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Source: www.nhinsider.com/press-releases/2010/8/26/nhdp-guinta-wants-to-axe-big-bird-but-supports-budget-bustin.html
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"Guinta doesn't get the reality of governing"
seacoastonline.com - Opinion - September 26, 2010 - BY BILL DUNCAN
So now we know that Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter will be running against Frank Guinta for Congress from the 1st Congressional District. There are big issues at stake.
Republicans have run on small government for generations, but the current version of Frank Guinta and his band of tea partiers goes a lot further. Pick any issue. It's hard to imagine a position further to the right than Frank's.
Here's Frank on Social Security in Rochester in May:
"Let's not forget that Social Security is something the government created. And now we're trying to have a government solution to a problem government created. Government's the problem here, ladies and gentlemen. When Social Security was created, we didn't have the wealth of private sector solution for lifetime savings that you do today. We have to honor the obligations that have been made to those who are reliant on the federal government — older generations. But future generations should seek different private sector solutions and have personal responsibility start to lead the way. My kids are 6 and 5. They shouldn't know what Social Security is!"
So there it is. Frank Guinta, the former insurance agent, thinks Social Security should be replaced with private insurance. Carol Shea-Porter says that, in spite of what you hear, Social Security is basically healthy and relatively minor tweaks are needed to ensure the long term financial health of the system.
On a woman's right to choose, Frank was equally certain up in Laconia: his position is that a woman has no right to choose — no exceptions, under any circumstances, from day one, even when her life is at stake. This is an extreme position, but it looks to me indicative of all of Frank's positions.
He castigated Sean Mahoney for not wanting to deport undocumented immigrants. Who would actually think that, as a practical matter, it's actually possible to do that? What kind of country would set out to deport 5 percent of its population? But these kinds of concerns about actually governing are not Frank's concerns. He knows what he thinks.
I've attended a bunch of his events and started to realize that he doesn't actually know stuff — he's mainly got opinions. He wants the United States to pull out of the UN, but at a town hall meeting in August, he didn't know that the United States was the largest (by far) financial supporter of the UN. So, without really understanding the implications of his position, he's proposing to do away with the UN. At his Exeter town hall, he was against health care reform, but couldn't answer questions about health insurance coverage for New Hampshire citizens. If you try to engage him in a discussion about Social Security, you just get the bit about his kids.
He's certain of his positions, but beyond that doesn't seem to know what's going on. But — and this is the worrisome part — he's willing to say anything. The kerfuffle about where he got $355,000 to put into his campaign ($110,000 in the last few days) is a good example. He might just be someone who doesn't pay much attention to detail and forgot to report those assets when he should have. But when questions arose, his campaign said the money came from stocks he sold. Then Frank said the money came from the forgotten bank accounts. He won't release the account records, so it's hard to tell what's going on. Maybe that will get straightened out now that he's made it through the primary.
The picture that emerges to me is of someone loyal to his rhetorical positions and willing to say whatever it takes to prop them up.
Across-the-board spending cuts. Tax cuts. Get rid of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy. All these are totemic positions in the rhetorical world of tea parties and don't-tread-on-me flags. Which is fine. But the notion of a New Hampshire congressman who has great confidence in these positions but doesn't know what's going on — that's scary.
Bill Duncan is a resident of New Castle, New Hampshire.
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"Guinta has total disregard for food safety in U.S."
Seacoastonline.com - Opinion - Letter to the Editor - October 30, 2010
Oct. 26 — To the Editor:
Congressional candidate Frank Guinta has asserted that the government has no role in protecting Americans from rotten or poisoned food, or diseased meats, or unsafe drugs. He's good with just leaving that up to the food and meat processing, or drug industry, without any monitoring, inspections, or warnings to the public.
On Oct. 18, Mr. Guinta responded to a question previously posed by Rep. Carol Shea-Porter. Shea-Porter had asked Guinta if he thought the Food and Drug Administration is necessary. Guinta said, "My answer is no. I can go buy fresh farm food from a New Hampshire farmer. I don't need the FDA to make that transaction."
Mr. Guinta, we can't go backwards! The health and safety of the American people depends on it. Apparently, Mr. Guinta is not aware that New Hampshire farms cannot produce rice, coconuts, bananas, lemons, pineapples, avacados and other tropical foods. Apparently, Mr. Guinta has forgotten about the recent, widespread outbreaks of food-borne disease caused by contaminated eggs and lettuce
At the dawn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair wrote the still famous expose, "The Jungle," which portrayed the shocking conditions in the unregulated meat packing industry. Since the industry was not protecting people from tubercular meat or from meat Sinclair alleged was contaminated by workers, horrified Americans insisted on regulation by the federal government. The scandalous conditions revealed by Sinclair led to the regulation of the food industry — more than 100 years ago. This took place under Republican presidents. During Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, public pressure resulted in the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which established the Bureau of Chemistry, and which, in 1930 under Herbert Hoover, became the Food and Drug Administration.
It is essential for the federal government to protect the American public. Please join me in voting for Shea-Porter, who cares about the safety of my children and yours.
Dan Nicholson
Hampton, New Hampshire
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www.nhinsider.com/press-releases/2010/11/20/nhdp-starting-in-january-frank-guinta-will-vote-against-nh-f.html
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Kathryn Cauble: "What far right thoughts guide Mr. Guinta?"
The Conway Daily Sun, Letters, June 6, 2014
To the editor:
He's back.
Voter fraud does occur but it is extremely rare. All the new irritating and mean spirited laws are to have as many people as possible confront election barriers that will interfere with their "sacred right" — that of casting a vote for the person they prefer.
Mr Guinta has convinced himself that his loss in the 2012 election was due to voter fraud! If in fact this were true it would have required the majority of 100,000 voters to cast their votes in a dishonest manner or fraudulently.
Please remember Mr. Guinta, a Tea Party darling and was the candidate who wished to eliminate the Department of Education, pushed the misled idea of teaching creationism in school and was adamantly against abortion for any reason.
Now is this a person stable? What far right thoughts might guide him in odd and even dangerous actions?
The answer to this rant concerning voter fraud would be to support the current NH Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter by voting for her in the November 2014 election, thus allowing her to continue representing the 99 percent.
Kathryn Cauble
Effingham
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"We don't need Guinta's tea party platform"
seacoastonline.com - Opinion: Letter to the Editor, June 14, 2014
June 10 — To the Editor:
Former U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta is trying to win back his seat. He has announced another tour of the district; this time focusing on the economy. Mr. Guinta should be concerned about the economy because while he was in Congress in 2011-12, he and the House majority put policies into place that serve to slow economic growth.
Let's take education: a well-acknowledged path to prosperity. Abolishing the U.S. Department of Education was part of Mr. Guinta's tea party platform. By voting for severe sequester cuts in 2011, Mr. Guinta and his Republican colleagues continue to harm our schools, even today. In a national survey of the American Association of School Administrators, 85 percent of the administrators said that in 2013-14 they had to eliminate teachers and other staff positions, increase class sizes, cut teacher training, and postpone needed long-term investments. The quality of education has decreased.
Sadly, schools serving poor children and those on military bases suffer the most because they rely the most on federal funds.
For the sake of our children and America's future, let's not make the mistake of sending tea party candidate Frank Guinta back to Congress. Our children deserve better.
Beth Olshansky
Durham, New Hampshire
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"Guinta's views are too extreme"
seacoastonline.com - Opinion: Letter to the Editor, September 2, 2014
To the Editor:
At a recent Republican debate held in Exeter on Aug. 23, Frank Guinta once again revealed his extreme Tea Party views. When asked if he believes the IRS should be abolished he said, "yes." When asked if he would work to repeal the U.S. Department of Education, he said, "yes." When asked if he believes that the theory of man-made climate change has been scientifically proven, he said, "no." This man's belief system defies reason, not to mention science.
Beth Olshansky
Durham, New Hampshire
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