Local Opinions
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Simple Question
I usually don’t take the time to write to editors regarding political candidates, but I feel I should express my opinion regarding the above mentioned Arthur Thomas. I guess I just could not figure out why this man was so prepared to mudsling at the candidates running for the position of Selectmen yet he could not even deliver a proper speech for his own candidacy on the Budget Committee. The man stated he wasn't educated, did not explain anything about himself in regards to his career nor could he even answer the simple question regarding budgets. Can he even balance a checkbook? In my opinion, the town does not need someone like this working in their financial arena. We don’t even know who this guy is!! I would also like to say the article “Holding Their Feet To The Fire” in the taxing times was one of the best written articles I have seen in a while. I would like to thank the Taxing Times Folks for providing me with their yearly newsletter which I feel helps me make more informative decisions in the voting booth. I hope you print my letter. Thank you, Carol, Epping, NH 03/07/10 |
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I gotta say that Dianne Gilbert and
the other guy Pagnani did great! That |
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BOB JORDAN - I HOPE NOT! |
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I am a resident of Epping and have lived here for a
long time. I would just |
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Candidates Night My Take on it! |
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Wow! It still amazes me how little we as a society know about the political process in our country. How little we value the sacrifices that our military men and women have fought to preserve over the years. This generation of men and women I hate to say this value their IPOD’s, lap tops and cell phones over the political system that has given them the right of freedom of speech. A complete
disregard for the political process was demonstrated again at
Epping Candidates Night. This was a great opportunity to hear
what our candidates stood for and how they wanted to help our
citizens of this town.
But again I’m ashamed to say Epping has again
demonstrated how dysfunctional this process has become.
I
will give an example of just one thing that really frustrated me
on Candidates night.
It was obvious that four candidates from Hamilton Dr. through
their hats in the ring to run for office.
At first glance you would say that’s really great but
when you break down how these candidates performed you have to
ask yourself what exactly were their motives. First goes
Mr. Fuller who put his hat in the ring for 1 yr budget committee
pulled out at the last minute and gave no reason why.
But he had no problem getting up there and attacking two
very good candidates. Then goes
Mr. Thomas he is running for a 3 yr office for budget and he was
very vague about his personal qualifications, didn’t have any
budget background, he even admitted he didn’t know anything
about budgets. You
mean to tell me a man who says he wheels and deals all the time
in his profession, what ever that is, he didn’t even have the
courtesy to tell us what he did for a living.
I don’t know about you but I would think the man would at
least know something about a home budget or maybe that isn’t
necessary for him because he wheels and deals all the time.
Those qualifications don’t exactly make me feel very
secure. He would be
giving recommendations on both the school and town budget.
Oh yah he wheels and deals at least for the last 25 years
or so. This should
make me feels secure.
Mr. Thomas didn’t want to disclose anything about him
self but he didn’t have a problem getting up there and attacking
two very good candidates. Now comes
Mr. Killen this man never ever misses a town meeting, school
board, recreation meeting but he misses Candidates night.
Why is that!
Could it be because he gets up at in front of the town and
accuses the budget committee and the school board all hard
working individuals and accuses them of not being transparent.
His obvious disappearance
at Candidates night was he being transparent.
I don’t think so.
The man never even sent in a prepared speech for someone
to read. I’m sure he
could have found someone at Hamilton Dr. to get up there and
represent him. Oh!
Maybe he couldn’t. Finally Mr. Pagnani was
willing to take the beating that he did from several Hamilton
Dr. homeowners, and was willing to debate them of ETV anytime
they find convenient.
They had no comeback.
But it was very apparent that these folks need to be
educated on Town Government and they need to be reminded that
Candidates Night isn’t a forum for neighborhood disputes.
I have to commend Mr. Pagnani for his diligent patience
to deal with these issues he would make a great Selectmen!
People need to keep their dirty laundry at
home and not use Candidates Night to air it !!!!!
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A Word of Advice to Epping Voters: Don't Vote Matt Killen! Matt is at it again. Now running for budget committee. When will he get the message no matter what position he runs for the people of Epping are not interested in voting him into office. Most of all, when will he follow the path out of Epping? At the school board deliberative session he gave the hard working Budget Committee & the Hard Working School Board a grade of F-. He complained they weren't transparent and were making decisions behind closed doors. Well that's ironic because that's exactly what Matt does as the Treasurer of the neighborhood home owners association where he lives. He loves to collect excessive amounts of the people's money, makes up situations to mislead people, loves to spend others people's money and he is a decision maker in his own little world behind closed door's. When folks hold him accountable for his excessive spending, ask for receipts or for proof showing the home owners voted to spend all the money he is spending he proceeds to destroy their reputation. If you question Matt Killen he will work hard to destroy your reputation. The sad part is there are folks out there who believe him but sooner or later they always find out he's nothing but a two bit liar and his rantings aren't worth a bucket of spit! He tries to be all and knowing, wants everyone to believe he's the go to guy, but in reality he's the guy who starts the rumors and feeds people misinformation. Oh by the way where was Mr. Transparent, Matt Killen on candidates night? He was a no show. Once again he didn't want to be held accountable for his actions. Was he afraid to take questions from his neighbors, by The Budget committee, by The School Board, by the Selectmen or the good citizens of Epping? You decide. If a person can't work with all the different people and personalities within our town then they shouldn't be in politics. Being an elected official means you have to willing to communicate with people and not be afraid to be held accountable by the people. Next time you see Matt Killen ask him questions, hold him accountable and see how he reacts. Resident of Epping, NH 03/05/10 |
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An Epping Resident's Opinion Jim McGeough is another political rollover who has been in Epping politics for too long. He is another who is not to be taken at his word. We know him as "say one thing and do another McGeough." He is gifted politician. He can literally speak out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. It is time to break that family stranglehold on Epping - taxes have only gone in one direction the whole time he ruled over the Budget Committee with one exception: the year the state instituted the statewide school tax. But with his help, the school found a way to absorb the tax break that program gave the taxpayers. Resident, Epping, NH 03/08/09 |
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The Killen's Need to Find a Better Path! Both Kelli & Matt Killen are NOT good for the Epping taxpayers. Their agenda is Tax and spend and spend and spend..... They see the taxpayers as their money tree. I agree with ERPG's ballot recommendations and their description of the Killen's; "Taxpayer Unfriendly!".
Concerned Taxpayer, Epping, NH 03/07/09 |
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HE'S BAAAAAAAAACK Yes folks, Matthew Killen is back! Epping’s own perennial office seeker and deliberative session jack-in-the-box is at it again! This time he is using the printed media to besmirch the character of honest candidates who do not agree with his personal spending, (of everyone else's money) agenda. Mr. Killen was soundly defeated in his several bids to become an Epping Selectman; the people recognized him for what he represented. I am confident they will see through his nasty attitude and ignore his character assassination attempts too.
So, if you can not get elected yourself, use the media to attack the integrity of the other candidates. The Epping Residents for Principled Government, which I chair, prides itself in vetting and recommending candidates for public office. Mr. Killen with his excessive tax and spend leanings was not and could not be recommended by our citizens organization. We take offense to Mr. Killen’s personal vendetta against Mr. Pagnani and Mr. Irving stating that they “lack wisdom and honesty “ Mr. Pagnani and Mr. Irving are upstanding candidates, recommended by our citizen watchdog group who looks for candidates who will respect the people, candidates that understand the meaning of public servant. These two candidates are the only two candidates recommended this election year by The Epping Residents for Principled Government for the position of Selectman. Their character is beyond reproach and their taxpayer awareness is keen.
Unlike Mr. Killen we are able to determine their wisdom; we consider them quite capable of filling out the requirements of the office. That is why we proudly recommend Patrick Pagnani & Richard Irving for the office of Selectman and urge Epping voters to support them on March 10th.
Tom Sutliffe, Chairman, 03/03/09
Hi Folks! Remember Us!
Long time no hear for those folks who knew us when we resided at 106 Hedding Road (Epping) and I served on the School Board. I'm speaking to Diane, Paul, Tom and the rest of the "gang" organized around taxpayer issues. I only just found your new site, the case notes against the School Board and Town, and the recommendations on the 2009 ballots. First let me wish you luck on the civil rights lawsuit and add that I'm sure glad I'm not on the School Board anymore (or else I'd be named in the suit as charged by association)! Secondly, I'd like to offer an alternative opinion on the argument regarding changes to current use laws. As many of you know, we used to own the blueberry farm on Hedding Road (now called Inkwell Farm and under new management/owners whom we have come to know by visiting every few years when we come back to NH). I am aghast at how HIGH the taxes on that property have gone since we left. When we left, it was around $6000/year. Now it's about $13,000 and hasn't changed one bit since we sold it in 2001. The farm is only 17 acres...surely qualifying as a "small" farm and "small" land owner. We sure weren't able to carve out an annual amount sufficient to live on from farming such a small area when we lived there. If the state were to increase the minimum acreage for current use protection to 50 acres or more, every small farm and small land owner with acreages between 10 and 50 acres would most likely not be able to keep their land and would necessarily have to sell it to developers, which would then increase the housing in Epping, and thus increase the numbers of children in the schools and town services required. Granted you would pick up the additional tax base in numbers of housing units but I can say tell you that from our frequent visits back home in the last 8 years, we have been appalled at the over-development of the area, the traffic increase, and the loss of the small town quality of life that we enjoyed there and miss very much to this day. And would the additional taxes garnered by more housing units necessarily cover the costs to the school and the town that would come from all this additional new housing? It would be sad to see the small community farms that provide both produce and a gathering place for community families have to shut down and sell off the land because of taxes. We understand our old farm may be up for sale (AGAIN) real soon. We wish we had never sold it and would love to buy it back but in this economy where banks aren't giving mortgages to even those who are able to pay and now with this piece of news that we might be buying a tax nightmare as well; we have changed our minds despite our immense homesickness. Here's wishing everyone there well, good luck with your court case and maybe we'll see you folks one of these years on one of our visits back home. We were there this past summer and had dinner at the church downtown that has been converted to a restaurant. Ran into Bob Goodrich and Susan McGeough while there. They were stunned to see the boy they knew as a toddler when we lived there (our son Justin) now 15 years old! He's Editor of his school newspaper here and got the following article published on a political blog, for those who are interested (his picture is there): http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/being_there/2009/01/how-the-country-used-to-be-and.html
All our best to one and all, Caroline duPont & Dan Kiracofe trapped in Florida (Help! We can't get out! Don't ever move here or they won't ever let you leave!)
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