Stephen Calls Out Lynch on Donor Town Hypocrisy

In an article posted in today’s Portsmouth Herald, Gov. Lynch promised that donor towns would be eliminated under his watch.  This, however, flies in the face of what he and Democrats in Concord have done this year.  Following the Portsmouth Herald piece, John Stepehen’s campaign issued the following press release.

Stephen Calls Out Lynch For Allowing Law To Restore Donor Towns To Pass, Now Says He Opposes Them

MANCHESTER, NH- John Stephen, Republican nominee for New Hampshire Governor, today pointed out that despite Governor Lynch’s statement in today’s Portsmouth Herald in which he said, “We’re not going to have donor towns. Period.” conflicts with Lynch’s action where he allowed a bill (Senate Bill 539) to become a law in 2008 to restore donor towns in New Hampshire. According to Pat Remick, coordinator of the Coalition Communities, and a column in today’s New Hampshire Union Leader by Charlie Arlinghaus, President of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, there will be 36 donor towns – towns that pay more in statewide property taxes than they receive in education grants – across the state starting July 1, 2011.

“In 2008, Governor Lynch had a chance to keep his campaign promise and ensure that donor towns never came back to New Hampshire,” Stephen said. “Unfortunately, he refused to use his veto pen and stop what was going to happen when this bill became law – that we would have donor towns returning. Today, we have a budget-busting education funding law that we can’t afford and the state is back to pitting communities against communities with donor towns. Now, during an election, the Governor again says we won’t have donor towns, but why should the voters believe he’ll keep his word this time?”

Stephen said that the solution to the state’s education funding must involve a constitutional amendment to eliminate the statewide property tax and to ensure that local communities and the state legislature make decisions on funding policy, as well as a targeted aid formula that helps communities in need and ensures that cities and towns don’t face abrupt drops in school funding aid.

“Ultimately, we need a leader as governor who will put his full energy into passing a constitutional amendment, not simply give it lip service,” Stephen added. “We need to ensure that local communities are in charge of education, not the Supreme Court. Sadly, Governor Lynch says he supports a constitutional amendment, but in six years he has nothing to show for it. We need a different direction.”