Democratic gubernatorial nominee Maggie Hassan continues to feel a relentless barrage from rival Republican Ovide Lamontagne, and outside conservative groups, on past votes in favor of tax increases.
Tax increases seven and eight point to votes cast during Hassan’s time as a state Senator which, as a Lamontagne email described in pointed terms, helped “make it more expensive for New Hampshire residents to petition our state’s judicial system for justice.”
An excerpt from the email explains the two votes in question:
Maggie Hassan SUPPORTED adding $5 to certain entry fees established by the judicial branch family division (OTP on SB350, 1/23/08).
Maggie Hassan SUPPORTED adding $10 to the district court entry for civil writs (OTP on SB106, 3/11/09).
Today’s entries into Lamontagne’s “Maggie’s Tax Increases of the Day” series follow attacks for prior votes that included repeatedly saying “yea” to hiking New Hampshire’s cigarette tax. Conservative groups, operating independently of the Republican nominee’s campaign, have also entered the fray following Hassan’s remarks to the Portsmouth Herald last week.
“I think there are some things that most taxpayers of New Hampshire would agree that we could restore,” she stated in regards to tax cuts approved in the last two years.
Jennifer Horn, President of We the People First: A First in the Nation Freedom Forum, subsequently derided Hassan as “part of the Democratic majority that voted in favor of 80 new taxes and fee increases.”