The state budget and the economy dominated the conversation between Governor John Lynch and his Republican challenger state Senator Joe Kenney.
The two faced off in Manchester at St. Anselm College this afternoon.
Kenney accused Lynch of overseeing a significant increase in state spending, while failing to address some of the state’s most pressing needs.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein reports.
State Senator and Republican candidate for governor Joe Kenney speaks at the BIA gubernatorial candidates forum in Manchester. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
Over the next four weeks Senator Joe Kenney has a lot of convincing to do.
According to the latest UNH poll, the Wakefield Republican trails Governor John Lynch by 49 points.
Kenney even lags behind Lynch among registered Republicans by 5%.
In the debate at St. A’s, Kenney tried to cut into that lead by criticizing Lynch for a lack of leadership in tough economic times.
Kenney told the audience that he’s the type of leader who isn’t afraid to get a little dirty.
TAPE: we need to have a governor who is a hands on governor who will go into the bowels of these agencies, and ask the privates, not the generals, where the solutions are. And how we can create some kind of cost-savings here for the state of New Hampshire.
Kenney says the first step he would take to balance the budget- estimated at anywhere from 200-500 million dollars- is to cut state agency spending by 5-10%.
Beyond that, the senator says he would eliminate the six million dollar land preservation grant known as LCHIP.
Kenney complained that under Lynch, citizens have been nickeled and dimed to death by little fees.
TAPE: our car registration fees are going up. Our motor registration fees are going up. Our court document fees are going up. We have so many fees that are going up that are hitting the people of the state of New Hampshire that can ill afford it at this time.
The central line of Republican attack over the past six months is that Democrats have overseen a 17% increase in state spending over the last biennium.
To that end, Kenney has adopted the motto: New Hampshire doesn’t have a revenue problem it has a spending problem.
Over the summer, Democrats have honed their response to that argument.
State Senator and Republican candidate for governor Joe Kenney (right) listens as Governor John Lynch speaks at the NHBIA gubernatorial candidates forum in Manchester. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
During the debate, Lynch restated his party’s position.
TAPE: we were faced with a budget that had cost increases already built into it.
Lynch says when you remove those fixed costs- items like retirement funding, aid to cities and towns, and catastrophic assistance; general fund spending went up 3% over the last two budget cycles.
The governor says the national economic downturn will have a significant impact on the Granite State.
But he says this isn’t the first time he’s faced a daunting deficit.
TAPE: I am going to approach that budget in the next biennium, the same way I did it back in 2005. We are going to zero base that budget....we are going to look for efficiencies...we are going to continue to move towards centralized and standardized purchasing...we merged highway patrol and state police. That...saves money.
Senator Kenney ridiculed several of the governor’s initiatives.
Specifically, he said Lynch hasn’t done much to bring economic relief to the North Country, or help small business keep healthcare costs in check.
TAPE the governor has created a lot of programs that have a lot of fluff. What I want to do is bring forth programs that are going to work for New Hampshire and provide high value jobs and actually help out the economy here in New Hampshire.
Kenney says under his leadership, he would bring together the other New England states and develop a purchasing alliance to lower healthcare costs.
In the North Country, he says he would like to create a special development authority.
An idea, he admits would take some time, given the state’s current budget.
Current employment figures show that unemployment has increased since the state passed the Coos County tax credit, a measure aimed at boosting jobs.
Despite the decline the governor defended the steps his administration has taken to help the region.
TAPE: The Coos County Tax Credit was just put in place. It’s an important marketing tool for us...to be able to talk with business people and say, if you go to Coos County, not only will your workers not have to pay sales and income taxes, but you won’t have to pay business taxes as well. If you create good jobs. Now already we’ve had a company move to Colebrook with a target of creating 60 jobs.
If people in the North Country- Senator Kenney’s backyard- are looking for a change in leadership, the UNH poll doesn’t show it.
Even if all the people currently undecided voted Republican, the Governor would still take that part of the state.
But that doesn’t appear to intimidate Senator Kenney.
For NHPR News, I’m DG.
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Lynch has been irresponsible and doesn't have an understanding of what the basic NH Advantage is.
RGGI, heating bailouts, LCHIP, 25 new taxes, $500M deficit and an 11,000 sq ft un-eco friendly mansion puts him in the category of hypocrite as well.
For the good of NH PLEASE STEP ASIDE and let someone who cares about NH take over for us... and take the rest of the Democrats with you!