of the few real tax fighters. He is one of the few real communicators. He is one of the few leaders. Our party better wake up and grow a bench. Otherwise we will constantly rely on good people to make bad decisions to save us. I am not a strategist but that doesn’t seem like a good formula.
- Carl R., Nashua

I would like Mayor Guinta have the city delisted as a port of immigration. Let Concord or Portsmouth take it over. I am so done with having to pay for 'English as a Second Language' in the Manchester School District and all the support services that the city is required to provide.

Guess what? We're getting a Lowe's Warehouse on Huse Rd where Harvey Industries used to be. More retail jobs versus quality industrial jobs - this helps Manchester’s potential double-digit tax hike how? We need more aldermen who do the math in advance and bring a calculator to the Manchester Board of Aldermen (BoA) meetings to dispute facts and figures that are presented to the board.

The BoA is peopled by too many retirees who are less interested in the long term needs of the city and are more interested in the pay-as-you-go plan and politics de jour. The city is being run into the ground with their short-sightedness. I’m ready to ask former mayor Ray Wiezcorek to run again for the office of mayor. As much as I disagree with Mr. Wiezcorek, I respect him for sticking to his principles and not surrendering to the whims of the BoA.

Manchester’s mayors for the next decade won't have agendas because their job will be repairing the damage done to the city. Why do you think all of Manchester’s most important department heads are retiring? The city won’t right itself until the school district reverts to a department of the city and we have a mayor who won’t roll over for the BoA.

Pat C in Concord, after 10+ years I'm tired of paying for it all. Take the port of immigration, ESL and the mandates that go with it from me, please. Have you ever thought about what would happen to this state if the City of Manchester, NH filed for bankruptcy? Contemplate that for a while.
- Dave, Manchester, NH

Tell the people in Claremont who were laid off how great John Sununu is. He cast the deciding vote to prevent them from getting an additional 12 weeks of unemployment but he wants to give tax breaks to the investors who closed the business. John Lynch has been fighting to get those people every benefit possible to help them get back on there feet.
- scott stuiut, plymouth

I'm sure it was a difficult decision. Mayor Guinta deserves credit for giving the idea full consideration. He deserves respect for the public service he is currently providing as mayor of Manchester. I wish him well.
- David Mirsky, Exeter

Thomas in Manchester, you say cut cut cut.. . Cut where? What do you suppose to cut? Have you ever had to listen to the need for services, have you ever had to tell people that they cannot have a firestation with the right staffing in their neighborhood, or a cop with the right equipment or a teacher with the right books, and on and on and on. You people who say cut cut cut cut.. want the services and dont want to pay for them Services COST MONEY! Simple as that. Are you going to tell a cop or a firefighter or a teacher or a trash hauler that he cant make enough to put food on his kids table and have them participate in the league sports because they cant afford cleats or a glove or a pair of skates. Stop expecting services or stop whining about how much things cost. Its how life is! Get a grip.
- Pat C, Concord

Very disappointed. Was looking forward to working on Frank's campaign and defeating Lynch.
I agree with William Smith: Guinta was our best chance to date.
After hearing what McCain had to say today we need John E. Sununu and a good candidate for governor taking on Lynch to bring conservatives to the polls in November.
Niel Young
Laconia
- Niel Young, Laconia

"It must be hard when you’re judged on shortcomings by a liberal media."

'liberal media' (gasp) (snort)(guffaw)
In Manchester? hahahaha, good one :)

What a hoot! That is easily the funniest quote of the day :)

Thanks for the laugh DL!
- Tom, Candia

Mayor Guinta needs to show this Manchester taxpayer that he can cut,, and when he is done,, cut some more and when he is done with that cutting ,, cut some more... and then he can go run for governor. As for Lynch, he is a do nothing liberal who will ruin NH unless someone comes along to stop him. In my lifetime, I have never seen a governor who is such a phony as Lynch.
He talks a good line, as if he cares about the average NH citizen then he gives away the bank to overpaid, underworked NH state employees. He is dangerous, and I am hoping to vote for someone who will beat him.
- thomas, manchester, nh

Some other reason will eventually come out for Guinta's change of heart. However, not running is a smart political move. Bet all your money he did one of his numerous private polls and the poll showed him getting less than 35% against Lynch, which if he did only get that amount his career would be over in an instant. Also, the Scannell matter and the fact that Drew Cline gave him a bit of slap in the head in his Friday editorial really hurt Guinta's sensitive nerves. Again, this is purely a political move but also a smart move for Guinta (and the advice I gave him a long time ago). Now Guinta will be on his knees praying Shea-Porter wins against Bradley or Stephen because that's the seat Guinta really covets.
- joekelly, manchester

I wish he were running for Governor. Now we are stuck with Lynch for another two years. I am happy he will stay in Manchester as mayor and save our city from the spend happy aldermen.

Furthermore, you Democrats are so two faced. You criticize Guinta for considering a Governor run because his priority should be to Manchester. Then when he makes a good decision to stay in Manchester, especially with how badly Manchester needs him right now, you again slam him for making the desicion you said he should have in the first place. Unbelievable, simply unbelievable.
- Kory Wood, Manchester, NH

"or that you're just burned because he disagrees with having school officials advocate illegal drug use?"

How do you get "advocate illegal drug use"?

Did someone say it was OK for kids to do drugs?

I must have missed that.
- Zizzy, Manchester

Thumbs up to Guinta, for working hard everyday. It must be hard when you’re judged on shortcomings by a liberal media. It’s too bad there aren’t more people like you living in Southern NH, and in America. People willing to work hard to put food on the table and don’t expect others to bail them out of their own personal and financial problems. I fear for people living in this country like you and I, morals and ethics have been shattered by political correctness and a “gimme” attitude. I hope you do run for governor in the future, and win. But, I think your right, the timing is off. It’ll take a depression for these naive or immoral liberals to understand small government structure.
- DL, Manchester, NH

Let's see... What were some of Mayor Guinta's accomplishments as Mayor of Manchester?

He closed down Club Omega, only finishing what the previous mayor started.

Closed down Club Envy by blaming them for everything that happened anywhere near their building, and for cars in the nearby parking lot from Conn. and NY. Would the Mayor of Boston close clubs or any business for attracting people from other states? Of course not.

Then closing down the Convention and Visitors Bureau and causing the city to lose out on all the potential business, all to save like $250K. It takes years of work to get each convention into town. We can attach a lot of blame on the Aldermen for this short sighted deed.

Approving the renaming of the the airport to Manchester (dot) Boston Regional Airport. How much business and new flights has this attracted? Zero. I work down near Boston and, believe me, Boston has no interest in being associated with Manchester or it's airport. Indeed the signs on I-93 indicate "Concord". Mr Mayor and Mr. Governor, why is that? How did that get approved? Also you gotta love that big black dot in the airport name on their Web site - fakes out some search engines to call it just "Boston Regional Airport". Again, was that by design?

The Mayor did not show up to any meetings to discuss the implementation of academies at West High School, but instead blasted the committee members for apparent lack of progress, when indeed tremendous progress had been made.

The city was an embarrassing mess during the NH Primary when we were getting national and international attention. There was garbage all over. I know there was a lot of snow, but they did little to clear the streets and sidewalks.

He has done no noticeable economic development. The Hackett Road business park is underfunded and thus cannot really build the necessary infrastructure to quickly.

Can you think of one time that the mayor went to bat for better highways in the region, better health care (e.g. stop sending all the difficult cases to Boston on Dartmouth), better telecommunications (e.g. fiber), more TV station licenses, anything????

The only positives are the plans to rejuvenate the neighborhoods. Kudos for starting on the long neglected West Side.

I could go on and on. All he worries about is the budget and consolidating departments when we need him to spend more time on job creation, economic development, transportation, education, and public safety. If there was more economic activity in Manchester, and more people working there, then this downturn would not be as difficult.

With a record like this, can you imagine if he was Governor? He clearly does not understand executive priorities.
- Bob S., Hooksett

Just curious... what don't you guys like about him? Is it that he's a republican (and you're not, so you automatically disagree and pre-judge)... is it that he's a seemingly loyal employee, or that you're just burned because he disagrees with having school officials advocate illegal drug use?
- Elizabeth, Salem

Has anyone else noticed that most of the people that approve of Guinta do not live in Manchester?
- Randy Cobleigh, Manchester

Guinta would have no chance of beating Gov. Lynch. Not only has Gov. Lynch done an excellent job, he is well liked and very personable. On the other hand Mayor Guinta has spent all his time back Rudy and running the city into the ground. Maybe Mayor Guinta can move to Mass and help them out.
- Steven Fanjoy, Manchester

Thank you Mayor Guinta for sticking up for the Manchester taxpayers once again.
- Mike D, Manchester

We are doomed, two more years of John Lynch.
- Mark, Manchester

The city's loss and the state's gain
- Leah, Manchester, NH

I like how it took Mr Guinta 2 months to realize he needs to fulfill his commitment to the city. Classy
- Mike L, manchester

Thank goodness,I would hate to leave NH beause I already want to move from Manchester already.I LOVE NH,THANK YOU GUINTA,your a terrible Mayor and my taxes already make our lives in the city even worse!!!!THE CRIME ALSO IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!!
- karen shutt, manchester

I am quite dissapointed in the Mayor's decision from a perspective of someone who lives in Laconia. However I think he is doing the right thing and I can't fault him for that.
- Steve, Laconia

Well, say hello to two more years of John Lynch if that's the case. Guinta was the best choice to go up against him.

With Lynch's out of control spending and his do-nothing administration he should be run out of Concord on a rail.
- William Smith, Manchester, NH

Very unselfish thing for him to do.
- Roger, Manchester

Smart move. Brilliant.

Lynch is a popular governor who will probably run against Judd Gregg for US Senate in 2010 creating an open seat for Governor in 2010. Lynch is too popular to be beat. The veto on the ganga bill makes him very independent from his party.

Meanwhile, back in Manchester, he makes the tough, unpopular decisions of cutting the budget as Mayor of New Hampshire's largest city, keeping the tax rate flat or throwing a nominal cut back to the taxpayers in a stagnate, recessionary economy. People in Manchester will respect that. (Aside, the decision not to run makes his request for Scannell's resignation more ingenuous and honest, quite frankly.) It will be a tough fight, though, with a heavily Democratic board.

He will successfully win a 3rd term because the Manchester Democrats are in such disarray that they have no farm team capable of challenging Guinta on the debate level, let alone raising enough bank to be competative in the mayoral election. Seriously, the question has always been a question of when for Alderman Mike Lopez and Alderman Dan O'Neil. They have had 2 bites of the apple and decided they liked being Alderman. Outside of them, who else do they have?

It's the smart move for the Mayor.
- Will, Merrimack

I'm actually disappointed that he won't be running, although I am prepared to vote for anyone but Lynch so I guess it doesn't matter much in the end.

As for those complaining about Guinta and the double digit tax increase, I certainly hope you're also prepared to vote out your incumbent Alderman who should shoulder as much of the blame if not more.
- Mike E, Manchester, NH

I wouldn't vote for him even if he did run. He's had far too many controversies that don't run in his favor - the latest one was asking a state rep to resign from his position with Manchester schools because the rep voted for the decriminalization of marijuana last week. Guinta would rather remove people that disagree with him than work with them and try to see their point of view. He's not someone I'd vote into any public office.
- C, Manchester

Interesting how folks are so quick to judge once taxes go up, but fail to commend the mayor for his work to keep them as low as possible, and passing the first tax cut in 10 years last year. Do not be quick to blame the mayor for the economic hardships driving up this years taxes, perhaps we should look towards Concord as a macrocosm of deficit spending. Not to mention a recessing national economy.

Joe, it's simply naive to suggest that Guinta's decision to not run is based off of his calling for Scannell's resignation, grow up Peter Pan.

Although Guinta would have done the Republicans in NH a service by contending against Lynch, we cannot fault him for fulfilling his duty to the people of Manchester.
- Leon P, Manchester

please, please, please, let him be gone already. And Governor?? I would definately move out of this state.
- CB, Manchester

He can't run the city of manchester, let alone a whole state.
- Bill, Manchester, NH

So Mayor Guinta finally realized that he would never get elected as Governor if he left the city with double digit tax increases.
- Jeff Comeau, Manchester

And I thought Frank Guinta wasn't going to run because he was to busy asking for peoples resignations who didn't agree with him or vote the way he wanted them to vote.
- Joe, Nashua

Apparently the Mayor realized that he is at the helm of the sinking ship. The mayor is the captain and would have to go down with the ship as he failed to steer clear of the huge economic iceberg that he was well aware of.
Stay tuned as we hear from the Mayor on how it wasn't his fault that he struck double digit tax increase icebergs.
- Norman R. Gill, Hooksett, NH

Great, if the mayor is not going to be running for governor, what are all the pothole people going to complain about?
- Dan, Nashua

Smart move but he won't be mayor in manchester much longer either.
- Mike, manchester