New Hampshire Public Radio selectively edits tape to hide Maggie Hassan’s tax gaffe

  In the recent past we have seen MSNBC, NBC, and CBS selectively edit audio and video tapes to push an agenda–it happened with Trayvon Martin and it also happened with Mitt Romney’s “47% gaffe” and here as well, but this local New Hampshire story might just take the cake.

  Democrat Maggie Hassan and Republican Ovide Lamontagne are vying to become the next governor of the state of New Hampshire. Maggie Hassan was in the state senate when New Hampshire’s spending spiraled out of control under Governor John Lynch.

 As a result of this spending, revenues had to be raised and we all know where that money came from–taxes and fees. This is what led to the Tea Party revolution in New Hampshire in 2010 and the ousting of Maggie Hassan.

  Maggie Hassan has the endorsement of Governor Lynch and she is promising to continue his policies if she is elected governor. Naturally Ovide Lamontagne is attempting to tie her to the tax and fee increases which happened while she was in the state senate, (99 to be exact) although she is trying to distance herself from this aspect of Governor Lynch’s record.

  ‘Tax’ is a word she has been avoiding, going so far as to claim she opposes an income tax now that she is running for governor even though she has supported an income tax virtually her whole career.

  During a debate back in September both candidates were asked about RGGI. RGGI (pronounced Reggie by we locals) is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and it is a compact the state entered into with other states in New England to curb greenhouse gasses while John Lynch was governor. Needless to say it will cause energy prices to rise. The Republicans have been trying to repeal this initiative but so far have been unable to do so.

  Ovide Lamontagne wants to repeal RGGI while Maggie Hassan voted for it, here is how New Hampshire Public Radio (which just happens to receive tax dollars) covered, and continues to cover, Maggie Hassan’s answer to the question on RGGI:

  She is proud to have supported the energy efficiency program, no problem there right?  There is a problem however, here is what she actually said:

  She stumbled and admitted that RGGI was indeed a tax and she was proud to support it, not surprising given her history. NHPR decided to edit the tape because of time constraints, so they say. But how much time did they edit out? One second perhaps, and it just happened to be the one second when Maggie Hassan admitted RGGI was a tax.

  There is no doubt who NHPR wants to see win in November and it isn’t Ovide Lamontagne and they knew this gaffe might hurt Maggie Hassan so they edited it. This was no mistake, this was blatant and they got caught.