Another Reminder about Candidates Night

Candidates Night for the upcoming election will be on September 28th at the Franklin Opera House in Franklin. Doors will open at 6:30 PM, the event starts at 7 PM.

The Candidates Are:

Mayor: Ken Merrifield, Clayton Gassett
City Council Ward I -- Rosemary F. Mellon, Robert J. Morin Jr., Marty G. Russo, and Bob Sharon
City Council Ward II -- Glen Feener and Brian Boynton
City Council Ward III -- Scott R. Clarenbach and Jeffrey Whitney
School Board Ward I -- Betty Tobey (1 year), Kathleen Russo (2 year), and Karen Grzelak (3 year)
School Board Ward II -- (3 year) Ryan Fairchild and Desiree McLaughlin
School Board Ward III -- (3 year) Logan Barbosa

Unfortunately I'm not able to go because I have a class that night. If someone would like to cover the event and be a guest blogger on this site, let me know.

There May Be No Hope Of Keeping The Tax Cap?

That's what Foster's Daily Democrat is saying about the possible tax cap in Manchester since the state Supreme Court will be ruling on the decision soon.

A petition on the legality of them was sent to the courts. Manchester is considering a tax cap, but those opposed to it say that it's "unconstitutional."

If ruled in that direction, it could mean that Franklin's tax cap will be gone.

I honestly don't know what to say about this. But if it happens to go in that direction, we still need to fight to ensure that our representatives here in Franklin are accountable to us, the people. Considering that Franklin has one of the higher unemployment rates in the state, we need to remind them that we can't afford for our taxes to go higher, and maybe get them to talk to the budget committee in Bristol on getting some pointers to keep the budget down.

Speaking of Guest Writers...

I'm always looking for guest writers to write for the Franklin TEA Party. With me being a graduate student who is a year away from graduation, it's hard for me to be everywhere at once == for example, I wasn't able to attend the meeting regarding the recycling plant, and I know I won't be able to attend Candidate's Night on September 28th.

If you're interested, let me know at scooppc11@yahoo.com.

Guest Editorial: Tony Guinta

Originally published in the Weirs Times, September 10, 2009

I’m sure many of you have already heard the news about Franklin’s City Council breaking New Hampshire’s first taxpayer mandated taxpayer endorsed tax cap. But the big news is this councils’ continuing contempt towards its citizens. Before we get into their most recent inexcusable actions, let me first dispel the “excuse” this council asserts in support of their momentous cap over-ride.

Excluding Mayor Merrifield and councilor Glen Feener who both fought valiantly for taxpayers, those who broke the cap deny they did anything of the sort. They claim they were merely recapturing last year’s lost revenue (due to an “accounting error”) and are only raising this year’s tax rate by the amount allowed under the charter. Barring the fact that this is no year to be “reaching back” to take past due monies from recession weary unemployed taxpayers, this year’s budget should end all debate about the debilitating affects of tax caps! By regaining their due from last year and taxing us to the rate of inflation this year, our politically tone-deaf council yielded enough cold hard cash to send them on a spending spree. While our state and other municipalities are imposing hiring freezes, furloughs, and lay-offs, Franklin is preserving all current staff and filling four vacant positions. While private industry has had to dramatically reduce expenditures to the point of (gasp) having to clean their own offices, Franklin renewed an $80,000 private cleaning contract. Oh, and my personal favorite… our “frugal” council has requested $850,000 for a new “mandatory” recycling program of which many in our City are completely unaware. As we struggle through the worst economy in 75 years, Franklin has shiny new recycling trucks on their way and has destined our recyclables to a receiving facility that has yet to be built. Yup, the first broken cap in 20 years (out of absolute necessity they’ll remind you) and they’re spending money like it’s going out of style!

How did taxpayers react to this council’s “spend-thrift” ways? They packed City Hall and for nearly two hours barraged the council with overwhelming opposition to the proposed budget. You’d think they would have listened! But even with all this outrage, it took them only minutes to completely dismiss weeping taxpayers, over-ride a mayoral veto, and pass the first budget in 20 years to break the cap. If that weren’t enough, the greatest snub was yet to come. During their August public comment period, a nearly 300 signature citizen’s petition was presented to the council demanding this learned body reconsider the budget. Not only did the council remain mute on a vote to reconsider, they deadlocked 4-4 to even accept the petition from the taxpayers of Franklin. Imagine the arrogance of “our” public servants to not even acknowledge their own citizen’s petition? They say “voters’ have short memories”. But being snubbed, especially during a time when constituents are really hurting, has a way of sticking with you. Unless this council reverses its actions, my bet is there will be hell to pay when the people get their chance to speak where they cannot be ignored… at the polls!

Tony Giunta served as Mayor of the City of Franklin from 2000-2004 and during his tenure worked to strengthen the city’s tax cap charter provision.

Candidate Info: Jeffrey Whitney

He is running for the Ward 3 seat. Here is the letter he sent out to his constituents.

My name is Jeff Whitney and I am running for City Council in Ward 3 and I ask for your vote on October 6th. I moved to Franklin six years ago because I thought this was a great place to raise my son -- and also because of Franklin’s long-standing Tax Cap.
I believe that city government should have to apply the same principles to its budget that we apply to our personal budgets. Our municipality should operate within its means. That’s what the Tax Cap accomplishes --- It forces our elected officials to be fiscally responsible without overburdening the taxpayer.
During the recent budget deliberations, the City Council decided to break the Tax Cap….even while a hundred citizens like me stood up and voiced their opposition. The Council DID NOT listen. In fact, when the City Council was presented with a petition one month later to reconsider the tax over-ride, they still DID NOT listen!
Enough is enough!

You can contact Whitney at WhitneyforFranklin@yahoo.com or at 934-9173.

Candidate's Night

A notice that Choose Franklin will be hosting Candidate's Night on September 28th at the Franklin Town Hall at 6:30 PM.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to attend because I have a class that night. If you can and would like to contribute a report to post up here on what happened, let me know.

The Election is October 6th

Who are YOU going to vote for?

The scorecard:

Mayor

Ken Merrifield -- considered an up and comer in the Republican Party and current mayor. Defended the tax cap earlier this year by vetoing the current budget twice, while the city council overrode him.

Clayton Gassett -- former mayor and City Council member. Not convinced of the "effectiveness" of the tax cap.

Our Support: Ken Merrifield, because of his undying defense of the tax cap.

Ward 1

Bob Sharon -- Current city council member. Wasn't at the two meetings where they were discussing this because of health issues.

Robert Morin, Jr., Marty Russo, Rosemary Mellon -- I don't know enough about them. Anyone know?

Our Support: Bob Sharon. After having talked with him briefly awhile back, I know that he wouldn't have voted for this if he had been able to make it to the meeting.

Ward 2

Glen Feener -- current city councilman. Was the only city councilman to vote against the current budget.

Brian Boynton -- Don't know much about him, either.

Our Support: Glen Feener

Ward 3

Current city councilman Jeffrey Rabinowitz isn't running again (he voted for the budget this year), so who will try to take his place?

Scott Clarenbach -- retired former Fire Chief for Franklin.

Jeffrey Whitney -- Again, don't know much about him -- can anyone fill in the gaps?

Our Money: Anyone but Rabinowitz. I don't know enough about either of these candidates to make a determination either way at this point.