YOUR COMMENTS

You made a lot of good points. NH is clearly a special state, it is the Live Free or Die state, after all.

However, you were not correct about the "Democratic majorities in our Legislature passed a responsible budget." In fact, the most recent budget was another but responsible. It called for taking $110,000,000 that is didn't control to fill holes that it created. Now, the state government has no idea what to do. Hopefully this massive spending increase will be cut a little so that they government doesn't have to be shut down.
- Keith, Keene

Conservative Republican principles are what built this state - read your history! The Democrats have only controlled the NH House of Representatives once since the Civil War. They just took control in 2006. Liberal Democrat policies are not what made this state the place everyone wants to move to over these last 50 plus years - quite the opposite! The NH Democrats are the people who want to make us just like Massachusetts and 49 other states! They want more spending, income and sales taxes, more laws ordering people to do this or that, social engineering, redefining marriage, nanny state laws, etc. I look forward to November 2010 because this awful agenda of ruining New Hampshire will come to a end and we will elect new leadership that honors rather than rejects our heritage! A breath of fresh air!
- Bill, Brookline

If the GOP is so dead in NH why oh why are the Democrats seemingly on the defensive everytime you turn around. If the people are truly in their pockets you wouldd think they would not need to respond to every GOP OP-ED. What I think MS. Sullivan and the rest of the NH Dems have reralized without Bush as a easy whipping boy they may see their recent electoral victories harder to come by(of course when you can bus in SEIU members and let out of state college kids vote it helps too). Maybe the GOP is dead but it seems that NH has started to shift back to it's more Libertarian roots. But hey our state motto is mena spirited or something.
- Brian, Wakefield

Thanks Kathy I couldnt agree with you more.In the 55 years that I have lived in this beatuiful state I have seen us change from a right wing bastion for consevative wingnuts to a state that is inclusive and caring about ALL of its citizens.The southern tier of the state finally put the wood to all of the bozos from the woods that held sway in Concord for years..Thanks
- Duncan leary, bedford

Once again Kathy...YOU GO GIRL! Obviously the reasonable majority agrees with you or your party wouldn't be in clear control. I luv this state more and more each day with each new legislative revelation.

Greg Barrett
- Greg Barrett, Manchester

Ask the "murdered" unborn and their offspring and successive generations if they're better off? We have the woman's right to choose murder of the completely helpless and innocent bc some female can't be inconvenienced for 9 mos. and give the baby to somebody who loves life instead of someone who's selfish and self-absorbed into thinking she's too special and important to carry human life just now and decides to commit murder instead and, yeah, that's better off for her; well, at least temporarily until she suffers the emotional and spriritual trauma that always eventually comes from killing another (especially completely helpless) human being. She's probably like most hypocrits though and can't stand the thought of war dead or war and is all for "peace".....but murdering the innocent is really no big deal, eh?
- Judy, Bradford

Annie,

I too was infuriated that the UL would waste good paper printing this drivel, but I've come to realize (hopefully), that by printing her rants she is shoring up votes for a CONSERVATIVE candidate.

Live Free or Die!
- DF, Candia

I pay to have the UL delivered to home and it makes me very angry when Sullivan is repeatedly given half a page, a full page space in the paper for free. Her opinion isn't what I am buying the paper for. Her facts aren't facts and it is too bad someone at the paper doesn't write a rebuttle that is printed the same day as her crap.
The Concord Monitor wouldn't give that kind of space to any conservative writer.

Get smart and just don't print her stuff or at least cut it down (edit) to a letter's size.
- Annie, Henniker

Well Kathy, I guess comments are not really stacking up in your favor. LOL.

People do NOT think NH is better off BECAUSE of people like you running it, for all the reasons stated which I won't repeat.

Too bad the rest of us can't harbor illegal voters and get away with it, eh?
- Sue, Manchester

Ed in Londonderry or Jake in Manchester I see no mention of the higher taxes on our registrations. Or the higher meals tax that now also includes camp gounds. The continuing tax increase on tobacco that does nothing to eradicate this deadly habit and in fact it is hoped that more will buy it to get more revenue. I see nothing about the higher tolls or the higher boat registrations. I think you better check out what the "education funding" situation is before you say it is "fully" mandated. I am sure there are many communities that will differ with that. As for healthcare mandates? Maybe some other legislation passed that I don't know about but there is no mandated "healthcare" in this state unless it is for certain groups, certainly not for all our citizens. Get a grip on reality and tell the WHOLE story!!
- Bill B., Pelham

Ms Sullivan is partially correct. NH is better off because of the 1997 implementation of a statewide property tax which gave key relief to property poor towns. Jeanne Shaheen and moderates in the GOP legislature deserve credit for that. Senator please do not fall off of your chair for my having given you a compliment. You legitimately earned it.

Mr Sununu cannot revive the GOP until he ,and they , become willing to look at sound tax policy.This means choosing either gaming, a sales tax, or an income tax. Personally, I prefer choice and to avoid taxing labor and by extension earnings. Thus, an income tax is a bad idea.
- paul needham, derry nh

Sununu is right about one thing- the climate change crisis is a manufactured money grab. Look at Sullivan parroting Al Gore- "carbon dioxide is a pollutant" what a moron.
- Ed, Derry

Ms Sullivan, the historical record is pretty clear on the issue of Spending and Shaheen and Lynch's have been about as "Frugal" and "Responsible" with money as the Democrat Controlled US Congress has been since 2006.....30% increase in NH Spending since 2006 has to end.

Lets look at another brainstorm idea of the dems.....raising taxes and fees in the midst of rising unemployment....not particularly bright.

Lynch balanced the budget in recent years by putting some of the spending essentially on a credit card (education) or by unnecessarily calling an “Emergency Session” at the end of the legislative season thus circumventing the legislative process and not allowing public input on bills and spending.

The Democrat Big Gov Spenders need to go away in 2010 and I for one hope that Ms Sullivan continues to be vocal and remind folks of the Alternate Reality that the Democrat Leadership are living in.
- JP, Warner

Wow what garbage. Lets go down the list shall we?

Population growth is a good thing? For the Socialists it is. You see, the welfare rolls have doubled, Section 8 housing has doubled in the cities (coming soon to your small town (Thanks Lynch), and crime has gone up with the influx of recipients of the 5 year welfare system (Democrat voters) thanks to Ms. Shaheen.

We now have homo-sexual marriage, Clean Power act (Thanks for raising our rates again), higher car registrations, higher gas taxes, higher fees on anything and everything.

RESPONSIBLE BUDGET????????????????? Since when is it RESPONSIBLE to pass a budget that borrows more to balance it, raids a trust fund that should not be allowed to be touched (I hope the judge rules against the liberals). Last time I checked my budget, in order to balance it I had to cut my spending because my boss didn't think I was sane when I told him he had to pay me more because I decided to spend more.

As for education funding, just another play on words to centralize the power over your children in Concord.

The saddest part of all this is that these socialists with theire welfare dependents (Democrat voters) will win again in 2010 as people who can think for themselves are now hopelessly outnumbered in this state.

Tax-A-Chusetts North is here, and the dribble from Ms. Sullivan is fast becoming the norm.
- Mike S, Candia

An op-ed from either party chairman will contain predictable spin. I find Sununu's remarks occasionally hilarious. Sullivan's comments are mostly from a grade-school playground.

The big change since Sununu's years as Governor is that the public employee union runs the state. It ruined Craig Benson and is propping up John Lynch, who is hardly "frugal." Today in the print edition, the union has a full-page ad to try to con us into thinking that small businessmen support comprehensive health-care reform. In fact, the biggest supporters are union bosses, because when you depend on the Ministry of Health instead of the family doctor, unions get more power over you and your day with general strikes. The State of New Hampshire is now an organization run for the amusement of the employees and their union.
- Spike, Brentwood NH

Ms Sullivan - you also forgot to mention that the current Democratic leadership might do away with old and unfriendly State Motto as it is a reason more young people don't move here!
- Mike, Derry

My college STATS 250 professor would have failed me instantly if I presented these ""statistics" to prove an argument . There are no comparisons to other states in 1990, 2000 or 2007; national averages in 1990, 2000 or 2007; or NH rankings compared to other states. Her stats prove nothing without these additional statistics. Not to mention dropout rates, tax rates and other nuggets we'd love to have. Brilliant strategy by Kathy, choosing to tackle one of the brightest men on the planet in a game of statistical cat and mouse. Good luck to her...I can't wait for his response.
- Marc, Kingston, NH

Homosexual "marriage", medical marijuana, transgendered bathrooms, higher taxes, more regulation, more government intrusion, enormous deficits, decaying roads and bridges, a failing school system, higher energy prices, increasing unemployment.

Ms. Sullivan - you want voters to judge your party based on these "successes"? Are you serious?
- Tom, Campton

The former Dem Chair ignores several "present" facts in her effort to paint a picture of "peaches and cream."

- For three budget cycles, we have spent in deficit - to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

- For two budget cycles, we have relied on one-time, usually federal "found" money to cover part of the hole the irresponsible spending created.

- For two budget cycles, we have revised our revenue projections upwards, to cover more of the hole - and each time, revenue has met expectations.

- We did the same thing with this latest budget.

- We were forced to resort to gimmicks to plug the gaping fnancial hole.

- We pushed off several tough decisions to other legislatures.

That is not progress. It is, however, a sure-fire road to fiscal insolvency.
- William Simpson, Concord

Given the state of the economy, what the heck are people spending their money on?

With all the complaining people are doing about increased taxes and fees, I think the only ones that are going to hit me are the car registration fee increase, and the rooms and meals tax increase, for which I'd have to spend $1000 out this year to pay an additional $10 in tax.

There's a reason why most of them are called "fees" - you don't pay unless you use the sevice. Better than an income tax.
- Dan, Manchester

It seems Sullivan lives in a different reality than the rest of us. To say that New Hampshire is better off today is nothing short of committable. Record unemployment, a murder rate, and soaring crime rates are just a few of things Sullivan missed. We could also add a decrepit and crumbling highway infrastructure, higher taxes, and a budget deficit. Back in the eighties this state was helping other states with their budget deficits now we are the ones being bailed out because of our state governments spending problem. Add to that a massive loss of technology companies and with high fuel prices and a bad economy even tourism is a floundering industry in this state. Sullivan all too closely represents the stupifying extreme of arrogance and out of touch with reality positions of her party.
- Don Diamant, Milton, NH

Ms. Sullivan is correct. Only the far right refuses to accept the fact that things have only gotten better since the Democrats have taken control. We still have no sales tax, no income tax, the lowest overall tax rate of any state in the country while fulfilling mandates such as education and health care. At the same time we've become more inclusive. I'd say that's a pretty good record.
- ed, londonderry

The population increased because people were fleeing Mass.

MLK was a communist sympathizer whose merit was rightfully debated before he got a holiday. Washington and Lincoln's birthdays were merged into the vague 'Presidents Day'. Are we really better off? Whose legacy is more important?

Republicans implement his dream, Democrats obstruct it. Free and equal means standing on your own two feet and not angling for a handout, as Frederick Douglass taught. Most Republicans will vote down Sotomayor.

The State has no obligation to educate anyone's children. Abortion is an aberration. And gay-marriage is a bizarre oxymoron.

Keep reminding us of the 'Glory Days', a little optimism is infectious.
- Steve, Manch

The state is "better" according to Sullivan because the Democrats are in control. The growth in population she cites has been from our liberal neighboring states and the people are fleeing those states because they have ruined them, coming to a better place so they can ruin it as well. I've been here a long time and it isn't better and it's getting progressively worse. Wake up NH.
- Terry P, Stratham

Well said Kathy! The blind right wing nuts wont be able to see the stats provided but they sure will open their stupid mouths. Put your boots on............
- Jake, Manchester

My oh my how the spin is so convoluted. Lets look at a few
"other" facts that Sullivan does not talk about. With the increased "population" has come increased crime rates, increased traffic and congestion and increased property taxes to pay for the demands of those who have moved here. Education? Despite her rhetoric there is still NOT a clear plan on how to properly fund our schools and the way it is done now is still not fair and equitable. As the richer towns have an advantage over the poorer towns despite supposedly better ways to fund that. We have a budget deficit and higher spending and the "responsible"budget just passed affected mostly lower and middle income families with their higher fees and taxes.
Unlike a lot of those in charge in Concord I am a life long resident as were my parents and grandparents and generations before in NH. I see nothing "better" about this state as she is claiming. In fact all I see is feel good legislation being passed while the real issues are not addressed. I see higher budgets with no way to fund them and then higher fees and taxes in a time when we are least able to afford them. To hear her talk the Democratic party has done nothing but good for this state but the reality is what they have done is made us more like our state to the south that has a high tax burden and huge deficits. We as a state are heading in the same direction. Ask yourself this Ms. Sullivan how many high school and college graduates are leaving the state compared to how many are staying? How many jobs have been lost in the north country with no real solutions on how to make it better? How long was the DOT shifting money out of the highway fund to pay for other things as it went further in the red? How many times have the "tolls" that were only "temporary" gone up? How have our parks faired with no solutions on how to run them and now they are in threat of being sold off? Your a fraud just like those you try to elevate to "savior" status!!
- Bill B., Pelham

Kathy Sullivan must have lost her mind. While Republicans are part of the solution to keep New Hampshire and the United States sovereign, free, and self-reliant, Kathy Sullivan and her Democrats refuse. Rampant spending and "revenue enhancements" endorsed by Democrats are proof that the state is a worse place now than when Mr. Sununu was governor.
- Nick, Manchester

Let's see...we now have a state government that is more concerned with legalizing dope, gay marriage and providing adequate public bathrooms for cross dressing freaks than it is with taxes and the economy.

Oh yes, Kathy, we are soooo much better off today!
- Mark, Bedford

I really do not which is the bigger hoot, "The ... frugality of the Shaheen and Lynch administrations," or "balancing the state budget." And anyone who actually believes that the current crop of Dems are "socially moderate" must be a either a member of Acorn or moveon.org. Does this woman actually expect thinking people to believe this tripe?
- Steven, Swanzey

Well if better means a larger more intrusive government combined with higher taxes, more fee's and regulations that also strip us of our freedom to choose then the author is well on her way to creating the socialist paradise that other nations who tried it are now rejecting.

I guess like other liberal democrats she knows what is best for me so I should shut up and go sit in the corner and pay my taxes so her ilk can spend it or hand it out for votes. It's odd really because she could have simply moved to Massachusetts and helped to pay for the big dig and left New Hampshire as free as it once was.

For all conservatives faults one of them is not forcing themselves on the rest of the population. It's my belief that democrats were the loyalists of the European empires that settled these lands. Now I'm waiting for the revolution from ourselves and you will find me on the front lines of that revolt.
- Deb, Derry

Isn't the rest of the state tired of reading Ms. Sullivan's slanted attacks? I know I sure am. Looks like she needs something to keep herself occupied since this is an off election year and she isn't busy smuggling in election workers and illegal voters from out of state. Perhaps her legal profession is slow these days due to lack of work. Kathy, please do us a favor, go find someone to sue and leave us alone!
- Jim Buttolph, Rumney

The reason why John H. Sununu that stated New Hampshire no longer has the qualities that made us a special state is because the democrat machine in this state, which includes the author, has done it darnedest over the past 2 decades to turn NH into assachusetts North where we no longer have heavy industry like paper companies producing reams of paper but instead have politicians reaming the people.
- David R, Manchester

Kathy - loud mouth - Sullivan is the SOLE reason I am now an Independant voter.

Her combative lawyer nature has turned politics in this state into a battle zone and she has trained Buckley to do the same.

Both of them could learn a lesson from good old Tip Oneill who use to have a beer with Regan after a days work debating each others ideas.

I simply could not ever fathom having a beer with "cheap shot" Sullivan.
- Bob, Georges Mills

NH in better shape than it was then. Thats really debatable. Well she can say that all she wants when we change the make up of state governement to it's ole conservative days and conservative ways.

Qoute of the week outside the cigar shop on South Willow street.

"Eat a liberal"

Just make sure you have a pint of Pepto Bismol handy.
- Jack Alex, Manchester

Maybe we should put signs at the Border: Welcome to NH - Left Turns Only! Looks like Ms Sullivan is proud to live in New Massachusetts.
- Leo, Canterbury

Kathy Sullivan-

You forgot to mention the significant job killing tax and fee increases to pay for all this "Wonderful Progress" you wrote about. You also forgot to mention that so few quality jobs are being created in this state under the current Democratic Party regime because business owners, large and small, don't have confidence in your economic policies.

Forthermore, everyone affected by job loss in this state knows that the roughly 6.9 percent unemployment rate is actually significantly worse than what is being reported. This was demonstrated months ago by the hordes of people that showed up, or tried to show up, at the job fair at SNHU. As we all know, truth be told, things have gotten worse since then. Lets not forget that this has been happening under Gov Lynch's watch with Democratic Party control of the legislature.

You Dems still believe we are weathering this recession better than most? Really?? You must believe it because you seem to have no problem jacking up spending and taxes to pay for it. Even more troubling is that your party recognizes the severe recession we're all in and decided to raise spending and taxes anyway even though fewer people can afford to pay. You seriously want us to believe this was responsable?

UL- Please, please, please publish more of Kathy's writings so we can all be reminded as to why we need to vote her Democratic Party cronies (hacks) out of office.
- JSF, Manch