7-24-2013 News

Did you know that Vice President Joe Biden’s niece Alana Biden is a resident of Manchester?  Well, at least she was on Election Day last fall when she cast a ballot in Manchester’s Ward 1.  According to a news report from W M U R-T V, on the same day voter registration affidavit she signed, swearing she was a citizen of the city, she listed 145 Steinmetz Drive as her residence.  According to city property tax cards, the property is owned by the Patricia G Kalik Revocable Trust.  Following the election, she left the state and went to New York.  In the same story, WMUR reported that state senator Martha Fuller Clark had no fewer than 8 Democratic campaign workers register and vote from her single family home in Portsmouth.  All of this was able to happen thanks to Strafford County Superior Court Judge John Lewis’ order suspending newly enacted voter registration laws that would have prevented such shenanigans in response to a law suit filed by the League of Women Voters and the A C L U.  Ashley Pratte, Executive Director of Cornerstone Action said now is the time to strengthen our voter registration laws to crack down on this kind of fraud.  Ya’ think?  We’ve linked to WMUR’s story, our own interview with Secretary of State Bill Gardner (video of interview here) and his legal team, and a very telling blog post by Ed Naile, President of the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers about how the judge acted on trial day.

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has filed his quarterly financial report with the City Clerk’s office.  Gatsas reported raising more than one hundred fifty two thousand dollars toward his reelection campaign.  Gatsas, who is running for his third term, said he was pleased with his campaign’s progress and was humbled by the strong support it had received.  Gatsas, a Republican, will face Ward 12 Alderman Patrick Arnold, a Democrat and citizen activist Glenn RJ Ouellette, a gadfly, in the September 17th primary.  Gatsas will be a guest on our show this morning in the eight o’clock hour this morning.

News from our own backyard continues after this.

The 7th Annual Merrimack Fall Festival Business Expo is planned for Saturday, September 28, 2013, and this year promises to exceed the rest!  What an excellent and affordable way to put YOUR business in front of the more than 8,000 families and local residents who attend.  Discount applies when you sign up before August 1, 2013.

For more information, contact Event Organizer David Shaw at dnshawjr@gmail.com or (603) 943-1493, visit www.merrimackexpo.com, or call the Chamber office at (603) 424-3669.

Dedication to the protection of the First Amendment freedoms is not accomplished in a day’s work, but rather a lifetime. Recognizing the efforts taken to preserve free speech and press, the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications established the First Amendment Award in 2003. The award honors New Hampshire residents who exemplify freedoms granted in the First Amendment.  From a lawyer’s closing remarks, to a professor’s lecture, to concerned citizens’ participation in town governance, New Hampshire residents uphold the First Amendment liberties daily.  The Loeb School is now accepting nominations for this year’s award, which will be given at an event later in the Fall.  Visit the First Amendment page at Loeb School dot org for details.

Quote “We cannot trust that this data will not be abused, because N S A grants access by tens of thousands of government employees and private contractors.”  End Quote.  That’s just part of what US Senate Candidate Jim Rubens, a Republican from Etna, had to say in an Op Ed piece released yesterday about the ongoing controversy surrounding privacy and public safety in light of the revelations that our government is listening into and scanning just about every communication we send and receive.  In the article, which is linked to this newscast at Girard at Large dot com, Rubens argues the modern practices employed to collect data are really no different than the general warrants used by British soldiers in colonial days and reminds us that the 4th Amendment to the Constitution was written to prevent such broad, sweeping searches.  Rubens will be our guest in the 7 o’clock hour this morning.

That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is just 30 seconds away!