Guinta organizes petition effort opposing Obamacare

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta has organized a petition effort to demand Rep. Carol Shea-Porter respect her constituents and vote against the government health care bill that New Hampshire residents in district one have clearly said they don’t want.

Thanks to Guinta’s Web page, HonestHealthCareReform.com, New Hampshire residents of the first district can add their voices in opposition to the socialized health care plan Shea-Porter and her cronies in Washington are offering. The petition will be delivered to Shea-Porter’s office prior to the vote on health care later this week.

"There are good solutions on the table and we must go back to the drawing board and start again with real reform," Guinta said on the petition Web page. "We need medical malpractice reform, small business pooling, and the right to buy insurance across state lines. We need to provide small businesses the same tax benefits big businesses receive and we need to maintain our current quality of care. This is what the public wants, but is Carol listening?”

Frank Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester, has opposed the Democrats’ health care plan since its inception last year. He has also listened to the majority of citizens across New Hampshire and the country who are in deep opposition to the plan. On Thursday, January 21, he pledged in front of about 100 people in Bedford that he would repeal any health care plan that increases government control over the health care industry. He has reinforced his commitment to this pledge at almost every public event he’s held since January.

Folks across the district have repeatedly engaged in public protests during this past summer and into the winter--in large part, opposing Obamacare--while Shea-Porter arrogantly ignored the people, saying she knows better than they do what kind of health care they need. Tired of this kind of representation from Shea-Porter, former Mayor Frank Guinta launched his campaign to run for Congress and held his own Town Hall meetings during the summer when the congresswoman refused. While Carol Shea-Porter continued to blindly support the Obamacare bill because Nancy Pelosi told her to, Frank read each new iteration of the bill in full and publicly commented about its flaws and what should be done instead.

Since then, Guinta has completed a tour of the first district, where he has made dozens of stops talking with small business owners, customers and folks on the street. He has held six Town Hall meetings, and he's used the occasions to clearly articulate his plans for health care and other issues facing the nation, which he has shared with the world on this blog and via YouTube videos.

Unbalanced national budgeting cannot continue

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall crowd in Wolfeboro that Congress needs strong leaders who are willing to say that the nation’s current tax-and-spend agenda is ‘unacceptable’ and make the tough decisions to change the system.

“Right now, what I think we need to do is stop the bleeding and freeze the spending,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester. “Secondly, I think we should audit not just the Fed, but every federal department or agency that is spending money. Then, I think we need to adjust spending levels. In some cases it could be as significant as 10 [percent] or 15 percent. In other cases, I’d like to be convinced why some of the departments that exist need to exist on the federal level.”

Guinta specifically noted that the departments of education and energy were created only about 30 years ago and should be examined to determine if they’re really necessary. He said these departments and others simply take money from states such as New Hampshire, absorb about a third of the money, and then dictate how the money they send back to the states has to be spent. He said he’d rather keep the money in New Hampshire so citizens and business owners can decide how to spend their own money.

“What this nation needs are a group of people who are going to go down there, and say, ‘Prove to me that first of all this [spending line item] is a constitutional requirement; secondly, prove to me that you’re spending the money effectively; and third, let me see the … goal setting and the outcomes’,” he said. “If you watch the budget process at the federal level, that doesn’t happen right now.”

Guinta said the current way the budget is managed is the reason why President Obama’s current budget proposal is $1.9 trillion out of balance and it is the reason why the national debt has reached $12.4 trillion.

“We don’t have savings accounts,” he said. “What we spend right now is borrowed money or printed money. It just has to stop. It’s so out of control."

Term limits will help keep Congress accountable to the people

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall meeting crowd in Wolfeboro that term limits are needed in Congress to keep senators and representatives accountable to the people and to the law.

The fact that some representatives have been in Washington so long gives them an “entitlement” mentality that the “rules don’t apply to them,” he said.

“The system was not created to give any one person power for a long period of time,” said Guinta, a former mayor and alderman for Manchester and a former state representative for New Hampshire who has never served more than two terms in any office. “I think we would be better served as Americans if you had people who went down for 12 years and then went home, and you always had a new group of people.”

Serving in Congress should be about service to the American people, but it has become more of a career that is self-serving, he said. America should start having a debate and dialogue about amending the U.S. constitution to require term limits, he said.

When “people 100 years ago used to serve, they would go down to Washington for a period of time--they would leave their farm or they would leave their business, they would leave their family--and trek down to Washington, take their votes, and come back,” he said. “It was financially a challenge and a burden, but it was a responsibility. And I think term limits can create that environment.”

Guinta acknowledged that some good representatives and senators would be sent home due to the restriction, but he asserted that other good people “just as smart and equally as dedicated” would rise to the occasion and replace the people who have finished their term. Term limits would give more people the chance to serve and perhaps even make running for office less expensive, he said.

Guinta says his plans for America would reverse the country’s current direction

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta said voters in New Hampshire’s first district will have a clear choice between Rep. Carol Shea-Porter and him in the upcoming Midterm elections since their positions on the issues facing the nation couldn’t be further apart.

“I’m going to continue to be the person who listens to constituents,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester, at a Wolfeboro Town Hall meeting. “I’m going to talk about my record of reforming government, cutting taxes and prioritizing government as what I think the country needs right now.

“Right now, the country needs debt and deficit reduction; it needs reform at almost every level; it needs more accountability in government,” he added.

The attempt by Democrats in Congress to label Republicans as the “party of ‘no’” has actually had a positive effect, because most Americans don’t want what Congress is trying to force on them, Guinta said.

The candidate said he is against bills such as card check, which allows unions to end privacy in their elections; Cap & Trade, which would add a massive tax burden on Americans and businesses, and increase the cost of energy; the government health care bill, which would increase the cost of health care while reducing access to quality care; and bailouts to banks and companies such as General Motors, which are simply unconstitutional. He said he is against overspending, particularly at a time when the nation’s debt and deficit are unsustainable.

Carol Shea-Porter “and I could not be on more opposite ends on all of these issues,” Guinta said.

“The country wants progress on the economy, they want to feel stability in the economy, and they want to know that government is not going to take over their business or their life,” he added. “I’ve always tried to make decisions with the best information and the best intent for the people that I represent.”

The country must restore its work ethic and the American concept of self-reliance

American leaders must set an example of personal responsibility to help the nation restore its honor and common sense, congressional candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall meeting crowd in Wolfeboro.

“There was a time in this country that you worked so hard to get here, you refused to take a dime from anybody because you wanted to make it yourself,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester. “That’s the kind of work ethic that we need right now.”

Today, there are too many people who expect the government to take care of them, he said. But it’s not the government, but other hard-working Americans who are actually footing the bill. This “Where’s mine?” attitude needs to be reversed, he said.

“We have got to strive to make this a country where people don’t expect a handout from the government, but they demand of themselves that work ethic that gives them the opportunity to be successful,” he added.

To change the status quo, Americans must start electing the right people who will bring the same responsible attitude to Congress that they should also have for themselves. Congress should only spend as much money as it has and not a dime more, he said.

“I do not subscribe to the notion that government is the solution to our problems,” Guinta said. “I believe we are the solution to our problems, and innovation is the solution to our problems.”

Qualifying his statements, Guinta said there is a need to have a limited safety net for people who legitimately fall on tough times and need some help getting back on their feet. But there are too many abusing the system today, he said.

“People have to feel that they are self sufficient, that they are self-reliant and they are responsible for themselves,” he said. “Personal responsibility should matter.”

The federal government should remove its heavy hand from education

While it is good that federal, state and local governments are all having a conversation about accountability in education, it really is up to parents, teachers and local school administrators to improve the system that prepares our youth for the global economy, Congressional Candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall meeting crowd in Londonderry.

“I believe in local control, and I think local communities should be making decisions, and I think that’s where the best decisions are made,” Guinta said. “And if you don’t like those decisions, you have an opportunity at the local level to influence the people making those decisions.”



Guinta, who as mayor served as chairman of the Manchester School Committee, said the number one complaint he heard from local administrators and teachers was about the federal mandates from the U.S. Department of Education, which overseas the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

“While there were high hopes and expectations from teachers in its inception, the reality that teachers convey to me is that it is time consuming, not effective and it’s burdensome in terms of the regulations that you have to follow,” he said.

The Department of Education has a $47 billion budget this year. It received an additional $81 billion in stimulus funds, and centrally decides how to spend the money on the nation’s roughly 99,000 school districts. For every dollar New Hampshire taxpayers send to Washington, the state receives about 75-to-78 cents back, Guinta said.

“What have we received for that amount of money that we’ve sent to Washington?," Guinta said. "To have them decide federal policy and establish a blanket policy for every school district in the country.

“So, why don’t we just keep the money here--not send it down--then we can figure out locally how to invest in our communities and invest in our state?,” Guinta added. “That’s what limited government means. We don’t need federal policies at every level dictating to us how we need to run our communities. That needs to change.”

Further, Guinta noted that the U.S. Department of Education was established by the Carter Administration in 1979 and took effect in 1980, making the point that it is not a longstanding department. He suggested that Congress should reconsider the usefulness and constitutionality of the Department of Education and consider eliminating it from the federal government.

Congress must cut spending to pay down our debt and regain our position of strength

The U.S. government’s pattern of irresponsible spending has led to a $12.4 trillion national debt, which already poses great risk to the prosperity and freedom of every man, woman and child in America who each share $41,000 of that burden, Congressional Candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall meeting crowd in Londonderry.



With the current leadership in Congress and in the White House, however, the problem is only going to get worse, he said. The current fiscal year’s national budget is operating with a $1.4 trillion deficit, and President Barack Obama has proposed a budget for next year with a $1.9 trillion deficit. That’s before any other special programs the current Congress proposes to waste the people’s hard-earned dollars.

“Our government has stolen our checkbook and has gone wild with borrowing, and spending, and printing money to the point where most of the country is deeply concerned,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester.

“It’s no longer a partisan concern,” Guinta continued. “There [are] concerns [among] Republicans, Independents and Democrats about the direction of our country, the lack of fiscal discipline and responsibility, the new policies of taking over government, of being intrusive in our lives--things that I don’t believe we believe is right in New Hampshire.”



While on his tour of the first district, voters have told Frank repeatedly how they are looking for lower taxes and fairness and equity in a simpler tax system, which are things the candidate said he supports.

“Most people tell me: Constrain spending and reduce the size of government, and do it effectively,” Guinta said. We must “figure out what areas of government are larger than they should be and what areas of government shouldn’t even exist or provide the services they’re providing.”

Ultimately, voters are depending on the people they send to Washington to find solutions to reduce spending, lower taxes and pay down the debt and deficit, Guinta said. The current Congress is just not getting this done.

“How many members of Congress know how much money they’re spending overall in any line item or in any department?,” Guinta said. “We need to get back to that approach, then we can get back to the idea that we can reduce the spending and the liabilities in our country.”

Guinta also said that Congress is putting America in a position of weakness by depending on countries such as China to fund our debt.

“When we spend money that we don’t have, we’re printing or we’re borrowing,” Guinta said. “When you print it, it devalues the dollar. When you borrow it, it puts someone else in control. We talk about being the greatest country. We want to be self sufficient, whether it comes to energy independence, or monetary independence, we don’t want to rely on some other nation.”

Legislators should be judged by how many pieces of legislation they repeal

Congressional candidate Frank Guinta at a Londonderry Town Hall meeting on February 24 outlined his first orders of business once he’s sworn in as the first district’s next representative in Congress.



Should government-run health care legislation pass during the current session of Congress, Guinta said he would immediately file or sign-on to legislation to repeal it. Guinta said he would also work to identify legislation that is “outdated or archaic or is invasive personally or overly bureaucratic.”

“Government is onerous, and I think people are feeling that,” Guinta said. “Legislators don’t need to be judged by how many pieces of legislation they file. They can also be judged by how many pieces of legislation they repeal.”

Next, he would work to immediately freeze federal spending to help bring the national debt and budget deficits under control.

“I would institute a spending freeze,” said Guinta, the former mayor of Manchester. “I would do top-to-bottom reviews not just of the Fed, which is the thing that most people want to see right now, but of every single department and agency.”

The former mayor said such audits would identify what’s working and what isn’t and detect where there are duplications in service. Using the constitution as its guide, Congress can then use the audit to determine what departments are no longer needed and what dollars can be used to bring the budget into balance, pay down the national debt and reduce the tax burden on families with children and small businesses.

With national spending and taxes under control, individuals and small businesses will have more of the resources they need to create jobs.