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"How independent will Bass, Guinta be?"
The Concord Monitor, Letter, November 21, 2010
Now that the elections are over and the best qualified candidates (?) or the candidates with the most out-of-state advertising money won, I wonder who they will represent: the people of New Hampshire who elected them or the people who financed their advertising as a quid pro quo. Or will they blindly follow their leadership, as seems to be the current vogue?
One of the major complaints against U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter was that she blindly followed Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I wonder if these critics will criticize Reps. Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta for blindly following Speaker John Boehner. If they want a committee or subcommittee chairmanship or if they want to have any say, they will blindly follow him.
Will the cost-cutting Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, vote to extend George W. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy? I'm sure they will because many members of Congress will exceed the $200,000 cutoff - and Rule No. 2 for elected members of Congress is to fatten their wallet.
Similarly, in Concord, will the cost-cutting enthusiasts cut items to balance the budget and/or transfer the expenses to the local cities and towns so that real estate taxes will further cause more people to lose their homes?
SUMNER GOLDMAN
Penacook, NH
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"Guinta had no choice"
Letter, For the Concord Monitor, January 31, 2011
I was really angry with U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta when he voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and tried to take away the fix for the Medicare D "donut hole" problem in particular, but I have decided not to waste my energy on being angry with him.
First of all, the repeal is going nowhere. Second, I do know he had to do it.
Guinta says that the American people want the law repealed, but that's not accurate. People like a lot of the provisions, and many of those who don't like the law wanted one that did more! But Frank really isn't concerned about what the American people or the people of New Hampshire want. He has to answer to other masters than the voters.
He has to answer to the unknown, undisclosed donors who funded all those ads that flooded our airwaves last fall on his behalf. And, for all we know, they might be the source of his mysterious $355,000 bank account that he still won't come clean about. So he really didn't have to think about who he was hurting (children with preexisting conditions, elderly who have to choose between medicine and food) or about voting to add hundreds of billions to the deficit. He really had no choice.
LUCY EWARDS
Northwood, NH
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"Guinta inconsistent on deficit reduction"
nashuatelegraph.com - February 7, 2011
I listened to U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, R-N.H., the other morning on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and was disturbed by the extremist message I heard, wrapped in slick rhetoric.
If Guinta’s overriding concern is the deficit, as he repeatedly asserts, then why did he vote to repeal the health care reform legislation, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will save $230 billion over 10 years?
I know he and other House Republicans must consider CBO estimates reliable because they tout the CBO estimate for tort reform savings of more than $50 billion.
I find his position incoherent. If budgetary concerns are primary, he should fully support the enacted health care reform legislation that saves hundreds of billions.
I can only conclude that his position is not driven by practical concern for our deficit, but by antigovernment ideology – the idea that the government has no right to make things better for ordinary people.
Of course, if that were the case, we would not have any of our essential social safety net programs like Social Security or Medicare. And Americans would not and do not support that position.
When you unwrap the shiny package, there’s nothing in it for the American people. Guinta’s position is incoherent, impractical and extreme.
Susan Mayer
Lee, NH
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