-
Editorial Response: "Editorial was blast from the past"
Foster's Daily Democrat - www.fosters.com - Saturday, May 16, 2009
When I read yesterday's editorial (May 14), which claimed that the Republican Party is on the rise, I had to check to see if I was reading a back edition of the paper. Once upon a time that might have been true, but these days it's no secret that the GOP's is struggling to gain credibility.
As a lifelong resident of New Hampshire and an active member of the Democratic Party for over three decades, I've seen first hand that our state has changed. Twenty years ago, New Hampshire was a conservative stronghold but the Granite State of 1989 is not the Granite State of today. Recent elections have demonstrated that people have moved away from the politics of the past, toward the party of progress.
Last year's election was a landslide for Democrats and demonstrated that NH's electorate has changed, but the political shift in our state is evidenced by more than our historic victory at the polls. Study after study has found that New Hampshire has grown more progressive. Just last month, The Associated Press reported that significant demographic changes in the state spell good news for Democrats and more bad news for the Republican Party. And for the first time in years, voter registration numbers show that there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state.
The New Hampshire Republican Party has struggled to raise money and find viable candidates to challenge our Democratic leaders. Republicans chose John H. Sununu to lead their party in the hope he could turn their weakened party around, but since he's become chair his party has failed meet its goals. In this year alone the state Democratic Party has out fundraised the state Republican Party three to one and Chairman Sununu has virtually taken out want ads to get a viable candidate to run for Congress.
Left with no real accomplishments to speak of as Party Chairman, John Sununu has spun the special elections held in the last two Republican strongholds as a sign that the GOP is still afloat. While it's true that NH Republicans won the last two special elections, which happened as the result of Republican resignations, the reality is that both elections were for seats that no Democrat has ever, or rarely ever, won.
Last month Chairman Sununu told the Nashua Telegraph the NHGOP lacks "good candidates", so that must be why his party has resorted to running Manchester's mayor Frank Guinta for Congress. As the people of Manchester will tell you, Frank Guinta has failed as a mayor. When Frank Guinta ran for mayor, he promised to lower taxes, reduce crime and improve education. But only a month after he won election based on the promise of lower taxes, he changed his tune and told the Union Leader that property owners would face higher assessments. He also failed to live up to his promise of reduced crime. During his first year at City Hall, assaults in the city increased by 18 percent while burglaries went up 6 percent. But instead of working to stem the rise in crime, Guinta proposed $600,000 in cuts to the police force. And his record on education isn't any better. When Guinta took office only three schools in Manchester needed improvement, now they are all on the list. With his record of failed leadership, Guinta is clearly not worthy of a promotion.
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe may have described the current state of the GOP best, when she said, "Only 21 percent of Americans identify as Republicans. That alone raises some very serious and profound questions about the viability of the Republican Party."
There is no question that the Republican Party has a long way to go to get out of the political wilderness.
Raymond Buckley
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman
-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment