By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Gov. Kelly Ayotte held her first press conference with state media Wednesday in her freshly painted office in the State House and discussed budget preparations to be announced in February, law enforcement related bills and her focus, much of which was laid out in her inaugural address.
The 56-year-old former U.S. Senator, NH Attorney General, Nashua native and resident said she is eager and excited to get to work for the 1.4 million citizens of the state who will now call her “governor,” and noted her focus is primarily on crafting a new biennial budget.
She promised it will be balanced and that it is likely there will be cuts.
Continuing a past practice by other governors who have held routine media availability following Executive Council meetings, which are held about twice a month, Ayotte seemed relaxed and often explained her position based on the information she has received from the public as she traveled the state recently as a candidate, often with fellow Republican and former Gov. Chris Sununu who endorsed her.
Sununu chose not to run for re-election.
Last Thursday, Ayotte was sworn in and offered an inaugural speech that focused on the need for budget cuts with a potential looming deficit for this fiscal year which could be upward of $20 million.
Her first week she said it was all about “rolling up the sleeves. Meeting with commissioners, I had meetings with House and Senate majority leadership and just to see where things are on legislation. And then we are primarily focused on putting the budget together. So really that is the work that has happened so far. I’m excited to be here and just learn and make sure that we put together a balanced budget for the State of New Hampshire.”
She said she benefited from Sununu’s efforts to get department heads to think in austere terms about what the upcoming budget was going to look like, compared to the past two years when revenues were coming in higher than they are now.
The Department of Revenue Administration is seeing big drops in business taxes and Ayotte said she would be looking at those numbers to be sure no more goes out than comes in in terms of funding.
But she said protecting the most vulnerable from budget cuts, including direct services for disabled Granite Staters and needy children will be spared.
She said the “New Hampshire way” is to align its budget with income and promised to look at “every single bill to make sure it makes sense for the state of New Hampshire” if it gets to her desk.
“Our budget proposal will be based on the revenue structure we have today,” she said.
The revenue over the past several years has been strong and over the last biennium she said there was a robust increase in spending. But times have changed.
With a fresh set of eyes she said “we’ve really got to recalibrate to where we are in terms of revenue and also with the federal dollars drying up,” she said referring to the post-COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act, “now, I appreciate very much that the governor and legislature tried to do as one-time expenditures but there are still things that were created in expectation of those federal dollars so we have to understand that that has to be realigned.”
But she said she thinks New Hampshire is in a great position to recruit businesses and grow the economy due to its tax model, freedoms afforded to residents, business climate and innovation.
Asked about local property taxes and pressures on communities to develop local school and municipal budgets, she said the state government provided a lot more funding back to communities over the past few years.
She said she is very sensitive to local taxpayer impacts and she recognized the pressure they are under as well.
“We have dual responsibilities here. The state of New Hampshire has a responsibility that we balance our budget and we think about taxpayers on how we are doing things, and at the local level where they have the same responsibility….” she said. “They will have to live within their means as well.”
NORTHERN BORDER ALLIANCE
Ayotte said she will support in her budget continued funding for the Northern Border Alliance to protect the state and nation from illegal entry. She said she would not be surprised if there is more federal assistance under the Trump Administration and noted when she went up to the border to meet with officials, she learned that there is a deterrent effect and that arrest statistics won’t show that impact.
EDUCATION FREEDOM ACCOUNT EXPANSION AND COURT ADEQUACY CASES
There are a number of bills that have been filed and one that will be heard on Thursday related to expanding the state’s Education Freedom Account which provides grants to low and moderate income families to help them pay for private education. Some fear that further expansion will lead to a heavy cost at a time when the state needs to tighten its belt.
Ayotte said she likes the idea of expansion. But she did not want to commit to any timeline or specific legislation, just yet.
“We are also going to make sure that we are supporting public education and teachers,” she said.
In terms of pending litigation, Ayotte said she believes education funding should be addressed by elected leaders instead of court cases and judges ruling and noted that conversation on education funding in these cases is a bit misleading when you only look at the state portion of the funding when combined with municipal resources, the state has among the top 10 in the nation in terms of per pupil funding.
She said she would be happy to convene a conversation on education and innovation noting, for example, that there could be ways to allow remote learning across districts while benefiting all students.
MARCONI CASES
Asked about the criminal cases involving Geno Marconi, who is on leave as director of the Ports and Harbors and separately his wife Superior Court Justice Barbara Hantz Marconi who is on leave and charged with trying to influence the governor on an investigation into her husband, Ayotte said her role is governor and she would defer to the Attorney General on the matter.
She said she doesn’t know all the facts and she would let the process work itself through.
Ayotte said she does not support the idea of an elected Attorney General rather than an appointed one as is the case in New Hampshire.
Being appointed insulates an Attorney General from public opinion and politics, she said, to focus on the work.
COGE
Ayotte said she will have an announcement in the next week or so on who will serve on her announced volunteer Council on Government Efficiency and that there is no funding component for studies and that all have agreed to do this on a volunteer basis.
She said if there was a need for resources she would be public on that. She also said there is no timeline on their recommendations and implementation on how to make the state more efficient.
GETTING BACK TO BEING TOUGH ON CRIME
Ayotte said she is likely to support legislation which would require mandatory sentencing on some drug cases and noted that while she was on the campaign trail she heard that New Hampshire used to be known as being tough on crime, which acted as a deterrent, but in recent years, that image has faded.
She said high level drug dealers “are not stupid” and will figure out that some states are more tough than others, and this could help public safety if the state turned up the heat on them.
“They will make economic decisions and we want their economic decisions to be ‘hey, let’s think twice about trafficking our poison in New Hampshire,'” she said.
She said there is likely no correlation between the number of people incarcerated and a decrease in the illicit market.
“These people should be incarcerated, they are endangering the state,” Ayotte said.
There is good cooperation between Massachusetts and New Hampshire law enforcement agencies at all levels and she said she wants New Hampshire to be tougher than Massachusetts “because we want to discourage this behavior.”
On Senator Regina Birdsell’s bill, which would require loss of license for those convicted of driving over 100 miles an hour, she said that does seem to make sense, though she has not read the bill.
“Especially with all these incidents on our roadways,” she said. “If you are driving over 100 you should understand you are going to lose your license.”
INCREASED PENSIONS FOR GROUP II FIRST RESPONDERS
Ayotte hinted that her upcoming budget would include suggestions or pathways to increase pensions for the so-called “Group II” first responders.
She said she wants to find ways to deal with the state’s recruitment and retention for first responders and one problem has been the issues for pensions for those impacted by the 2011 reductions.
She said they “went too far” and now the state is facing a harder time keeping those valued public service workers.
That group of workers has filed a suit against the state.
She said once she finalizes the numbers, she will be willing to go into the details but “I am confident we are going to be able to address it.”
The other aspect of this issue relates to bail reform and measures in the legislature to crack down on drug dealers, as a moral issue, by letting the first responders know that the state “has their back.”
CELL PHONES IN SCHOOLS
The new governor said she likes the bills that would find ways to reduce cell phones in classrooms and is looking at models from other states to make sure the state pulls from the best on how to administer that. More specifics will come after she delivers her budget in February, she said.
