Bosse Backs More Choice in Health Care, What About Bob?

(Nashua) Republican Grant Bosse today called on rival Bob Clegg to drop his push for increased health care mandates which are driving up health insurance costs for New Hampshire families. Bosses’s Comprehensive Health Care Plan would allow all Americans to buy health insurance across state lines, avoiding the costly mandates that Clegg has helped impose in New Hampshire.

“We can’t mandate our way to lower health insurance costs. We need to expand consumer choice, and leave health care decisions to patients and their doctors,” Bosse said. “Bob Clegg has consistently voted for more mandates and more government interference in health care, and that’s going to mean higher health insurance premiums for all of us.”

Clegg supported Governor John Lynch’s recent health insurance legislation which creates a state bureaucracy to design a health care plan for all New Hampshire insurance companies, set the price for that plan, and require every company in the state to offer it. Clegg was also the lead sponsor of the bariatric surgery mandate that Lynch let pass into law without his signature. Both bills will decrease health care options for New Hampshire families, and lead to higher health insurance premiums.

“Bob Clegg’s health care mandates were too much for even John Lynch to support, but we’ll be paying for them anyway,” Bosse added. “I want to expand health care options for New Hampshire families, and help make health insurance affordable by getting Congress out of the way. What about Bob?”

To learn more about Bosse’s aggressive grassroots campaign, go to www.Bosse2008.com.

What About Bob?

Why Won’t Clegg Take Taxpayer Protection Pledge?

(Keene) Republican Grant Bosse today asked why rival Bob Clegg has so far refused to take the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge”. Bosse has pledged to oppose any increase in federal taxes. Clegg signed the pledge from Americans for Tax Reform as a candidate for State Senate, but hasn’t made a similar commitment in his campaign for Congress this year.

“Why won’t Bob Clegg take the Taxpayer Protection Pledge? He’s taken it in the past. Why is he now open to increasing taxes if elected to Congress?” Bosse asked. “I’ve made a firm commitment to not only oppose tax increases, but to actually cut federal spending. What about Bob?”

Bosse is proposing 50 specific spending cuts over the final 50 days of the Republican Primary campaign. He signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge on Tax Day, April 15th. Americans for Tax Reform lists Bob Clegg as signing the pledge as a state candidate, but does not list him taking the federal Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Jeb Bradley, Jennifer Horn, and John Stephen are also pledge signers.

“Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem. The answer can’t be higher taxes,” Bosse said. “I’ve committed to both cutting spending and opposing any tax increase. What about Bob?”

To learn more about Bosse’s aggressive grassroots campaign, go to www.Bosse2008.com.

Earmarks: How Congress Legalized Corruption

To absolutely no one's surprise, Barack Obama has been securing federal funds for his top fundraisers:

In 2006, Sen. Obama requested an earmark $300,000 to replace and update the projector system at the Adler Planetarium. In 2008, he requested $3,000,000 for replacement of the projector system and other equipment in the Sky Theater. For reference, this is three times the amount he earmarked for the HIV/AIDS Policy and Research Institute at Chicago State University.

While the Adler Planetarium earmarks look normal on the surface, there is a catch. The Chairman and two of the Vice Chairman of the Adler Planetarium Board of Trustees raised a total of almost $250,000 for Sen. Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. The Adler Planetarium was probably pleasantly surprised when they found that their earmark increased by $2.7 million dollars, in other words, by a factor of ten.

Bob Clegg continues to defend earmarks, and thinks we can reform the process. That's not even close to good enough. We need to abolish earmarks, and shut down these political slush funds once and for all.

Hattip: Instapundit

What About Bob?

Bosse Challenges Clegg to Take No Earmarks Pledge


(Concord) Republican Grant Bosse today challenged rival Bob Clegg to renounce his support for a failed earmark system that has corrupted how Congress spends taxpayers’ money. Bosse is the first candidate in New Hampshire to take the “No Earmarks Pledge”, promising to not only vote against pork-barrel spending in Congress, but also pledging to forego secret earmarks for himself.

“Why does Bob Clegg insist on defending a corrupt earmarks system, which uses worthy federal projects to cloak wasteful pork-barrel spending from public outrage?” Bosse said. “I want to abolish earmarks once and for all. What about Bob?”

Earmarks are individual spending projects, placed in the Conference Reports accompanying federal appropriations. Because they are not included in the text of the bill itself, earmarks do not receive open votes on the House and Senate floors, can not be amended, and are not subject to the same notice and disclosure requirements as other legislation. FreedomWorks has sponsored the “No Earmarks Pledge” in an effort to break Congress’s addiction to earmarks. Bosse is the first New Hampshire Congressional candidate to take the “No Earmarks Pledge” and has been joined by Republicans John Stephen and Jim Steiner.

“Abolishing earmarks will give the public a look at the backroom deals that fuel out of control spending. It will also prevent members of Congress from hiding their pork among the worthy federal projects that would have no problem receiving funding in an open budget process,” Bosse added. “I wiil fight to abolish earmarks, and refuse to participate in this corrupt practice. What about Bob?”

To learn more about Bosse’s aggressive grassroots campaign, go to www.Bosse2008.com.

From PolitickerNH.com

Brian Lawson from PolitickerNH.com writes about Grant's stern opposition to a new law proposed by Bob Clegg that will increase health insurance mandates, reduce consumer choice, and increase health care cost.

"He defends ever-increasing government regulation because private health insurance companies actually look to make a profit. But the micromanagement of Bob Clegg's Nanny State isn't about improving access; it's about having government make decisions best left to patients and doctors," Bosse said in a statement.

Supporting New Hampshire's returning troops

I'm not generally a fan of study committees and commissions. At the State House, and in Congress, I've seen study committees used as a way for elected officials to avoid voting up or down on bad ideas on sympathetic issues. Say a colleague wants to use tax dollars to buy every child in New Hampshire a puppy. Well, that's a bad idea, but who wants to go on record opposing kids having puppies. Instead, let's create a study committee or a Blue Ribbon Commission to look at the idea.

However, today we see the exception to that rule; a new Commission that is actually being formed to find some new information. This afternoon, Governor Lynch signs HB 1335 into law, creating a Commission to study the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury suffered by New Hampshire soldiers and veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sadly, the Veterans Administration doesn't devote nearly enough to studying the unseen damage to our troops that doesn't show up on an MRI. Rather than concentrate on service-related injuries, the VA tries compete with private hospitals in providing general health care services, and fails. We shouldn't need a New Hampshire Commission to look into PTSD and traumatic brain injury, but we do.

Since I took Bob Clegg to task for his bad idea on health insurance this morning, it's only fair to give him credit here. He's a cosponsor of HB 1335. He, along with Senator Joe Kenney, and Representatives Sharon Carson, DJ Bettencourt, and Al Baldarsaro, should be thanked for their efforts. I look forward to seeing the Commission's recommendations in December.

Who Said It?

The health insurance industry is a regulated industry. As a for-profit business, its goal is to make money. That is why decades ago government began regulating it to ensure equity and fair access.

Paul Hodes?
Hugo Chavez?
Bob Clegg?

I'll never understand those who say that health care is too important to be left to the market, and then trust government to get it right. Mandates drive up costs, and drive out competition. This makes it harder for people to find affordable health care. We can not mandate our way to lower health care costs. Jeanne Shaheen tried and failed. John Lynch is trying, but this latest mandate was too much for even him to publicly support. Now Bob Clegg wants to micromanage your health care, and the results is going to be higher insurance premiums and fewer choices for New Hampshire families.

We have a clear choice on September 9th. My message of smaller government and more personal responsibility, or more of Bob Clegg's Nanny State.