Guinta For Congress - “Follow the Leader”
TV ad 00:32
7/22/10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GPRljBjzc
Rhetoric
Narrator: Carol Shea-Porter
votes with Nancy Pelosi 98%
of the time.
Pelosi plays follow the leader,
and Shea-Porter follows
along.
Frank Guinta is a conservative
fighter, willing to shake things
up.
Guinta slashed spending,
eliminated waste, cut taxes,
and cut red tape for small
business.
On Screen Reality
Carol Shea-Porter Shea-Porter Voted Against $700 Billion Bailout
9½% “That Most Democrats Supported.” CQ Politics
unemployment In America profiled Shea-Porter saying she voted
Nancy Pelosi “against a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street
98% of the time that most Democrats supported.” [CQ Politics in
America Profile, 4/10/09]
Pelosi plays follow
the leader Shea-Porter Pushed Back Against Party
Out of control Leaders To Ensure Funds From The Auto
spending Bailout Bring Jobs Back To The U.S. In early
Shea-Porter follows 2009, CQ Politics wrote that Shea-Porter “wrote a
along letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California
and House Financial Services Committee
Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, asking
them to “ensure that any funds provided to
automakers incentivize that industry to keep and
bring jobs back to this country.” [CQ Politics in
America Profile, 4/10/09]
Guinta Congress Guinta’s Budget Would Have Had
Conservative “Devastating” Effect On City’s Fire
Fighter Department. In April of 2009, the Union Leader
reported that the Manchester Fire Department
Guinta (stays on would have fewer firefighters and probably would
screen as others be forced to take some trucks out of service if the
change) mayor’s budget proposal was approved. Six
Slashed Spending firefighters would be laid off under Guinta’s
Eliminated Waste proposal, Fire Chief James Burkush said. Another
Cut Taxes seven positions, now vacant, would go unfilled.
Cut red tape for Burkush characterized the loss in manpower as
small business “significant” and said it would affect service
levels. Station closings would be a possibility, he
said. He added that the impact would be even
worse if, as he expects, the firefighters’ union
bucks Guinta’s call for all city workers to take
seven days off work without pay. In that case,
Burkush said, the department could be looking at
25 layoffs, roughly one-tenth of its workforce.
“That number is devastating,” Burkush said. [Union
Leader, 4/07/09]
Guinta’s Budget Proposal In 2008 Cut
Education Funding By $7.3 Million: In 2008,
Guinta put forth a $276 million budget proposal
that cut funding for the Manchester school district
by $7.3 million from the previous year, a 5% cut.
Guinta said the proposed cuts were consistent with
the school district's projected losses in revenue. He
noted the district had continued to hire new
teachers, despite the loss of 1,500 students over the
previous four years. "Something is wrong with that
math," he said. [Union Leader, 4/1/08]

o Schools On Needs Improvement List

Nearly Tripled On His Watch: During
the 2005-2006 school year there were 7
Manchester district schools that had not
met AYP and were on the state’s needs
improvement list. During the 2008-2009
year there were 20. [New Hampshire
Department of Education, Assessment,
www.ed.state.nh.us]

Criticized by Opponent as “an Imposter,”

Inauthentic on Tax-Fighting. In September of
2005, Jeff Kassel, a third candidate for the mayoral
race, criticized Guinta and Baines in an op-ed in
The Union-Leader. He said Guinta would “say
practically anything to get elected, including
making the preposterous claim that he’s a tax
fighter. Guinta’s an impostor, pretending to help
beleaguered taxpayers while he’s mostly trying to
advance his political career and shovel millions at
developers.” Kassel said Guinta “voted for every
big project in Manchester” and “refused to sign the
spending cap referendum” Kassel co-authored
when he first asked Guinta, but “finally did so to
avoid the suggestion he was an emperor with no
tax-fighting clothes.” [Union-Leader, 9/15/05]

Campaigned On A Promise To Cut Taxes, But

Warned Of Property Taxes In 2006. In
December of 2005, Mayor-elect Guinta warned
homeowners and businesses to brace themselves
for higher 2006 tax bills due to the skyrocketing
values of their properties. The Union-Leader
reported that after a campaign promising tax cuts,
Guinta said he could not change the property
values captured in the following year’s citywide
revaluation. “Some property owners, unfortunately,
are going to see much higher assessments,” Guinta
said. “Those people who see higher-than-expected
assessments, that’s something a mayor cannot
control.” [Union-Leader, 12/04/05]
Guinta Proposed Budget In 2006 That Laid Off
Workers And Cut Funding For Manchester
Departments: In 2006, Guinta proposed a budget
that cut taxes by laying off 13 city workers,
maintaining funding for public schools and
slashing money to Manchester departments.
Specifically his plan called for a 1.23 percent tax
decrease, a 2.3 percent cut to city departments, and
an increase in school funding of less than 1
percent. Guinta’s budget also called for a hiring
freeze, leaving 25 and 40 positions unfilled that
were expected to open up that year. [Union Leader,
3/30/06]

Union Leader Noted Problems With Guinta’s

Budget: In 2006 the Union Leader wrote of
Guinta’s budget, “The mayor's budget does have
holes. Even Alderman Ted Gatsas, Guinta's ally,
says the mayor's budget is unworkable and has
proposed one of his own instead. There seems to
be no way to get to Guinta's proposed 1.23 percent
tax cut.” [Union Leader, 6/1/06]

Audit Revealed That A Lack Of Oversight In

Guinta’s Office Led To $23K In Fraudulent
Payments. In 2008, The Union-Leader reported
that officials in Guinta’s office and several
departments “missed key warning signs and over-
ridden security measures that might have stopped a
city employee from bilking the government of
close to $23,000,” according to a recently released
audit. The report said a “severe breakdown” in
oversight allowed the city’s former grants
administrator, Dennis Hebert, to cash thousands of
dollars in forged paychecks and to bill for work
that was never done. In some cases, officials who
should have provided oversight failed to demand
proof that the payments were legitimate. At other
times, the report said, the Mayor’s Office or the
acting finance officer allowed payments to go
through even after they were flagged by another
official. [Union-Leader, 2/04/08]

 “Severe Breakdown” Of Oversight

Under Guinta Allowed City Employee To
Steal $22,000: Between July 2006 and
September 2007 City Grants Administrator
Dennis Hebert stole $22,800 while overseeing
the AmeriCorps VISTA federal anti-poverty
program in Manchester. Ina report about the

He did it in Manchester, he’ll
do it in Washington.
Frank Guinta is a conservative
leader.
Guinta: I’m Frank Guinta and
I approve this message.
theft, auditor Kevin Buckley said a "severe
breakdown" in oversight allowed Hebert to get
away with the thefts for more than a year. The
report said city officials in the Mayor's Office
and other departments missed key warning
signs and failed to demand proof that Hebert's
reimbursement claims were legitimate. [Union
Leader, 8/5/08]
Guinta He’ll Do What?
A conservative
leader Manchester Unemployment Rose Significantly
While Guinta Was In Office. When Guinta took
office in 2006 the unemployment rate was 4.5%
and there were 2,700 unemployed individuals in
Manchester, and when he left the office in
December 2009, the unemployment rate was 6.7%.
[Bureau of Labor Statistics, State and Local
Unemployment, www.bls.gov]
Guinta Said He Opposed Stimulus Yet
Complained NH Was Not Receiving Its Fair
Share. The Hotline reported Kelly Ayotte sent an
email that Guinta was “grandstanding” when he
complained last year the Granite State wasn't
getting its share of stimulus dollars.” [Hotline On
Call, 7/15/10]
Conservative Group Helped Guinta “Evolve”.
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post wrote in June
2010 that, “In the early part of his career, Guinta
was more libertarian, voting against parental
consent for abortion and endorsing Rudy Giuliani
for president. ‘Guinta came into the race with a
libertarian streak,’ acknowleged Connie Mackey,
president of FRC Action PAC. ‘…It didn't seem at
first that gay marriage would be an issue he'd have
to look at as a small government libertarian, but he
saw what happened when it was forced to a vote in
New Hampshire, and he realized that it was an
issue.’…According to Mackey, Guinta has assured
social conservatives that he's moved closer to their
stances on the issues -- Mackey has a letter from
Guinta explaining his new views… ‘Candidates
evolve,’ said Mackey.” [Washington Post, 6/10/10]