Also on today’s menu:
ARPA Money No Longer Restricted
Bills Would Change Election Procedures
Trump Coming To New Hampshire
The state of New Hampshire will soon be cutting checks, using taxpayer money, to compensate investors who lost money — in some cases their life’s savings — in a $33 million Ponzi scheme that promised investment returns as high as 12 percent. The rationale for compensating the victims who made the risky investments was that state regulators failed to look into complaints until Financial Resources Mortgage collapsed more than a decade ago. The Attorney-General’s Office, the Banking Commission, and state securities regulators blamed each other for having ignored the complaints.
Scott Farah of Meredith and Donald Dodge of Belmont pleaded guilty to fraud, with Dodge serving six years and Farah serving 15 years before his release on November 25, 2022.
Among the approximately 150 people who soon will receive checks are Representative Harry Bean (R-Gilford) and his wife, Priscilla, who lost almost $2 million in the scheme. They will recover only about $190,000. InDepthNH.org obtained a complete list of those who will receive disbursements from the state.
Bean, who testified before the New Hampshire Legislature but abstained from the vote until it was part of the state’s operating budget, said his family’s investments were not to make money, but to be able to loan money to others who were having trouble getting loans.
ARPA Money No Longer Restricted
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has upheld a permanent injunction of the “tax mandate” in the American Rescue Plan Act that was intended to prohibit states from using the federal funds to make up for decreased tax collections or delays in tax increases. When Congress passed the legislation, it intended the money to be used to stimulate the economy in the face of pandemic distruptions. States were required to certify their compliance with the requirements in order to receive ARPA funds.
New Hampshire Attorney-General John Formella said, “The ARPA tax mandate was an improper and unconstitutional intrusion on the rights of New Hampshire’s elected policymakers to make decisions regarding state tax policy. We are grateful that the Eleventh Circuit upheld the District Court’s decision to issue a permanent injunction against the mandate, and that the State of New Hampshire’s sovereignty will remain protected.”
New Hampshire was among 13 states that challenged the tax mandate as an excessive and unconstitutional exercise of congressional power. The court determined that “the tax mandate violated the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution because States cannot ascertain the conditions it places on ARPA funds.”
On its face, the decision means that, when Congress approves spending for specific purposes, states can choose to spend the money any way they wish, whether or not it aligns with congressional intent. (Legal experts: Please tell me I’m wrong!)
Bills Would Change Election Procedures
Attempts to overhaul who gets to vote in party primaries — and who gets to run — suffered major setbacks when the House Election Law Committee voted to recommend they not move forward. House Bill 101 would have eliminated “open primaries” that allow unaffiliated voters to participate in a party’s primary and then return to an undeclared status. House Bill 116 would have significantly raised the entry requirements for candidates to appear on primary ballots for major offices.
Republicans are proposing a number of other bills that could affect voting, such as House Bill 405, which would require that only New Hampshire college students receiving in-state tuition would be able to vote. House Bill 460 would require people registering to vote to prove their U.S. citizenship. House Bill 496 would require that election monitors from each party must accompany a town or city clerk when delivering or collecting absentee allots at a nursing home or elder care facility.
Even more extreme, Senate Bill 156 would allow the secretary of state to ask registrants to provide email addresses, phone numbers, social media accounts, employer names, Social Security numbers, or addresses of friends and family members so they might be contacted after the election.
Then there are bills aimed addressing recent ballot problems. House Bill 452 would prohibit poll workers from folding absentee ballots, a major factor in problems with the 2020 Windham election. House Bill 495 would provide more explicit instructions for voters to properly make ballot selections.
Trump Coming To New Hampshire
Former president Donald Trump plans to return to New Hampshire on Saturday, January 28, to speak at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s annual meeting in Salem. Trump achieved his first win here during the 2016 presidential primary, but lost by 7 points to Joe Biden Jr. in 2020. That was the last time he came to New Hampshire.
State Republican Chair Steve Stepanek, who had been a co-chair of Trump’s 2016 campaign in the Granite State, praised Trump as “a strong defender of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary,” and said Republicans are excited about his visit.
GOP convention delegates will be picking a new state party leader this weekend at Salem High School. The meeting is open only to members of the state committee and invited guests.
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The Governor of Florida is in step with Sununu. As many Republican governors, believe that it’s ok to use funds designated for a purpose, and paid for by federal taxpayers, to be used as they want. That includes using funds for Covid relief to, for example, fly immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard to “make a point”.
The bills you mentioned have little to do with making voting safer.
Floridians voted to allow former non violent felons to be able to vote, by constitutional amendment. DeSantis then made it difficult for them to do so. People who wanted to vote had to pay all fines first. Poll tax anyone? That requirement was not in the constitutional amendment that we voted on. And, the state didn’t have anything set up for people to find out exactly what they might owe. Registration was encouraged to people who even said they didn’t know if they were eligible. Registrar’s said, the state will tell you if you are eligible or not. The state sent them voting cards. So, they thought it was ok to vote. It wasn’t until two years later when police showed up at their door that they discovered they were not.
Just two of many problems in our country today. I think it is a scary time.