ENDING GRIDLOCK: One New Hampshire man is on a mission to end gridlock in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.

Dr. Robert Scott, a former Newport state representative and current State Republican Party treasurer, has a new book out, “Thinking Beyond Gridlock,” and a new pledge he would like the presidential candidates to sign.

The pledge is to bring “a new spirit of civility, effective dialogue, compromise, consensus and results to the office of the President of the United States. This will create opportunity and growth.”

Scott asks the candidates to stop the rhetoric and start discussing issues the public wants to hear about.

To date, Scott says, he has had a few nibbles, but no signatures. “Who is going to be that little boy in the story ‘The Emperor Has No Clothes' who stands up and says ‘Something is wrong.'?”

The country needs to return to what made it great, he said, noting he has traveled around the world and seen how well U.S. competitors are doing in the emerging markets.

“Gridlock is not just in cars or on the roads, it's in our thinking, our politics and culture. That is why we are in decline, why there is a malaise, and it's getting worse,” Scott said.

One in four Americans lives in poverty or is unemployed, under-employed or in under-utilized employment, he said. “No one wants to recognize this. When are we going to own up to it? When it's one in three?” Scott said.

The government needs to return to the days of President Ronald Reagan bringing House Speaker Tip O'Neil to the White House to work together, he said.

When he met the people in Qatar recently, Scott said, they were what people were like in American 40 or 50 years ago. He compared that to what happens today at the local high school and said, “What have we done? Unless we are willing to change, our quality of life will diminish and diminish.”

“There should be no red, no blue, no right, no left here, it should be America first. We need to become more civil, less ideological, and to understand the parameters of the challenges we face.

“Unless we change and stop kicking the can down the road, our lives, our children's lives and our grandchildren's lives will be impaired.”

He said he talks to the people running the presidential candidates' campaigns and tells them they need to be positive, like Reagan was.

“If you expect the very best, that is what you get every day.” Scott said. “If you accept mediocrity, that is what you get: a second-rate country. The only way out of this is through civility, which is what we don't have today.”

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HAND OVER THE MONEY: The Local Government Center and the Bureau of Securities Regulation are in hearings on whether the center should return more than $100 million to cities and towns that buy its insurance programs, among other issues.

The bureau issued a report saying the LGC has excess reserves it should pay back.

The issue has been hotly contested, and several communities, including Dover and Portsmouth, have demanded money back from the LGC.

The NH School Boards Association now will have an opportunity to debate the issue.

At its annual delegate assembly Jan. 14 at the LGC, the Hillsboro-Deering School Board submitted a resolution asking the delegation to support the investigation into the LGC by the securities bureau, the attorney general and the House and for the return of the money.

The resolution is opposed by the board of directors of the association, which is composed of 15 school board members from five regions of the state and the four officers of the association.

Hillsboro-Deering board Chairman Richard Pelletier said the LGC is sitting on a very large pool of money that some feel is excessive. “We're just trying to get the message out to other boards to look at this,” Pelletier said. “This is money they're sitting on when we're paying the rates we are paying. The money should be used to offset some of the rates.”

He said the board had quite a discussion and then voted unanimously to support the resolution.

Pelletier said the board hoped to at least bring it to the floor, but has been told that may not happen.

He said a letter from the association said it wanted to let the matter unfold before taking any action.

But the association's executive director, Theodore Comstock, said the resolution can come to the floor of the assembly. “They have every right to do that. If they do, it will be discussed and acted on by a majority vote of those present. We like to think it's a very democratic process.”

He said the board of directors discussed the Hillsboro-Deering resolution and two others submitted by other boards.

The directors oppose the resolution because it is not a traditional mainline public education issue, like school funding, special education funding or constitutional amendments on education, Comstock said.

And he said the resolution reads as though the LGC has already been found guilty when in fact it is an ongoing matter.

The board thought it would be appropriate to let the process go forward before taking any action, Comstock said.

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DRAWING LINES AND FIRE: The House leadership plan for redistricting is making a lot of people unhappy: officials in many cities and communities such as Pelham; Democrats; and members of the public who had to wait three hours before they could testify at a hearing Thursday on the plan.

Cities such as Manchester and Concord have wards attached to adjoining towns to make up floterial districts that the architects claim better address the one man, one vote dictate of the U.S. Constitution.

But others are not so sure. Two Manchester wards, 8 and 9, are joined with Litchfield to elect two representatives. Litchfield is also a district of its own, electing two representatives, while each ward in Manchester will also elect two representatives of their own.

The end result could be that Manchester would go from its current 35 representatives to 31 if two Litchfield representatives are elected in the joint district.

Another significant concern expressed by Manchester Reps. Ben Baroody and Steve Vaillancourt at Thursday's hearing is the inherent conflict in interests between the city and the town over state education aid.

Manchester will lose $30 million this fiscal year due to changes made in the education formula this session, while Litchfield gained several million.

Similar arguments can be made for districts that join other cities and towns, like Concord and Hopkinton.

Other communities complain a 2006 constitutional amendment provides that each community have its own representative if it is over the ideal population of 3,291 residents, which is determined by dividing the state's residents by 400, the number of representatives in the House.

There are about 55 communities that should have their own representative under the constitutional amendment provisions that do not under the leadership's plan. A rival redistricting plan provides for a greater number.

Under the plan, Pelham, which by its population should have four representatives of its own, is joined with Hudson, which should have six representatives of its own. Pelham residents worry all 10 representatives could come from Hudson and they could be shut out.

And at Thursday's public hearing, Special Committee on Redistricting Chairman Paul Mirski, R-Enfield, read the entire amendment at the beginning of the hearing, then allowed representatives to speak before the public could.

Many had to wait for three hours before they could speak. “That's not a public hearing, that's a sham,” said Democratic Party spokesman Harrell Kitstein.

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NEW LEADER Cornerstone Policy Research and Cornerstone Action named Wendy Warcholik as the new executive director to replace Kevin Smith, who resigned to run for governor.

Warcholik is a research fellow for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and chief economist for Public Choice Analytics for the U.S. States Inc.

“The board of Cornerstone is thrilled to have Wendy as its new executive director,” said Shannon McGinley, chairman of the Cornerstone board. “Wendy's commitment to the sanctity of all human life, the defense of marriage and to limited government makes her a perfect fit for advancing Cornerstone's mission through the difficult battles ahead.”

The group says its mission is to preserve New Hampshire's traditional values: limited government and free markets.

Warcholik will serve as its third executive director in 12 years.

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PRESIDENTIAL CIGARS: Federal Cigar in Portsmouth has begun its annual New Hampshire Presidential Primary matchbook poll.

Called the Federal Forecast since the poll began, in 1984, the survey allows New Hampshire voters to cast ballots for the major candidates.

This year, the poll is expanding to Federal Cigar's other three stores, in Dover, Epping and Plaistow.

“We take seriously our role in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary and are proud of our tradition as the first cigar shop in New Hampshire to run a presidential primary matchbook poll,” said Federal Cigar owner Rick Gadway. “Numerous candidates and potential candidates, from Gary Hart and Rudy Giuliani to Donald Trump, have visited our Portsmouth store over the years. Most important, New Hampshire voters have visited to vote, and we're excited to continue the tradition through the primary in January.”

Results from all stores will be totaled, and Federal Cigar will announce the winner Jan. 6. The New Hampshire presidential primary will be held Jan. 10.