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State union cozying up to GOP
Sunday, Sep. 27, 2009 Share on Facebook
REPUBLICANS ARE MAKING political hay out of the bitter contract talks between Gov. John Lynch and the State Employees Association.
SEA is talking with a variety of GOP leaders, including Republican Party Chairman John H. Sununu, about working more closely together in the future on legislation SEA advocates.
It is also in talks with the conservative Josiah Bartlett Center on a study that would buttress its arguments that the state wastes too much money on private contractors. The SEA has long argued that there are big savings to be had there. SEA leaders haven't gotten too far with the argument in the Legislature, and now face a choice of layoffs or furloughs over the next two years.
The staffing cutbacks are supposed to save $25 million the Democratic majority ordered in the budget Lynch signed. They've also cost Lynch the popularity he once could assume among state workers.
Sununu said the study would touch on a key issue.
"I don't understand why this administration doesn't realize that the greatest amount of spending is not in personnel but in programs, and in the money that flows through the system, not the personnel that manage the system."
He said reviews of how money is spent on non-personnel items will turn up plenty of savings.
"It's a Republican approach. It's a conservative approach, it's a cost-saving approach, and, frankly, it's a job-saving approach," he said.
SEA also is talking with former Senate majority leader Bob Clegg, now a lobbyist in Concord, about representing it on some issues.
Clegg, who ran for the Republican nomination to Congress in 2008, said he's happy to help.
"I've always said the Republican Party is the real party of the working people," he said. "That's why we hate taxes and fees and all that other stuff."
He said his talks with SEA started before the contract issue became so heated.
Clegg said he has good relations with Lynch's office, so "it might not be a bad idea for someone to come in with a fresh perspective."
Michael Brunelle, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said Clegg's wrong on who works hardest for the little guy.
"There is no doubt the Democratic Party is the party of working families. It stands for the protection of families and is proving it in a number of areas, including health care, education and employer notification laws, just to name a few," he said.
Brunelle said if Republicans had won the across-the-board cuts in the budget that they proposed, the result would have been cuts to local government and higher property taxes.
GOP legislators aren't saying much about all this.
Senate minority leader Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, downplayed the contacts he's had with SEA.
"Our position is, we're willing to get ideas, find areas where we have mutual interest, even if we don't agree on everything, and if we can find ways to work together, we will," he said.
House minority leader Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, said he's been talking, too, but insisted details are scarce.
"We have talked with a number of SEA leaders, but at this point we haven't done anything concrete, as far as formal suggestions for legislation are concerned," he said.
SEA spokesman Mike Barwell said getting the state's accounts online for all to see would be a great step toward better transparency. Coincidentally, the most conservative folks in the Legislature, the House Republican Alliance, set as a priority next year a bill requiring the state's checkbook to be online.
Former state Rep. Lee Quandt of Exeter, a retired corrections worker, is seen as a key player in efforts to develop SEA and GOP ties.
He said last week, "The rift between SEA and Lynch and key Democrats, in my opinion, is absolutely irreversible."
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A "no" vote sends up to 750 people to the unemployment line. A "yes" vote cuts 19 days of pay out of every worker's check.
This isn't the only big vote coming up for SEA, either. On Oct. 24, about 400 union delegates will gather in Nashua to vote for SEA president, second vice president and secretary. The last time President Gary Smith was elected, the results were challenged. The new vote is the negotiated outcome of a complaint to the U.S. Department of Labor that Smith used a delegate contact list he withheld from other candidates.
The union also faces a renewed effort by the New England Police Benevolent Association to woo corrections officers away from SEA. The group already voted once to join NEPBA, but the results were thrown out because of problems in timing of the organizing petition.
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Swett, who heads up the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, wants Douglas to attend the foundation's first Lantos Human Rights Prize ceremony. The prize will be presented to the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile from Tibet most of his life.
The foundation is named for Swett's father, the late Congressman Tom Lantos of California, with whom Douglas worked during his days as a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
Douglas played a key role in getting the Dalai Lama into the U.S. in 1979. Several Ivy League colleges had invited him to speak, but the State Department refused to issue a visa, given sensitive diplomatic considerations with China. State said it needed an official government invitation.
So Douglas, then on the state Supreme Court, drafted an invitation that Gov. Mel Thomson -- always happy to needle communists -- agreed to sign. Next thing, the visa was issued.
The Dalai Lama invited Douglas to meet at Harvard during that trip, and Douglas has a picture of them together.
"I'm hoping he'll autograph it for me," Douglas said last week.
Swett, who plans to file a congressional campaign exploratory committee next month, said she heard the visa story first from Democratic activist Deb Butler.
"It was one of those serendipitous things," Swett said. "My work at the Lantos Foundation does transcend some of the rough and tumble of my political life."
Other New Hampshire notables invited to the Oct. 6 event at the Capitol include state Supreme Court Justice John Broderick, former Ambassador George Bruno and state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro.
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Sevigny also wrote a letter to Congress on behalf of NAIC, urging that health insurance reform be written in a way that maintains the regulatory power that states have over the insurance industry.
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Tom Fahey is State House bureau chief of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News.
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Ken, rates ARE regional and are largely based on resource based relative value scale (RBRVS). Medicare is regional too. Thats like suggesting wal-mart charges the same for an itme in Manhattan and in Oklahoma.
- Greg, Concord
Kevin, Portsmouth, NH
George Washington discussed why he did not like political parties in his Farewell Address. I agree with him.
I vote for the candidate who will be best for our Republic or the candidate who will do the least amount of damage.
- Ken Stremsky, Manchester, NH
Democrat or Republican - same thing. Too bad we even have political parties in this SO CALLED free country. The way it is, people vote for a letter usually (D or R) and not on who is the best women for the job...
- Kevin, Portsmouth, NH
It is clear not all union members look at this proposed contract the same way. The important thing to know is that voting to approve it does not make anyone less a union member, much on the contrary. I would like to tell you why I support this contract:
I have been a member of the SEA senate for 2 decades. I also worked in the private sector. I live in NH for 34 years, I know our working men and women, public and private sector, union, non union, white color, blue color, and every color, and I know NH’s workforce is second to none. Yet I see too many loose their jobs for no fault of their own and if I can spare this hardship and help but for one family from going through it, I will.
I also look at this strictly from a business point of view. The first immediate protection is 750 job savings and the second, is that our health insurance benefits and co-pay, will stay the same. Logically, this, we shall want.
We are asked to agree to 19 furloughs days, in the next 2 years. The benefits of this proposal far outweighs the concessions we are asked to make.
Your vote needs to be in at the SEA by October 8th before 5:00 PM or be postmarked by October 8th to be counted. Please vote to keep these jobs, the job you save, maybe your own.
Germano Martins
Chapter 45
- Germano Martins, Hooksett NH
Greg of Concord asks, "How in the heck does that all of a sudden become a protable product???" Simply, the Atlanta company figures out how to make it cover New Hampshire doctors and hospitals, and how to communicate that fact effectively to them and to customers. Even if no one had ever done so--and they have--it is no reason to keep the sale of insurance across state lines illegal. You are agitating to protect a gunpoint monopoly.
- Spike, Brentwood NH
Greg, Concord
Anthem and many other health insurance companies operate in many states. I would be surprised if they do NOT have different reimbursement rates in different states. The more people who belong to a health insurance plan the better the rate Doctors and hospitals may be willing to agree to. More customers may mean more profits for Doctors and hospitals. More people may be paying to get physicals and other health care.
Many physician NETWORKS do business with many health insurance companies. A person may find out if the person's physician (physician NETWORK) is covered by a health insurance plan before the person signs up for it. A person may find out if Concord hospital or another hospital accepts health insurance from a health insurance company before the person signs up for it.
New Hampshire's government has the ability to provide information on a website showing which physician NETWORKS and hospitals accept health insurance from different health insurance companies.
- Ken Stremsky, Manchester, NH
What a laugh reading how both parties are the friend of the little guy.
What next the recession is over because we only laid off 100,000 workers last month? Try taxing what's left of the working population and giving it away for votes and see if that turns things around. Oh wait we are living in that idea already but today the Republicans are joining the game. Nothing says electability like handout programs; at least until the money is gone then you just print up more and try to hide the inflation as long as you can.
Here is my deal Republicans. Give me shelter, some food, and a small check every two weeks and I’ll vote for you. This working for a living thing the past thirty seven years has made me tired. In return I will tell everyone my secret of how I sought out work of any kind to get where I am today and they can pay the taxes that will grant me my entitled status. I will also vote for the Party if you wipe out all records of who I am so I can cross the border from Mexico with impunity to sell drugs too the nations youth or work under the table while getting benefits as an undocumented worker. With such freedom I’d bet even I could afford a large flat screen TV.
I also want to marry a Lama. Please put this at the top of your agenda while I watch the last part of Rome burn to the ground. Remember if you compromise the values you claim to stand for I will vote for you again and again. Also please tax the smokers again because only you know how to run other peoples lives for them and we know what bad people they are. Then you can go after those who think they know what they want to eat. No one will survive unless you tell them what to do in every aspect of their lives.
If none of this sounds appealing you can always go back to believing in small government and lower taxation.
- Deb, Derry
"There is no doubt the Democratic Party is the party of working families. It stands for the protection of families and is proving it in a number of areas, including health care, education and employer notification laws, just to name a few,"
And they stay in business by insureing the need for protecting these issues. So will anything ever get fixed by them? Or will they just continue make sure they stay in business?
- David, Concord
So let's get this straight: The SEIU leadership had problems with legality in a uunion election so the US Dept of Labor forces a new one, The corrections officers voted to leave but the SEIU found a timing technicality, They've got themselves a contract that SEIU negotiated but wants the membership to vote down (that's not the Union's boses fault, right?) All the Democratic hope and change ranks right up there with smoke and mirrors doesn't it? Time for a dues increase to make up for membership losses and create real unity.
- Paul, Dover
The SEA is simply moving towards the party that will soon be back in control of State government. January of 2011 sees Republicans back in the majority in the legislature and a Republican Governor. They are wise to build this relationship. The irony is they will probably be treated better by the GOP than the party they usually have slavish loyalty to.
- Mark, Amherst
Buyng insurance from other states? How would that work exactly. Health plans are based on physician NETWORKS. SO a plan in Alabama is lower largely because it pays its local NETWORK less. How in the heck does that all of a sudden become a protable product??? Good luck going to COncord hospital and telling them you have an Albama insurance product with lower reimbursement. Mike Green would personally escort you from the premises.
- Greg, Concord
As a 30 year plus state employee I find it incredible that the SEA is courting the GOP. How soon they have forgotten the sordid relationsips between the union and Govenors Merrill, Gregg, Benson, and lastly the GOP head suiter himself, ex Gov Sununu Sr.!!! It is no wonder so many members are disenfranchised with the current hierarchy running the SEA and are considering dropping out of the union.
- Mike, Bedford
Surely the SEA's memory cannot be so short that it has forgotten Craig Benson. Arguably, John Lynch would not have won election to his first term had it not been for the SEA's outrage at Republican Benson and consequent efforts to get Democrat Lynch elected. Now the Republicans want to harness the SEA's outrage at Lynch and use it to their own advantage. History lesson for state workers: Politicians love you for your block of votes, but the love affair ends once they are elected. Then they become your boss. You will eventually be thrown under the bus, no matter which party gets elected to drive it.
- Pat, Littleton
Of course the SEA will cozy up to the GOP. They go with wmomever promises the most (remember the fine choice of John Edwards?). But thye are fickle, as they have shown with John Lynch, and they will eat their young. However, once the GOP sinks them, who will they prostitute themselves to next? There is no recognition that decision makers cannot and should not devote their total allegiance to anyone and that situations will always be in flux. If your support of candidates were anything of value, you would have not turned on Lynch like you now do. If the Union members are prudent, they will vote yes, because the backlash from the public will be enormous.
- Carl, Concord
The SEA has always been made up of people that reflect the diversity of New Hampshire politically. It seems that its leadership might finally begin to show that, too. It would be a good move to be more middle-ground than it has been in the past.
- Steve B, Derry
People and businesses should be allowed to buy health insurance plans sold in other states.
New Hampshire's government would still regulate health insurance companies. New Hampshire's government would make sure fraud is not taking place. New Hampshire's government would make sure the health insurance companies are covering what they say they are going to cover.
If New Hampshire has fewer mandates on health insurance companies, more companies will probably be willing to sell health insurance plans in New Hampshire. If more companies are selling health insurance plans and there are fewer mandates on health insurance companies, health insurance plans are probably going to cost less for people and businesses. More businesses may decide to locate in New Hampshire if New Hampshire has more affordable health insurance.
New Hampshire should consider not having mandates on health insurance companies. This would probably make available many low cost plans that young people are better able to afford. Many more young people might decide to buy health insurance. Many more businesses might decide to offer health insurance plans to their employees.
Does the State government want to increase the odds that more people will be able to afford health insurance?
It should be easier for people to form group health insurance plans. I hope there will be many more member owned health insurance companies similar to Amica insurance company. I hope many of these will be national health insurance companies.
People should be allowed to deduct the full cost of their health care and health insurance from their federal taxes.
- Ken Stremsky, Manchester, NH
The Republicans should just hang up the phone when the SEA calls. The unions guys stabbed Bradley in the back after he helped saved the shipyard by backing Che-Porter. The SEA will do the same thing. It's a waste of time and effort.
- Andy, Milford
@mmh, londonderry
Mr. Sununu did not refer to cutting programs. He is saying that many of the programs are costing the taxpayers much more money than they should.
Think of it like paying to heat an uninsulated house in the winter. You can do it but it will cost you. Now if you insulate the house and properly manage the heat then the cost to you will be reasonable.
Many of the state programs are in fact mismanaged money pits. Mr. Sununu contends that better fiscal management of state programs can save taxpayer dollars without costing state jobs.
- David R, Manchester
Mr. Brunelle cannot rewrite the history of the damage that his Democrat Party has caused to the working families of NH simply because the record levels of citizens without jobs, without homes, and those standing in line to pay new fees, illustrate the pages of the Democrat's "success" for NH.
The Democrats support healthcare for all; just as long as the care is controlled by the government, mandatory, and dangerously intrusive. It's time for the Democrat Party to be truthful with the people of NH.
The Democrats support employment notification, but they implode at the thought of parental notification if a minor seeks to kill an unborn baby. There is nothing pro-family about the Democrats' position here.
The Democrats support education, but often times it is for programs that are designed to plant the seeds that foster their political ideology. It's time for the Democrat Party to keep our classrooms clear of special interests.
And how have the Democrats balanced the budget in NH?
They haven’t.
Their budget is the illusion of deception combined with extra zeros; it's the catalyst for their "sharing of the pain" approach to governing.
In common expression, it's the foreshadowing of a state-wide aggressive income tax plan.
- Len Mannino, Milford, NH
I hope the SEA members vote no on the contract. The Governor and the Democrates already made their minds up to screw the State personal. No matter what we say. The SEA is backing the Obama over the health care bit. Forcing everyone to have insurance, if you don't they want to fine you. You may not have a job to pay for the insurance. My guess they'll lock you up in jail for not buying the insurance. Is this Country turning into Russia? Or are still AMERICA
- Bob, Alton
Renzullo's bills would all lower the cost of health insurance. So they are probably doomed. Can you imagine freeing us 1.3 million hostages from the state Insurance Commission by letting us shop out-of-state? And don't just study mandates--sweep them away, starting with Bob Clegg's notorious mandate that policy-holders pay for stomach-stapling for gluttons. How does it help me to have state racketeers dictating the coverages I must buy?
That such a fresh approach would be the face of the Republican Party going into 2010 is the first encouraging word on these pages in a long time--almost enough to counteract John "Frankly" Sununu's intention to court votes by sacrificing taxpayer interests to those of the state employees' union.
- Spike, Brentwood NH
"Michael Brunelle, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said,
"There is no doubt the Democratic Party is the party of working families. It stands for the protection of families and is proving it in a number of areas, including health care, education and employer notification laws, just to name a few,"
Mr. Brunelle is a perfect example of the Democratic Party and how they hold "working families" as slaves. More taxes, fees, their game is to take YOUR money for their special interest groups, i.e. ACORN and others.
- Ken Klinedinst, Warner
So Sununu says "I don't understand why this administration doesn't realize that the greatest amount of spending is not in personnel but in programs, and in the money that flows through the system, not the personnel that manage the system."
I hope the SEA realizes that when you cut programs, you cut jobs.
I'm not arguing that the jobs should be saved at the expense of wasteful government programs but in light of the SEA's cut off your nose to spite your face campaign, I don't know if they really want to go down this path
Just my opinion
- mmh, londonderry