(CONCORD) A hiring freeze put in place five years ago by Governor John Lynch is doing little to prevent state agencies from filling their vacant positions, as the Governor’s Office has issued 436 waivers so far this Fiscal Year. Governor Maggie Hassan has not denied a single request to waive the hiring freeze in her first six months in office.

FOR THE MONITOR

Back in 2003, Doug Hall from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies concluded a wide-ranging overview of the state budget with a list of ways to balance the budget, some real and some not so real. In outlining the various budget tricks that could be used to make an unbalanced budget appear balanced, Hall was trying to alert policy-makers on potholes to avoid. Reading through the budget bill approved by the New Hampshire House this week, I’m afraid they used Hall’s warning as a do-it-yourself guide to budget gimmickry.

New Hampshire has a bipartisan tradition of fiscal sleight-of-hand. It’s tempting for politicians to hand out money without being held accountable for taking from taxpayers.

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Former Governor John Lynch’s favorite part of the job was giving tours to elementary school students. It showed in his performance. He was so averse to engaging in the legislative process that he seemed disinterested in the non-ceremonial work that came with the corner office.

The New Hampshire House and Senate are notoriously independent and wary of gubernatorial interference, but Lynch was especially tentative in his approach and would often refuse comment on controversial bills before they got to his desk.

Grant Bosse joins Paul Westcott to discuss how Governor Maggie Hassan’s legislative style will differ from John Lynch. Tune into NH Watchdog on the Paul Westcott Show Friday mornings at 7:20 on AM610 WGIR and 96.7 The Wave, through the I Heart Radio ap, and at WGIRam.com

(CONCORD, NH) New Hampshire Governor John Lynch gets a B on the Cato Institute’s latest Fiscal Policy Report. Lynch got the top score of any Democratic Governor in the nation, despite letting the budget that earned such high marks pass into law without his signature last year.

The free market Cato Institute grades the nation’s 50 Governors on how much money they spend per capita, as well as their proposed spending and tax increases.

ynch oversaw a substantial increase in spending his first few years in office, but spend-ing has been cut in recent years. For the latest biennium budget, the New Hampshire legisla-ture made large spending cuts, which had the effect of boosting Lynch’s score on this reportcard. State spending in the current biennium is expected to be down about 10 percent fromthe last biennium.

Lynch’s grades in the biennial Cato report fluctuate along with the party controlling the Legislature. Lynch earned a B in his first term when Republicans held majorities in the House and Senate. He received Ds in 2008 and 2010 following two Democratic budgets that greatly increased state spending.

READ THE FULL CATO FISCAL POLICY REPORT CARD

FOR THE MONITOR

The Lynch administration is bleeding from a thousand cuts. For seven years, Gov. John Lynch managed to walk through the raindrops without getting wet. But a series of questionable ethical choices from his team threatens to tarnish his hard-fought reputation of bland popularity.

Employment Security Commissioner Tara Reardon agreed to step down, and her top deputy was suspended after a seven-month investigation into alleged nepotism in her department.

The Liquor Commission apparently lost 300 cases of wine worth $100,000 that may or may not have actually existed, and then tried to investigate itself without telling the attorney general’s office.

Former Liquor Commission chairman Mark Bodi, whom Lynch had already demoted from a previous scandal, was accused of funneling state dollars to a friend and lobbyist in violation of New Hampshire law. (A state investigation found that the man was not lobbying for the agency – but that his contract might have been a conflict of interest on Bodi’s part.)

T.S. Eliot may have penned that April is the cruelest month, but I’m betting Lynch would vote for August.

Merrimack Patch reports on Governor John Lynch reminded the State of Massachusetts that in the Granite State, we don’t need to create a special holiday weekend to avoid paying sales taxes.

Former Congress and NH Supreme Court Justice Chuck Douglas writes to the Concord Monitor to share his experience in an earlier role, legal counsel to Governor Mel Thomson.

Grant Bosse and Paul Westcott discuss the shocking Supreme Court decision upholding the individual mandate under the tax and spend clause and a record setting Veto Day at the State House. Governor John Lynch has now been overturned more times in his final term than all other Governors dating back to 1989 combined.

Tune into NH Watchdog on the Paul Westcott Show Friday morning at 7:20 on AM610 WGIR and 96.7 The Wave, through the I Heart Radio ap, and on WGIRam.com.