Author Archive

Editor’s Note:   This is the latest in a series of historical book reviews we offer for you information and entertainment. 
Kennedy and the Berlin Wall by W.R. Smyser
K Blows Top by Peter Carlson
On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (and the 48th anniversary of its inception), WR Smyser, an American diplomat in Berlin in [...]

Granite State Gambling Poll Offers Good News for Both Sides
December 3, 2009steve vaillancourt
Editor’s Note:  Having waded through the 77-page gambling study report prepared by Andrew Smith at the UNH survey center, Rep. Steve Vaillancourt hits some of the highlights here.  The full report is available on the New Hampshire Gambling Study Commission’s web site (www:nh.gov/gsc/calendar/documents/20091117).  The [...]

As if I writing on this fine web site weren’t enough, I’ve accepted another assignment, as a weekly columnist for Manchester’s free weekly, the Manchester Express.
What a dilemma!  I won’t know whether to break stuff here or to hold back so I don’t scoop myself in the print media.
I guess it depends on the type [...]

State offices will be closed for both Thanksgiving and Friday; that means the final revenue numbers will hit on Monday, but all indications are the month should come in about as planned.
November is the month which generates the least revenues, so this is no surprise.  In fact, the “plan” called for a negative $1.7 million [...]

UPDATE–Rasmussen’s weekly generic number (my favorite barometer) just came in, and it ticked up to +7 for Republicans (44-37).  It was plus six for two weeks, so this confirms a trend.
Those old enough will remember Howard Cossell and one of his most famous sportscasting lines, “Down Goes Frazier!”
That’s all I can think of today as [...]

By Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, Hills. 15
                At last Thursday night’s dinner meeting with 18 Manchester area State Representatives at the Back Room, Millenium “principal” William Wortman asserted that the average salary for the 1000 jobs his group would create at the Rockingham Park racino would be $43,000-44,000.
               Realizing that the vast majority of racino employees are [...]

First the caveat.  November is by far the least significant month for revenues coming into state coffers.  In fact, a negative amount is built in for business taxes (due to refunds) and we’re already ahead on that front.
However, after being exactly on pace for October, real estate transfer taxes (which SHOULD all be in by now) [...]

The way to a legislator’s heart is through his/her stomach. 
If nothing else, the Las Vegas based Millenium Company, trying to foist a megamillion casino scheme on New Hampshire’s unsuspecting populace  has learned that.  Not content with the legislative luncheon it offered on veto day, Millenium is at it again, upping the ante this time (at [...]

ANOTHER RED HAMSPHIRE EXCLUSIVE
Not only will Manchester Mayor-Elect Ted Gatsas endorse former State Rep Terry Pfaff of Hooksett for Gatsas’s District 16 State Senate seat tomorrow, but Gatsas will also serve as campaign chairman for Pfaff.
The announcement will come at the Market Street offices which served as the Gatsas for Mayor headquarters and are currently housing [...]

November 12, 2009steve vaillancourt
First, let’s look at rooms and meals money taken in by the state for the past seven years (note how the trend is broken in 2009):
2003–$175.4 million
2004–184.5 million
2005–193.6 million
2006–200.0 million
2007–207.9 million
2008–214.3 million
2009–209.9 million
First four months of 2010 (based on 9%, not 8% and other enhancements)–          91.0 million vs. 100.2 million expected (251.1 million [...]