The Swearing In.

April 1^st will be a day in New Hampshire history.

A Day In New Hampshire HistoryDRED Commissioner Jeff Rose gets sworn in.DRED Commissioner Jeff Rose.

I’ll have to be honest upfront from what I’ve seen of the Hassan Administration and her Governor’s Council the best that can be hoped for is that the voters see how little that they’re getting from the ambition that exists in Concord.

Darkness Is The Absence Of Light. Notice I Didn't Say Anything About Leadership.Ambition is the right word here.

Notice I didn’t say anything about leadership.

I’m also looking forward to any responses that I get from Commissioner Rose that I submitted via Governor’s Councilor Burton.

I’ll post them here on NHInsider.com.

How NH Taxpayers Get Railroaded.

Investing in any NH railroad project carries a great deal of risk. More often than not it's a losing position for the NH Taxpayer.So I’ve submitted both issues and question(s) to DRED Commissioner Rose via Governor’s Councilor Ray Burton.

These next few blogs will be some background and basis information about what I’ve asked for. I’m trying to stay positive here but my real feeling is that the only responses that are headed my way will be a mixture of fluff, flawed ideas and bad politics.

How NH Taxpayers Get Railroaded.

This is a copy of a blog that appeared on this very board. The project happened under the watch of then DRED Commissioner George Bald.

I’m now wondering if the future will be the same for investing in a railroad project like this one.

Executive Councilor Ray Burton proposes to spend $850,000 of taxpayer money on a crumbling railroad line that runs through northern New Hampshire.

The St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad known as the SLR runs from Norton, Vermont through Groveton and Berlin before ending up in a small emaciated town in southern Maine named Danville Junction. The SLR was once a viable and profitable railroad but today this is no longer, with reasons running from the decline of papermaking to the competitve advantages of intermodal trucking throughout the northeast. So my question is why exactly Councilor Burton proposes to spend this $850,000 on what essentially amounts to a financial subsidy for a failing railroad in northern New Hampshire?

Councilor Burton responded to my request by outlining the $850,000 being used for about 23 miles of railroad improvements and added the role of the Federal Government in this project. “To his credit Congressman Hodes has secured another $450,000 for this project.” Burton stated. In a letter to the Editor Burton also mentioned “economic stabilization” as a reason why this project should go forward. During the past two years the papermills in Berlin, Groveton and Gorham have either shut down or sharply reduced capacity. Somehow I don’t Councilor Burton taking any position on these mill closures which resulted in some 600 workers losing their jobs. Papermills incidently, that would have provided rail traffic for the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad. I also don’t recall Councilor Burton mentioning anything about the very idea of “economic stabilization” when the mills announced they were closing.

I’ve been following the SLR and its operations since at least 1994 including its predessors, Emons Holdings Inc. and the Canadian National Railway. Every economic analysis I’ve done on this railroad shows a carrier that has done nothing but cut overhead costs, lay-off workers and continually ask for governement grant money. The later of which seems to have the strong support of the long-time councilor from the north.

Questions.

Initially my plan was to name this blog, Keep Bryce. Dump Rose.  In an argument against the current DRED political nominee in favor of keeping the interim commissioner in place.

Not sure this is exactly fair.

When Bryce was nominated as the interim commissioner I actually called two members of the Executive Council to express my concern over the qualifications of Mr. Bryce to be a full commissioner.

It never crossed my mind that the eventual nominee would have fewer qualifications than Mr. Bryce.

Politics is like that.

That doesn’t make it right especially for an important position like DRED Commissioner. I wasn’t at the recent Executive Council hearing I had to be at work but if I were some of the questions I’d have for Mr. Rose.

1. Other than politics and public relations have you ever had any other form of employment, say private business or ventures that required you to take risk, demonstrate independent leadership or meet a payroll?
2. Please describe your strategy to create jobs and taxbase for New Hampshire?
3. Do you think Cannon Mountain should be leased?
4. Maine and Vermont are now moving substantially ahead of New Hampshire in economic development, does DRED need to be concerned with this?
5. Would you support eliminating the DRED position(s) in northern NH to save taxpayer money or at least provide an explanation of what these positions actually accomplish?  
6. Do you support Regional Planning in New Hampshire and the implementation of Granite State Futures (GSF), regardless of whether local communities want it or not?
7. Would you support reopening the Int’l Trade Resource Center under new leadership or would you select Dawn Wivell to run it again?

 I don’t know how Mr. Rose would answer these question(s).  But I do think the answers would shed some light on whether he would be effective as DRED Commissioner.

  I have my suspecions...

Should Sig Sauer Move?

Should Sig Sauer Move To Mississippi?News headlines including the Union Leader are reporting on efforts in Mississippi including the speaker’s office to encourage NH arms manufacturer Sig Sauer to move to Ol’ Miss.

I’m confident that the offer and incentives will be hard to turn down.

Free real estate, tax credits, discount electricity and a hungry workforce is what Sig Sauer will find in Mississippi or they can stay here in New Hampshire and face the challenges here.

Increasing taxation, property values and ever increasing regulation(s) to name a few. The recently passed R&D tax credit might be something of an advantage but again it will be pale in comparison to what they’ll find in Mississippi.

This is also an example of why I think the Rose nomination to be the next DRED Commissioner should fail, and especially with his reported answers before the recent Executive Council hearing. I don’t think his background as a congressional staffer and public relations executive are the best credentials to retain and attract business to be in New Hampshire.I also think as time goes by more states like Mississippi will be coming to New Hampshire to encourage business to leave the Granite State.

Something needs to be done.

How I'd Create Jobs For NH.

One of the things I did this winter was to participate as a public member in the creation of the NH State Rail Plan as advanced by NHDOT and their contracted consultants.

Today, I’m very pleased to report that my ideas were not only incorporated but expanded upon and which, if done, will create very significant economic development and jobs for New Hampshire.

So what are my ideas?

This will be short- but in a word intermodal and the creation of freight movement and matrix systems that incorporate railroad, trucking, economies of scale and how this is ultimately used to lower costs for shippers, receivers and any manufacturing or retail venture that adds value. I don’t think it’s unreasonable that my ideas, if done, will create at least $15 million dollars in tax base expansion and at least 250 new jobs a year statewide.

Transportation is an integral role in the creation and retention of jobs. Yet somehow this is going largely ignored by political candidates. Kevin Smith isn't the only one.

So why am I telling you this?

Now compare my ideas with that of Gubernatorial Candidate Kevin Smith:

Economic Development and Job Growth

“By leveraging existing state resources, we can create partnerships between companies and the state's educational institutions to strategically put students on careers paths in the emerging job sectors of the 21st century. This effort can be extended to aggressively recruit CEO's and small businesses to move their operations, in part or in whole, from Massachusetts and other New England states to New Hampshire through strategic tax incentives and smart marketing of our built-in economic advantages.”- Source Kevin Smith for Governor Website.

What exactly does this mean?  What emerging job sectors?

Strategic tax incentives in an interesting idea; but how does the candidate propose to finance the lost tax revenue from these tax incentives?  Imagine the finance committee raising the BPT to fund these tax credits.

Smart marketing.  This certainly plays well doesn’t it.

Vis a Vis.       FLUFF.