State of New Hampshire Archives: on Government Reform

Bill O`Brien: Help job creators by cutting red tape, streamlining agencies

Steve Marchand: Stop discouraging voter turnout

Derek Dextraze: Online voter registration, plus ID at the polls

A: Support - Let it be done online and then when you go to vote show ID. First time voting: bring Social Security Card or something equal to.

Mark Connolly: Fight against unregulated, unlimited campaign money

Mark proved himself willing to speak out for truth, even when that put him at odds with others in government. Mark stood up for the victims of the largest Ponzi scheme in New Hampshire history, even in the face of pressure from other state agencies to sweep the scandal under the rug.

His volunteer leadership roles include fighting to get unregulated, unlimited campaign money out of politics and preserving our region's rich cultural heritage.

Donald Trump: Hug 'em & kiss 'em & make deals, instead of executive orders

Q: Mr. Trump, you literally wrote the book on making deals. How is a deal maker any different?

TRUMP: A good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neill very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. The deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want.

Ted Cruz: Executive orders abuse presidential power; undo them all

CRUZ: There are 3 avenues of presidential authority. The 1st is executive power, the 2nd is foreign policy, and the 3rd is legislation. Executive power has been the preferred vehicle of Pres. Obama, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away. I can end Common Core at the federal level because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states.

Jon Lavoie: Corporations are buying seats for candidates

A: Yes. Corporations are buying seats for candidates and that is not right. Elections have become nearly impossible for the common man and that is not what this country was founded on.

Carol Shea-Porter: Campaign finance reform is a cornerstone of campaign

FACTS: Congresswoman Shea-Porter co-sponsored the Government By the People Act. In addition, campaign finance reform is a cornerstone of her re-election campaign. Shea-Porter is a co-sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act and participated in the "New Hampshire Rebellion" protest in 2014.

FACTS: Guinta was named one of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's Most Corrupt members of congress during his first term. He was placed under federal investigation for irregularities in his 2010 campaign finances. In 2012, Guinta's top donors included Citizens United and Koch Industries.

Mayday PAC works with candidates who support reform on both sides of the aisle. Mayday PAC will be communicating directly with voters in these districts with specific messages on political cronyism and reform.

Maggie Hassan: Create commission on Government Innovation & Accountability

To encourage this process, I will soon be issuing an executive order to create a Commission on Government Innovation, Efficiency and Accountability. The commission will be charged with making recommendations to modernize state government for the 21st century, and it will include members from the business community and non-profit sector to determine how we can improve services by working together.

In addition, this budget creates the Office of Innovation and Efficiency at the Department of Administrative Services, which will lead the effort to implement commission recommendations and work with state agencies on developing transparent performance measurements.

Judd Gregg: Earmarks legitimately direct money to worthy projects

Gregg won the money through earmarks, a process that has fallen so much out of political favor Ayotte and Hodes have taken pledges against it. Gregg has long stood by special spending requests by members of Congress as a legitimate way to direct money to worthy projects--as long as the total federal budget is conservative and the earmark process is transparent. In the past three years alone, Gregg, a member of the Appropriations Committee, won more than $278 million in earmarks by himself or teamed with others for projects. In next year's budget, Gregg has requested an additional $113.5 million.

Judd Gregg: Earmarks prioritize spending that bureaucrats would miss

Gregg talked about what earmarks meant to th weather center which once stored climate records in Tupperware containers on the mountain's summit. The records now are in a digital database. Last year, 30,000 people visited the center, an interactive science museum to help people understand weather. Visitors also can talk with meteorologists on top of Mount Washington, home of some of the world's worst weather. Without the earmark dollars to help expand the center, "there's a chance nobody in Washington would even know this place existed," Gregg sai

Kelly Ayotte: Praised Sen. Gregg for earmarks; but pledges against them

"Congressman Hodes is having an election-year conversion on earmarks. He requested over 60 earmarks last year. He's voted for 9,000 earmarks just in 2009 alone," Ayotte said. Asked what she would say to the defense contractors and other businesses benefiting from Gregg's effort, Ayotte said: "What's happened with earmarks in this country is they've been used to buy and sell votes. We saw it so much with the health care bill, the buying and selling of votes and other examples in Washington. That type of corruption has to end. With respect to our businesses we should reform the process in Washington."

Paul Hodes: $122M in earmarks while in House; pledges none in Senate

Hodes, who represents the 2nd Congressional District, put in his share of special spending requests during his two terms in the U.S. House, but swore off earmarks after he decided to run for Gregg's seat. Hodes requested $122 million in earmarks by himself or with others before taking his anti-earmark pledg in January. Among them was $475,000 last year to support homeless veterans in Nashua. Former Republican Sen. John Sununu and Gregg joined him in the request. He also teamed up with others--including Gregg--over the last three years to get $1.5 million to treat uninsured patients at community health centers.

Hodes and Ayotte accuse each other of adopting the anti-earmark position as a matter of political convenience.

Paul Hodes: No pay-to-play: earmarks without campaign contributions ok

Hodes insisted the problem rests with those who request earmarks for groups that later funnel money to their campaigns, called "pay for play." Hodes said it was more important to be independent and not necessarily do what was politically popular. "Some people have criticized me for not bringing home pork, not bringing home the bacon," he said. "When I asked for the earmarks I maintained a policy that I would not ask for contributions from anybody on whose behalf I asked for an earmark because I did not want it to be pay for play."

Kelly Ayotte: Ban earmarks; Hodes voted for 9,000 of them

Ayotte said the stimulus only created "temporary or government" jobs and more taxpayer-paid spending hurt the economy as national unemployment increased by 2.5 million jobs. "It was a big government program, but it didn't allow the growth in the private sector," Ayotte said.

During the four years Hodes was in Congress, Ayotte said the federal deficit went up 525%, the debt increased $5 trillion to $13 trillion and Hodes voted for 9,000 earmarks last year. "Congressman Hodes is wanting to portray himself as a fiscal conservative," Ayotte said.

In this campaign, both candidates call for a ban on earmarks. Ayotte said Hodes had an election year conversion on earmarks. Hodes noted Ayotte earlier in this campaign had defended earmarks as long as they were transparent until after Hodes had endorsed the ban.

Kelly Ayotte: Make Congressional pay "performance-based"

Ayotte said congressional pay should be "performance-based" and predicted Hodes would not fare well under such a system given his votes on taxes and spending. "I think that he owes the taxpayers of New Hampshire a refund," Ayotte concluded.

Paul Hodes: Cut Congressional pay by 10% during recession

Ayotte said congressional pay should be "performance-based" and predicted Hodes would not fare well under such a system given his votes on taxes and spending. "I think that he owes the taxpayers of New Hampshire a refund," Ayotte concluded.

John Lynch: Restrinct campaign donations, but not campaign spending

A: Yes

Q: For PAC contributions?

A: Yes.

Q: For Corporate contributions?

A: Yes.

Q: For Political Parties?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?

A: Yes.

Q: Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?

A: No.

Mike Gravel: National Initiative to allow citizen law makers