Carol Shea-Porter: Guinta Hopes Voters Won’t Notice

New Hampshire Congressmen Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass cynically voted to finance an extension of the current interest rate on student loans by raiding a public health fund rather than supporting the Senate version that would close a tax loophole benefiting the wealthy.

Former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter says they are hoping voters won’t notice.

Congressman Frank Guinta and his party first refused to vote to keep student interest rates at 3.4% for college students.

Political pressure from Democrats, students, and middle class families became too great, so Congressman Guinta raided the preventive health fund, that pays for screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer among other things, to make up for the money that would have been collected from higher interest rates.

Congressmen Frank Guinta and Paul Ryan, instead of taking away tax loopholes for millionaires, are shifting resources from health screenings to students, hoping voters won’t notice. Voters already have noticed.

WMUR Granite State Poll: Shea-Porter, Kuster Lead

Updated: April 26, 2012, 6:25 p.m. 

Democratic challengers Carol Shea-Porter and Ann Kuster are leading in their likely Congressional rematches with Reps. Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass. In today’s WMUR Granite State Poll,  Shea-Porter leads Guinta 44%-39%, with 16% undecided. Kuster leads Bass by a 40%-39% margin, with 20% undecided.  

Guinta’s popularity is down slightly from February. 31% of 1st District residents have a favorable opinion of Guinta, 28% view him unfavorably. Absence has made the heart grow fonder for Shea-Porter who now owns a +13% net favorability rating, a 20-point gain from two years ago. 43% have a favorable opinion of Shea-Porter, 30% have an unfavorable opinion.

Bass’ favorability ratings are above water for the first time since his election. 39% of 2nd District adults have a favorable opinion of Bass, 36% view him unfavorably. 26% have a favorable opinion of Kuster with 13% having an unfavorable opinion. Kuster’s net favorability rating is +13%, compared to Bass’ +3%, but her name recognition has dropped since the 2010 election.

Both sitting Congressmen have had challenges since their election. Each was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Guinta was ranked as the 31st most conservative member of Congress by National Journal, more conservative than arch-conservative Reps. Allen West and Michele Bachmann.

The Granite State Poll is sponsored by WMUR-TV and conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The results are based on telephone interviews of 538 adults with a margin of error of +/- 4.2% and subsamples of 230 likely 1st District voters with a margin of error of +/- 6.5% and 251 likely 2nd District voters with a margin of error of +/- 6.2%. The survey was conducted on April 9-20, 2012 on landline and cellular telephones.

Q1 Fundraising: Shea-Porter Trails Guinta

Former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter raised over $101,000 in campaign contributions for the first quarter of 2012, nearly $80,000 shy of the total raised by Congressman Frank Guinta.

Shea-Porter, who refuses to accept corporate PAC money, essentially matched Guinta in individual contributions but came up well short in donations from political action committees.

With the departure of primary rival Joanne Dowdell, Shea-Porter now has a clear path to the Democratic nomination, but faces a decided financial disadvantage in her rematch with Guinta. Shea-Porter reported having $183,159 cash on hand at the end of the quarter compared to Guinta’s $674,747.

Itemized Contributions (NH) . . . . . . . . . . . $  31,115
Itemized Contributions (Outside NH) . . . . . . . $  24,353
Non-Itemized Contributions. . . . . . . . . . . . $  24,821
Political Committees  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $  21,000
Candidate Contribution  . . . . . . . . . . . . . $       0
Candidate Loan  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $       0
TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 101,289
Cash On Hand  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 183,159

Guinta: I Actually Voted For it Before I Voted Against It

Today Congressman Frank Guinta wrote leaders of the House and Senate urging them to work together to prevent $1 trillion in automatic, across-the-board defense cuts. Former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter correctly points out that Guinta voted for the bill that could result in the cuts he says he now opposes.

“Congressman Frank Guinta is once again trying to hide his irresponsible record on defense cuts.

“He first led our country to the brink of default by refusing to raise the debt ceiling until the last second, causing a downgrade in our credit rating and insisting on the tea party Republican provision that there be a super committee that must cut defense and domestic programs if they cannot compromise.

“Republicans refused to compromise, and now he asks the government to refuse to carry out the blanket defense cuts he voted for. His uncompromising extremism and irresponsible votes hurt defense and national security, and I worry about the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.”

Great Moments in Journalism: Limiting Modifiers

James Pindell put Executive Councilor Ray Burton’s fundraiser in perspective by comparing it to the just-announced quarterly fundraising totals for the 1st District Democratic congressional race with the headline, “Burton Raises More In 1 Night Than Congressional Candidates Raise In 3 Months.”

There was just one problem: Carol Shea-Porter raised $87,552 for the three month period, significantly more than Burton’s $75,000 evening.

The $75,000 haul … is almost more than nearly all Democratic candidates for the First Congressional District raised in the last three months of 2011. [emphasis added]

4th Quarter Congressional Fundraising Summary

Once again, Democrat Ann Kuster was the big winner in the congressional fundraising sweepstakes for the fourth quarter of 2011. The 2nd District congressional candidate raised over $330,000, nearly doubling the total from her likely Republican opponent, Rep. Charlie Bass, and bringing in more than New Hampshire’s two sitting congressmen combined.

Bass raised $167,500 with half of that coming from Political Action Committees. The PAC donations included $10,000 from Sen. Mitch McConnell and $2,500 from Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

                              Kuster-D     Bass-R
Itemized Contributions  . . . $202,666    $ 80,550
Non-Itemized Contributions. . $ 69,505    $  3,100
Political Committees  . . . . $ 58,951    $ 80,388

Total Receipts  . . . . . . . $331,202    $167,513

Cash On Hand  . . . . . . . . $828,036    $600,264

In the 1st District, Carol Shea-Porter led the pack of Democrats vying for the Republican-held seat, raising over $87,000. Andrew Hosmer brought in nearly $51,000 and Joanne Dowdell trailed with $43,500. Dowdell spent almost as much as she raised last quarter. Hosmer had less than $12,000 cash on hand at the end of the year.

Congressman Frank Guinta raised over $130,000, more than Shea-Porter but less than the combined totals from his three Democratic challengers. Guinta paid himself $22,000 from the campaign funds as a loan repayment, but still has a significant advantage in cash on hand, ending the year with over $565,000 compared to Shea-Porter’s $142,500.

                              Dowdell-D   Hosmer-D Shea-Porter-D  Guinta-R
Itemized Contributions  . . . $ 27,575    $ 40,630    $ 29,810    $ 67,500
Non-Itemized Contributions. . $ 13,941    $  9,254    $ 27,590    $  5,215
Political Committees  . . . . $      0    $  1,000    $ 30,000    $ 51,379

Total Receipts. . . . . . . . $ 43,516    $ 50,884    $ 87,552    $130,522

Cash On Hand  . . . . . . . . $ 98,445    $ 11,617    $142,496    $565,273

Rep. Murphy: Taxes an “Incredible Injustice”

Writing in support of CACR 13, a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit new taxes on personal income, state Rep. Keith Murphy (R-Bedford) says it would be an “incredible injustice” to ask the New Hampshire residents to pay some portion of their income to support their state government.

[T]he income earned by the citizens of our state is theirs and theirs alone, through their hard work and risk and savings. Granite Staters of every profession and income level work hard … and it would be an incredible injustice for the state to demand some portion of that money.

In an unrelated op-ed, former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter responds.

We benefit when we “pool” our money. As citizens, we have a common interest in creating and sustaining a great nation that can pay its bills and invest in its people. Clean up duplicate efforts. Catch the cheats. Hold recipients of our money accountable. But Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. had it right when he said, “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.

The New Hampshire House is expected to vote on CACR 13 tomorrow.