Lynch, Forry in NH gov primary; Kenney unopposed
CONCORD, N.H. --Retired school teacher Kathryn "Katy" Forry faces a bigger Goliath than popular Democratic Gov. John Lynch on Tuesday.
She's taking on New Hampshire's ingrained abhorrence of an income tax.
Forry, 67, of Jaffrey, has made tax reform the centerpiece of her campaign. She argues an income tax is fairer than continuing New Hampshire's overreliance on property taxes.
Lynch, 55, of Hopkinton, has taken New Hampshire's traditional pledge to veto an income or sales tax.
Four years ago, Lynch squared off against another tax-reform candidate with a similar platform, Paul McEachern, and won.
In 2000, Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen -- like Lynch seeking a third term and like Lynch opposed to an income tax -- won a primary fight with income tax advocate Mark Fernald.
Forry says it's time to give voters the choice again.
"The Pledge ... has always forbidden legislators and governors from talking about any other method of paying for our schools. It's time to remove the gag and drop the Pledge," she says.
The winner faces state Sen. Joe Kenney, 48, of Wakefield, who is unopposed for the GOP nomination, and Libertarian Susan Newell of Winchester. Kenney also has taken the pledge and -- like Republicans before him -- says voters shouldn't trust a Democrat to honor it.
Kenney claims Lynch is leading the state on a spending spree that will force it to enact an income or sales tax.
Kenney is especially critical of Lynch and Democrats for voting to borrow school construction aid to plug a looming budget hole. Kenney said he would have cut spending instead.
Lynch points to his record of producing balanced budgets -- and making cuts if needed -- as proof of his fiscal prudence.
Lynch backed three increases to the cigarette tax to pay for services in his first two terms.
The biggest challenge of Lynch's second term has been complying with a court mandate to adequately fund public education.
Lynch initially did not support changing the state constitution to overhaul public school financing, but changed his mind after the court emphatically rejected aid systems that helped only selected towns. Lynch has fought unsuccessfully to repeal a statewide property tax enacted after the high court ordered sweeping school-funding reform in 1997. He also favors sending more aid to the neediest towns, something he says the state can't afford to do as long as it must pay the cost of an adequate education in every town.
But Lynch could not persuade the Democratically controlled House to join the Senate in approving a constitutional amendment.
Instead, the state defined an adequate education last year and determined how much it would cost this year. Lawmakers did not fund the new system, putting off until next year the job of finding a way to pay for it.
Lynch and Democrats also increased the minimum age to drop out of school to 18, expanded a children's health insurance program, expanded services to the disabled on a waiting list and increased the minimum wage for the first time in a decade.
Lynch also signed a civil union law last year granting the legal privileges and responsibilities of marriage to gays. New Hampshire was the first state to embrace same-sex unions without a court order or the threat of one.
Kenney voted against the law and would replace it with one that extends equal legal protections to gays only in the areas of inheritance and health insurance. Kenney also opposed raising the minimum wage and banning smoking in restaurants and bars -- which Lynch signed into law.
On other issues, Kenney would privatize operation of New Hampshire's Cannon Mountain ski area. He would repeal the Lynch-backed Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to reduce carbon emissions.
Kenney is a Marine Reserve lieutenant colonel who was elected in 2002 to the first of three two-year terms in the state Senate. He previously served four two-year terms in the state House.
Lynch, a millionaire businessman-turned-politician, unseated Republican Craig Benson in 2004 by promising to replace a "culture of corruption" with one of integrity and bipartisanship. He became the first challenger since 1926 to unseat a freshman governor in the state, largely using a single issue: integrity.
Two years later, he trounced little-known state Rep. Jim Coburn of Windham by campaigning on the same promise. 