Concord – President Barack Obama today officially withdrew the radical nomination of Debo Adegbile to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. In March, Senator Jeanne Shaheen voted with a minority of senators to confirm Adgebile, who used groundless charges of racism to try to free a convicted cop killer. His nomination was rejected by a 47-52 bipartisan vote.

“Debo Adegbile was the wrong person for the job, and Senator Shaheen’s support for this radical nomination reminds New Hampshire that she blindly votes with President Obama 99 percent of the time. Senator Shaheen ignored the serious concerns voiced by New Hampshire’s law enforcement community because she is incapable of standing up to the president and providing independent leadership for her constituents.” said NHGOP Chairman Jennifer Horn. “We are pleased that this outrageous nominee failed to gain the support needed to serve in this critical position.”

Politico reports that Adegbile drew opposition from national law enforcement organizations for his work representing Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. The Fraternal Order of Police and the National Association of Police Officials, which described Adegbile as someone who “made his name defending one of the most notorious and unrepentant cop killers around,” vigorously opposed the nomination.

Roll Call reports that Shaheen ran away from Capitol Hill reporters when asked about her decision following the vote. “I think he’s well qualified,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said of Adegbile as she rushed into an elevator.

From the Concord Monitor – http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/13252507-95/my-turn-why-is-hassan-criticizing-bipartisan-tax-reforms

My Turn: Why is Hassan criticizing bipartisan tax reforms?
By Sen. BOB ODELL For the Monitor
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
(Published in print: Wednesday, August 27, 2014)

It’s puzzling to hear Gov. Maggie Hassan claim that recent changes in New Hampshire’s business tax code are causing problems with the state budget. Not only were the reforms of the past few years approved with overwhelming bipartisan support, they were fully accounted for in the budget.

During last year’s budget debate, Senate Republicans insisted on revenue projections more conservative than the governor’s optimistic estimates. It’s a good thing we did. Fiscal 2014 revenues came in just $3.1 million higher than our forecast.

As I conclude my time as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, I’d like to review why Republicans and Democrats joined forces to reform New Hampshire’s businesses taxes to improve our economy, and why we shouldn’t reverse this progress.

Internet tax

Since 1998, Congress imposed a moratorium on new state and local taxes on internet access. Despite this federal law, the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration began applying the Communications Services Tax to internet access charges without Legislative approval.

In 2012, the Legislature corrected this bureaucratic overreach by passing HB 1418, which clarified that the Communications Services Tax does not apply to internet access.

The Senate approved the bill 23-0, and the House passed it 244-46.

BET threshold

HB 1418 also included a provision to provide tax relief to New Hampshire’s smallest businesses. By increasing the threshold for the Business Enterprise Tax and adjusting it for inflation, we insured that rising prices wouldn’t slowly force more and more small businesses into the BET. Avoiding “bracket creep” was a necessary and overdue reform to New Hampshire’s business tax code, and received wide bipartisan support.

NOL Carryforward

One area where New Hampshire was losing ground to neighboring states was the ability of new business to write off their start-up losses against future profits, known as Net Operating Loss Carryforward. New Hampshire only allowed businesses to use $1 million in NOL to offset their first few profitable years, which was one of the very lowest in the nation.

In 2012, we approved HB 242, which increased NOL carryforward to $10 million. This encourages struggling start-ups just as they are taking off. The House approved the bill 259-89, the Senate approved it unanimously, and Gov. John Lynch signed it into law.

Interest and Dividends

In 2012, the Legislature also updated the Interest and Dividends Tax. The tax had been applied when trusts earned interest on their investments, even if no one in New Hampshire actually received any income that year.

SB 326 amended the law so that the tax now applies when interest income is actually distributed to a beneficiary. The Senate voted 23-0 to override Lynch’s veto of SB 326, and the House overrode him by a vote of 312-18.

Hassan seeks to blame this small change for a $16 million drop in I&D revenue last year, but trusts only account for $5 million a year in revenues. The real source of the dip was the fiscal cliff standoff in Washington, which temporarily increased federal taxes on dividends. This discouraged companies to hand out dividends last year, cutting into New Hampshire I&D tax base.

R&D Tax Credit

Last year, I sponsored SB 1 to double the Research and Development Tax Credit and make it permanent. It passed the Senate unanimously and the House 342-7.

Hassan lauded the bill when she signed it into law.

All of these tax reforms were passed with broad, bipartisan support. The revenue impact of these reforms, if any, was factored into the revenue forecasts included in the FY 2014-15 budget that the governor praised. So why now is Hassan falsely claiming that these tax changes are causing problems with the budget?

The real problem facing the New Hampshire budget is spending. Revenue forecasts were right on target for FY 2014, which ended in June. But we still don’t know whether spending stayed within the budget.

The governor has been warning since May that state departments might exceed their authorized spending, but she has declined to share that data with the Legislature and the public.

If New Hampshire is facing a budget deficit, we need to see the spending data as soon as possible. We don’t need to reverse the bipartisan business tax reforms that this past Legislature has approved.

(Sen. Bob Odell, a New London Republican, is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and is retiring after six terms in the state Senate.)

Here is a timeline of events and news related to growing state budget
concerns and lack of transparency:

July 10, 2014 – Reports emerge that enrollment in the State’s traditional Medicaid program has spiked, in part due to the ACA related individual mandates, and that DHHS is facing a $37 million budget shortfall.

See: NHPR – Medicaid Enrollment Jumps By 11,000, Stretching State Budget

July 25, 2014 – DHHS released figures showing that Medicaid caseloads were decreasing in late 2013, but then began to spike as a result of Obamacare mandate and information campaigns

August 7, 2014 – Senate Finance Chair Jeanie Forrester (R-Meredith) calls on Hassan to report on state spending, citing concerns agencies including HHS are over budget

August 9, 2014 – Union Leader ties the spike in enrollment to an effort by the Hassan administration to bypass the legislature, despite objections,  and obtain a $5.4m grant to promote enrollment in health plans as part of Obamacare, including Medicaid.

See: Union Leader: Not ‘conservative’: Hassan’s Medicaid budget hole

August 12, 2014 – Policy expert and Union Leader Columnist Charlie Arlinghaus points out the Governor’s inability to comply with requests from legislative leaders to release agency budget details, and analyze how big this and other budget holes are.

See: Charles Arlinghaus: Why is the government hiding its problems from us?

August 13, 2014 – Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley renews call for spending update as HHS goes $100 million over budget

See: Nashua Telegraph – GOP says NH faces looming $100M budget deficit

August 14, 2014 – Union Leader Editorial: “NH budget is in a shambles”

The Republican primary debate schedule is as follows:

Sept. 2: 1st Congressional District
Sept. 3: 2nd Congressional District
Sept. 4: U.S. Senate
Sept. 5: Governor

The debates can also be viewed on WMUR-TV, WMUR.com and WMUR mobile apps.

Concord – The New Hampshire Republican State Committee today asked the New Hampshire Department of Justice to investigate more questionable donations made to Governor Maggie Hassan’s political committees. The complaint focuses on a 2012 $25,000 donation and a 2014 $10,000 contribution made by the Plumbers and Steamfitters Union PAC.

The NHGOP also asked Attorney General Joe Foster to recuse himself from this investigation given that he served on then-candidate Maggie Hassan’s 2012 campaign finance committee and may have been involved with the questionable 2012 donation.

Last week the Department of Justice found that Hassan had accepted tens of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from three Big Labor PACs that also broke the law.

The NHGOP’s full complaint is below:

Attorney General Joseph Foster

New Hampshire Department of Justice

33 Capitol Street

Concord, NH 03301

Dear Attorney General Foster,

On behalf of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, I am writing today to respectfully request that you investigate another questionable contribution made to one of Governor Maggie Hassan’s political committees.

In 2012, then-gubernatorial candidate Hassan filed a finance report with the Secretary of State on June 20^th of that year reporting the receipts and expenditures of her political action committee Maggie 12′. Five days earlier on June 15, 2012, Hassan converted this PAC to a candidate committee when she officially filed her candidacy.

In this report (Exhibit A), Hassan lists a donation of $25,000 made on June 15, 2012 (the day Hassan filed) from “Plumbers and Steamfitters Local” of 161 Londonderry Turnpike in Hooksett. This donation resembles the illegal $25,000 contribution made by the IBEW PAC to Governor Hassan’s re-election campaign on the day she filed for office in 2014. Your ruling last week determined that this contribution exceeded legal limits and $24,000 of it had to be returned.

Upon reviewing the filings of political action committees from the 2012 cycle, there is no registration for a PAC called “Plumbers and Steamfitters Local”. However, a committee called “Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC” was registered that cycle at the same address (161 Londonderry Turnpike, Hooksett) that was mentioned on Hassan’s report (Exhibit B). The website http://www.ualu131.org  and media reports also confirm that UA Local 131 in Hooksett is also known and Plumbers and Steamfitters Union 131.

A Hassan press release indicates that the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 131 Union endorsed her campaign on July 12, 2012 (Exhibit C). In the press release David Pelletier, business manager for the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 131, praised Hassan. Mr. Pelletier is also listed as the chairperson of the Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC in documents filed with the Secretary of State.

However the filing for the Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC indicates that it was not created until August 2, 2012 – nearly two months after this PAC allegedly gave candidate Hassan $25,000. Even more troubling, there is no mention of this $25,000 donation on any of the Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC finance reports filed with the Secretary of State during the 2012 cycle (Exhibit D). The PAC filed reports on August 22, 2012, October 17, 2012 and November 14, 2012. The contribution simply doesn’t exist on any of these reports.

Either the Hassan Campaign or the Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC filed a false document given the discrepancy regarding the $25,000 donation. If in fact the Local Union 131 Volunteer PAC did make the June 15^th donation, they would have broken the law by waiting until August to file. Additionally, given the questionable nature of this donation, there are questions as to whether the Hassan Campaign received this check before or after she officially became a candidate.

It should also be noted that the Local Union 131 PAC subsequently refilled for the 2014 cycle and made a $10,000 contribution to the Governor’s re-election campaign on June 12, 2014 (the day she filed.)

As the Nashua Telegraph said in an editorial dated August 5^th, “As troublesome as it is that Hassan accepted the $25,000 check in violation of campaign law, there’s something even more disturbing: The idea that the unions thought there was something to be gained from making the contribution at all.” Given Governor Hassan’s history of accepting illegal contributions, and the concern for, and potential of, undue influence stemming from such illegal contributions, we ask that the Department of Justice review both the 2012 $25,000 donation and the 2014 $10,000 donation to ensure that they are legal.

Additionally, I am asking you to recuse yourself from any involvement in this investigation. As you know, in 2012 you served on then-candidate Hassan’s finance committee and helped her raise money during the time of the questionable contribution at issue. Given this connection to the 2012 donation, and your involvement in developing and guiding then-candidate Hassan’s fundraising strategies and outreach, it would be best if you stepped aside in this matter in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, and to ensure the continued confidence of New Hampshire residents.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Horn

Chairman

New Hampshire Republican State Committee