Clock ticking for Hassan on budget and election

By Paul Briand

Every week that the state budget remains in stalemate is another week that further complicates decisions Maggie Hassan — and others — are due to make about their political futures.

The incumbent Democratic governor, now in her second two-year term, is being encouraged by national party officials to take on incumbent U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, in the 2016 general election.

Ayotte is coming around the bend on her first six-year term and New Hampshire is seen nationally as a swing state in the Democrats’ attempts to win back the majority in the Senate.

But whatever hope Hassan might represent for the Democrats is currently on hold.

Hassan insists publicly that she is concentrating her efforts on resolving the impasse between her and Republican legislative leaders over the two-year state budget./

The governor in February offered an $11.5 billion budget for the two fiscal years starting July 1, 2015 and ending on June 30, 2017. The GOP-led House and GOP-led Senate eventually came back with an $11.2 billion budget that Hassan then vetoed.

State government has been operating on a continuing resolution budget a last fiscal year’s levels. The resolution runs out on Dec. 30.

A couple of entreaties at ending the stalemate have failed, and legislators have had to approve emergency spending to keep certain state services going. This week, for example, the legislative fiscal committee approved $1.5 million so that the state parks could remain open during the high tourist traffic foliage season. That same committee rejected a $3 million request for money to pay for state road construction projects this fall.

While Hassan was pleased with the measure to keep the parks open, she reiterated Wednesday in a statement the need for a long-term budget fix.

“I am concerned that decisions to table other important items – such as delaying Department of Transportation funding for critical transportation infrastructure projects that are imperative to economic development and public safety – were motivated by politics and not the best interests of New Hampshire’s people and economy,” she said.

“I continue to urge Republicans in the legislature to negotiate in good faith and offer a true counter-proposal to my compromise budget plan that addresses the central issue of unpaid-for corporate tax cuts that create a $90 million hole in future budgets so that we can reach a fiscally responsible, bipartisan budget agreement as soon as possible.”

That decision that Hassan has to make needs to be made soon in order for the other pieces of the state’s political chessboard to start lining up.

If Hassan doesn’t run, then the Democrats need to start trotting out candidates with enough political weight to take on the incumbent Ayotte.

If, for example, that someone is Carol Shea-Porter that then changes the landscape in the 1st Congressional District, where she is currently positioning herself to take the House seat back from Republican incumbent Frank Guinta.

If that someone is Annie Kuster, then dominos have to start falling into place in the 2nd Congressional District, where she is the incumbent Democrat.

Pollsters have taken notice of the political dilemma faced by Hassan. They’ve been doing polls with Hassan both opposing Ayotte and running for re-election.

The folks at the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling tallied the percentages in head-to-head comparisons in a gubernatorial race against two Republicans – Executive Councilor Chris Sununu and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley.

It found Hassan led Sununu 48 percent to 41 percent, with 11 percent undecided. She led Bradley 48 percent to 39 percent, with 13 percent undecided. The margin of error was 3.4 percent, which makes both contests very tight.

A WMUR Granite State Polltaken by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed Ayotte leading the governor 47 percent to 41 percent, with 12 percent undecided.

For what it’s worth, Politico believes Hassan will take Ayotte on.

So much hangs in the air these waning days of summer based on a budget stalemate that has implications for Republicans and Democrats alike.

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