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Steve Winter State Representative District 3	July 2, 2011 "Why we are broke" Steven Winter represents the towns of Newbury and Sutton, Merrimack District 3, in the NH House of Representatives. Representative Winter is a member of the House Executive Department & Administration  Committee, The Special Committee on Public Employee Pension Reform and the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR).

"Let our children judge us for the fight we engage in on their behalf."
 - Professor Ulf Andersson

An InterTown Record reader from Wilmot chided Sen. Bob Odell and me last week for saying that the state of New Hampshire is broke. He said we are not broke because we have other sources of revenue available to us. It’s true that we do still have some money in the bank even though Governor Lynch has left us with a puny ‘rainy day’ fund of about $1M rather than the normal target of more than $50M.

My personal definition of ‘broke’ is when I do not have enough money to pay my bills. I have been there during my life and I can tell you I certainly felt broke. Had we not made the cuts, we would not have had the money to pay our bills. Our January revenue estimates were criticized as too low. But the ensuing months have proven them to be correct and prudent.

Since the Democrat legislature over the last four years tapped virtually all of the customary revenue sources (100+ times), our reader must be referring to either an income tax or a sales tax or both. But if sales taxes and an income tax are so readily available, whey did the past two Democrat legislatures not institute one? They not only controlled the Senate and the House, they also controlled the governor’s office. They could have easily put a broad-based tax in place. Why did they not do so?

He goes on to say that "where (we) are coming from" is that we hate spending on people who don’t deserve it because they are morally inferior, and that we don’t believe in education, and that we don’t believe in social safety nets, and if you get sick, tough luck. These accusations are repugnant and unworthy of a civil discourse.

When you read over the budget, you will see that the safety nets remain. HHS still has over $3.7 BILLION to take care of the most disadvantaged among us. While every school district gets exactly the same "adequacy" funding as in the last budget, supplemental funds were added for various special needs. This budget provides 9.7% MORE money to schools than the previous Democratic budget. We worked diligently to provide funds where needed, but we prioritized between needs and wants.

If the voters don’t like what we accomplished, they are indeed free to throw us out. I’m not a professional politician. I’m a volunteer citizen legislator. If I decide to run again, I will run proudly on my record of fiscal responsibility to the people of New Hampshire.