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Guinta For Congress - “Follow the Leader”

TV ad 00:327/22/10http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GPRljBjzc 

Rhetoric On Screen Reality

 Narrator: Carol Shea-Porter votes with Nancy Pelosi 98%of the time.

Carol Shea-Porter 9 ½ %unemployment Nancy Pelosi98% of the time

Pelosi plays follow the leader,and Shea-Porter followsalong.

Pelosi plays followthe leader Out of controlspendingShea-Porter follows

along

Shea-Porter Voted Against $700 Billion Bailout

“That Most Democrats Supported.” in 2008, for voting against a $700 billion rescue plan for WallStreet that most Democrats supported. “The lack of oversight and accountability on Wall Street has

 been devastating to both the health of our financialsystem and the security of the middle class,” shesaid.” [CQ Politics in America Profile, 4/10/09]

Shea-Porter Pushed Back Against Party

Leaders To Ensure Funds From The Auto

Bailout Bring Jobs Back To The U.S. In early2009, CQ Politics wrote that Shea-Porter “wrote aletter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Californiaand House Financial Services CommitteeChairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, askingthem 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]

Frank Guinta is a conservativefighter, willing to shake thingsup.

Guinta CongressConservativeFighter 

Guinta Wants To Take Us Back To The Failed

Policies Of The Past

Guinta Said He Supports Extending The Bush

Tax Cuts. The Laconia Citizen reported inFebruary 2010 that, “Guinta said he believesgovernment has a role to play in fostering anenvironment where businesses can succeed and for that reason, supports the continuation of tax cuts

introduced by President George W. Bush.” [LaconiaCitizen, 2/24/10]

Guinta Signed the Americans for Tax Reform

Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge,sponsored by Americans for Prosperity is an anti-tax pledge. On signing the pledge, Guinta said, “If I am given the chance to go to Washington in

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 November, I will oppose all tax increases and willhelp to stop deficit spending because I have beenlistening to the people of the First CongressionalDistrict.” [Red Hampshire, Guinta Release, 6/17/10]

Guinta slashed spending,

eliminated waste, cut taxes,and cut red tape for small business.

Guinta (stays on

screen as otherschange)Slashed SpendingEliminated WasteCut TaxesCut red tape for small business

Guinta’s Budget Would Have Had

“Devastating” Effect On City’s FireDepartment. In April of 2009, the Union Leader 

reported that the Manchester Fire Departmentwould have fewer firefighters and probably would be forced to take some trucks out of service if themayor’s budget proposal was approved.  Sixfirefighters would be laid off under Guinta’s proposal, Fire Chief James Burkush said. Another seven positions, now vacant, would go unfilled.Burkush characterized the loss in manpower as“significant” and said it would affect servicelevels. Station closings would be a possibility, he

said. He added that the impact would be evenworse if, as he expects, the firefighters’ union bucks Guinta’s call for all city workers to takeseven days off work without pay. In that case,Burkush said, the department could be looking at25 layoffs, roughly one-tenth of its workforce.“That number is devastating,” Burkush said. [UnionLeader, 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 withthe school district's projected losses in revenue. Henoted the district had continued to hire newteachers, despite the loss of 1,500 students over the previous four years. "Something is wrong with thatmath," he said. [Union Leader, 4/1/08]

o Schools On Needs Improvement List

Nearly Tripled On His Watch: Duringthe 2005-2006 school year there were 7

Manchester district schools that had notmet AYP and were on the state’s needsimprovement list. During the 2008-2009year 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 

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2005, Jeff Kassel, a third candidate for the mayoralrace, criticized Guinta and Baines in an op-ed inThe Union-Leader. He said Guinta would “say practically anything to get elected, includingmaking the preposterous claim that he’s a taxfighter. Guinta’s an impostor, pretending to help

 beleaguered taxpayers while he’s mostly trying toadvance his political career and shovel millions atdevelopers.” Kassel said Guinta “voted for every big project in Manchester” and “refused to sign thespending cap referendum” Kassel co-authoredwhen he first asked Guinta, but “finally did so toavoid the suggestion he was an emperor with notax-fighting clothes.” [Union-Leader, 9/15/05]

Campaigned On A Promise To Cut Taxes, But

Warned Of Property Taxes In 2006. InDecember of 2005, Mayor-elect Guinta warned

homeowners and businesses to brace themselvesfor higher 2006 tax bills due to the skyrocketingvalues of their properties. The Union-Leader reported that after a campaign promising tax cuts,Guinta said he could not change the propertyvalues captured in the following year’s citywiderevaluation. “Some property owners, unfortunately,are going to see much higher assessments,” Guintasaid. “Those people who see higher-than-expectedassessments, that’s something a mayor cannotcontrol.” [Union-Leader, 12/04/05]

Guinta Proposed Budget In 2006 That Had NoTax Increases But Laid Off Workers And Cut

Funding For Manchester Departments: In 2006,Guinta proposed a budget that cut taxes by layingoff 13 city workers, maintaining funding for publicschools and slashing money to Manchester departments. Specifically his plan called for a 1.23 percent tax decrease, a 2.3 percent cut to citydepartments, 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 unfilledthat 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 budgetdoes have holes. Even Alderman Ted Gatsas,Guinta's ally, says the mayor's budget isunworkable and has proposed one of his own

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instead. There seems to be no way to get toGuinta's proposed 1.23 percent tax cut.” [Union

Leader, 6/1/06]

He did it in Manchester, he’ll

do it in Washington.

Guinta

A conservativeleader 

He’ll Do What?

Audit Revealed That A Lack Of Oversight In

Guinta’s Office Led To $23K In Fraudulent

Payments. In 2008, The Union-Leader reportedthat officials in Guinta’s office and severaldepartments “missed key warning signs and over-ridden security measures that might have stopped acity employee from bilking the government of close to $23,000,” according to a recently releasedaudit.  The report said a “severe breakdown” inoversight allowed the city’s former grantsadministrator, Dennis Hebert, to cash thousands of 

dollars in forged paychecks and to bill for work that was never done. In some cases, officials whoshould have provided oversight failed to demand proof that the payments were legitimate. At other times, the report said, the Mayor’s Office or theacting finance officer allowed payments to gothrough even after they were flagged by another official. [Union-Leader, 2/04/08]

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 inManchester, and when he left the office inDecember 2009, the unemployment rate was 6.7%.[Bureau of Labor Statistics, State and LocalUnemployment, www.bls.gov] 

Frank Guinta is a conservativeleader.

Guinta Came Into The Race Libertarian, But

Conservative Groups Helped Him “Evolve”

Guinta Flipped On Cap & Trade. Real Clear Politics blog: “Guinta had signed onto the U.S.Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, whichendorsed the Kyoto protocol emissions targets. He

had also signed on to the Sierra Club's Cool CitiesAgreement. Now, he is running hard against cap-and-trade legislation.” [Real Clear Politics Blog,7/19/10]

Family Research Council Helped Guinta

“Evolve” On Gay Marriage. Dave Weigel of theWashington Post wrote in June 2010 that, “In theearly part of his career, Guinta was more

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libertarian, voting against parental consent for abortion and endorsing Rudy Giuliani for  president. ‘Guinta came into the race with alibertarian streak,’ acknowleged Connie Mackey, president of FRC Action PAC. ‘…It didn't seem atfirst that gay marriage would be an issue he'd have

to look at as a small government libertarian, but hesaw what happened when it was forced to a vote in New Hampshire, and he realized that it was anissue.’…According to Mackey, Guinta has assuredsocial conservatives that he's moved closer to their stances on the issues -- Mackey has a letter from

Guinta explaining his new views… ‘Candidatesevolve,’ said Mackey.” [Washington Post, 6/10/10]

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 hecomplained last year the Granite State wasn'tgetting its share of stimulus dollars. Guinta publicdisapproved of the stimulus, “I was never in favor of the stimulus, and as mayor, I was emphaticallyopposed to the stimulus and I was very publicabout that.” [Hotline On Call, 7/15/10]

Guinta: I’m Frank Guinta andI approve this message.

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