Margin Campaigns.

The upcoming race for the Second Congressional District gets more interesting by the day. The latest entry to this western district is Concord Firefighter and Democratic State Representative John Dejoie.

I think this is a margin campaign.

There are already other candidates and capital in this race that will far outpace anything that is proposed or brought forward by Mr. Dejoie.  For starters I’m having a hard time visualizing Mr. Dejoie even visiting Coos County and making any type of coherent political statement about how things could be better. And he would have to say something. Because he is a democrat and pulling a journalist Jennifer Horn attack on the incumbent isn’t an option.

Coos County is one part of the second congressional district. There are others.

The fires glow in the distance.

Hanover. A place I’d term the intellectual capital and the region of ideas. Strong democratic base that I think is more or less moving decisively southward into places like Claremont. Again does a Concord Firefighter and State Representative do well against campaigns like Kuster or possibly a Swett entry into this race?

This would require defeating not one but two well capitalized campaigns.

I think Mr. Dejoie would need something powerful to make this happen.

Source: Wumpscut-Wreath of Barbs.

Legislative Ethics Committee.

About a week and a half ago I noticed that the NH House Committee on Ethics announced that it was starting an investigation of the matter relative to the state lease of the Milford-Bennington Railroad and the influence of Rep. Peter Leishman over the lease. Rep. Leishman is the owner of the Milford-Bennington Railroad.

I’m not sure this investigation is even warranted. Rather than investigating Rep. Leishman and the lease process used by the state I think the investigation should have focused on the vote to grant the contract and why there was no public hearing after the issue was raised by Pan Am Railways, another applicant for the lease of this state owned railroad line. I think the Governor and Executive Council acted too quickly to have a vote and renew the lease once the investigation by the Attorney General was completed. Pan Am Railways has made claims that NH could generate more revenue from the Milford-Bennington lease and I think this should have been explored further. I’m also wondering why the Executive Council moved so quickly for a vote after the issues had been raised by Pan Am Railways, “I’m ready for a vote.” said Executive Councilor Ray Burton in response to some of these questions which I think came from the Concord Monitor newspaper.

So now the NH House Committee on Ethics has chosen to investigate Rep. Leishman, what do they hope to find? And more to the point what will they find that the Attorney General didn’t find when they investigated this?  

The State of New Hampshire is the largest railroad in the state. New Hampshire now owns hundreds of miles of abandoned and operating railroad lines and rights of way across the state. The state does not operate the lines it owns; it grants leases to various operators the Milford-Bennington is one of them, there are others. I’m stating this because in my experience with raillroad operating leases the state saves hundreds if not millions of dollars a year through one word, maintenance. Most if not all of the lease operators like the Milford-Bennington, Conway Scenic, Hobo Railroad, etc. do the required inspection and maintenance on the state owned lines versus the state having to seek outside railroad contractors to do the work. I’ve never seen maintenance listed on any of the state lease contracts. The state owned lines are managed by the NH Department of Transportation, Bureau of Railroads who oversee the leases. I’m thinking and speculating that NH DOT wanted to get a lease signed, they had an experienced lessee in the Milford-Bennington Railroad and they didn’t want to attempt anything new in granting the lease to Pan Am Railways regardless of claims by Pan Am Railways that there could be more revenue to the state. I've never seen any evidence that Pan Am Railways has shown how the state could get more revenue from the Milford-Bennington lease.

So my argument here is that politics had nothing to do with this railroad lease. Maybe the Legislative Ethics Committee will find this out as well.

Coal Train Derails In Nashua

 This incident I think shows what is wrong with the NH Rail Authority and more specifically, its leader former Senator Peter Burling.

The various news accounts reported the extent of the derailment which was seven loaded coal cars “on the ground” and the disruption of motor vehicle traffic in the greater Nashua area in addition to the delay of an inbound coal shipment to PSNH- Bow.

As reported in the Union Leader newspaper Sen. Burling jumped at the chance to state the condition of the trackage was the reason for this derailment. Burling later went on to state that the NH Rail Authority supports expending capital, likely taxpayer capital on this railroad line. He doesn’t offer any financial or economic reasoning beyond this statement.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is investigating the derailment of the Bow Unit Coal Train as it’s called which is operated by Pan Am Railways. I believe that the FRA will conclude its investigation in support of and what executives at Pan Am Railways believe. And this is.

That wheel assemblies “David Fink, president of Pan Am, said preliminary investigation shows that one of the “truck sides” – or wheel assemblies, which contain axles, springs, and other equipment for suspension – had fallen off one of the cars. That caused a chain reaction among several subsequent cars.”- Source: Nashua Telegraph Newspaper. Karen Lovett. 11/18/09.

Wheel assemblies not track conditions.

I’m not a supporter of Sen. Burling or the NH Rail Authority. I don’t think they have done a single thing for New Hampshire except issue statements to the media touting the idea of the capitol corridor and asking for millions of dollars in grant funding to finance a project which has no basis or even analysis as to how it would be successful.

I think Pan Am Railways and it predecessor railroads, Guilford Rail System and the Boston & Maine Corporation have done an effective job in running this rail line and practicing capitalism at its best. Serving their customers and running a railroad!

 In the meantime I think Sen. Burling needs to stop making statements to the media.

What If Food Like Politicians Told The Truth

On route 2 in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in the town of Danville there is a fairly good sized farm with an incredible view of the mountains. As an example of how good this view is, on a clear day I believe it is possible to see the ski slopes of Sugarbush Ski Area in Vermont and Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire from this town which is just west of St. Johnsbury.

This farm is interesting because on any given day a number of cows can be seen grazing in this area. But I don’t think these are just any cows as they seem almost too proud and dignified to be simple cows. As these are Black Angus cows. On a clear day, especially in early fall just as the leaves are starting to turn it’s a picture of lush green grass, shiny black coats and the vision of the mountains in the distance.

But regardless of how good this looks reality has to set in.

A reality that shows that these Black Angus cows exist for one reason. And the reason is to be slaughtered to bring a market price for the demand. And I’m sure there is demand. These Black Angus have been well cared for and any animal that looks this good has to mean one thing in the words of former President George W. Bush “good eats.”

Good eats.

I thought of this as recently I continued reading the book, The Omnivore’s Dillemma by Michael Pollan which is a survey about the role of food in life. I thought of the farm in Danville and the Black Angus when the book began a discussion of industrial feedlots and the industrialization of beef which is then sold to mass markets throughout the U.S.  The conditions in the feedlots as you might imagine are not in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. In one of the chapters there was reference to the labeling of food.

Rather than quote the chapter I’ll pose the question. When you go to the supermarket to purchase a steak what is it that you’re looking for? If the label on the various labels said the following which would you purchase?

1. Vermont certified Black Angus. Free range fed locally produced grain.

2. Feedlot #3490. Sioux City, Iowa. Compliance with all USDA regulations.

Not a difficult decision here. I think most people would opt for the Vermont Angus. Of course the prices for the cuts are different as are the locations where it is sold. Clearly, the feedlots are more competitive than the small Danville farmer.

I guess the question I’m asking is what is the responsibility of the regulator here? Should the truth be on the labels? Imagine if the food actually told the truth? How many people would purchase the $7.95 London Broil at Shaw’s if they knew of the conditions in the feedlots and the industrial feeding of corn to the animals that are on their plate. Even if the Black Angus was $12.95.

I’m confident there could also be an argument to be a vegetarian here and this isn’t what I’m arguing. My argument is for more information.  

Perhaps on the exterior of every meat package there could be a simple one word description: feedlot or free-range.

Individuals vote for their elected officials, shouldn’t they be allowed to vote for their food as well?

Kindling Starts A Fire

Why is Jennifer Horn running for Congress?

Why.

I’ve asked this question and I’m asking it again.

An example of my frustration is the guest editorial that appears on this very board. All the issues facing New Hampshire and the Second Congressional District and Ms. Horn writes an article about being a Republican.

Where is the substance to this campaign? During the last campaign cycle, at least in northern New Hampshire, Horn used her campaign capital attacking Congressman Hodes and stating in well worded press releases issues of national security. Issues of national security are important, but this does not define what the candidate would do for the Second Congressional District and New Hampshire. So where is the definition of what Jennifer Horn would do for the Second Congressional District?

In politics I think it’s easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize candidates and what they are or are not doing. I’m sure Ms. Horn does have strategic reasons for running for this office and this will be borne out through the campaign process. All I can say that I have not spent a great deal of time researching the Horn campaign and what it stands for. This is my fault but I would still feel better if Ms. Horn would use her journalism and communication skills to talk about issues that are at ground level in the 2^nd district. As an example: the Republican candidate could write a guest editorial about Coos County and some of the challenges in this area of New Hampshire.

Sometimes when I get frustrated about New Hampshire politics I start thinking about Vermont. Today I started thinking about the upcoming ski season which I’m excited about including a scene I’ve seen a couple of times during my ski adventures to Killington, Sugarbush, Stowe and Jay Peak. The scene usually happens after a great ski day is over, the sun is setting over the mountains and the cold and dark of night is starting to set in. I’m getting my ski boots off, sore and into my car to head back to NH. I stop at a small local store, usually in an old wood frame building and out front there are wire bound bundles of kindling wood for sale, small piles. Think matchstick wood. And the price:  $11.50 plus 6% VT Sales Tax, worse yet is that Killington has a 1% Local Option Sales Tax. So give or take. $12.20.

This is kindling defined.   

More interesting are the individuals that purchase these matchsticks and load them into their cars: nice cars like shiny BMWs, Lexus, Mercedes Benz, Volvos and the Snabbs. I’m sure this bundled kindling will be most helpful in starting a useless fire in the nice slope side condos that are in the area.

This video on UTUBE made me think of this 23 wooden pallets he couldn’t get rid of.  But throwing the Qualcomm on the floor. Not good.

Source: dieselducy.