Manchester Residents and The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition File Injunction against Alderman and City

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, September 08, 2008

CONTACT   :

Mike Biundo

(603) 540-2572

mbiundo@yourmeridian.com

Manchester Residents and The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition File Injunction against Alderman and City

Gang of Eight Alderman Violate RSA 49

Manchester, NH – The Manchester spending cap petition which was lawfully and signed by 4036 Manchester voters, was narrowly rejected multiple times for placement on the November ballot by a "Gang of Eight" aldermen led by Mike Lopez. The series of 8-6 votes by the Alderman on Friday evening shows a clear pattern of ignoring the laws of New Hampshire for their own political purposes. The "Gang of Eight" called the placement of the measure on the November ballot "too soon," and claimed "too many questions remain about it."  These Aldermen in question are Mike Lopez, Bill Shea, Betsi DeVries, George Smith, Russ Ouellette, Mark Roy, Jim Roy and Dan O'Neil. Their actions have left no other recourse other than to file an injunction.

“Today we filed a petition for an injunction with the Hillsborough Superior Court. We asked for an expedited hearing due to the looming election on the horizon and the desire to save the taxpayers' $35,000 -$40,000 in special election costs. The board of Alderman have another chance to do the right thing this evening, we respectfully ask them to take this opportunity to reconsider their actions and place this question on the November 4th ballot where it belongs.

What we witnessed during the last week was political posturing at its best. The board’s unfortunate decision to ignore the law has brought us to this request for court action.  The board had four months to get answers to their "questions." Four months to make their case to the voters of Manchester on why they think we shouldn't have a spending cap. Instead the "Gang of Eight" spent four months trying to figure out how to keep it off the November ballot." said Mike Biundo, Chairman of NHAC.

This is the first time that we are aware of that political posturing to this extent has come into play when dealing with placing spending caps on ballots. Rochester and Somersworth dealt with similar petitions this year both chose to place their petitions on the ballot without delay. The New Hampshire Advantage Coalition appreciates the leadership displayed by Mayor Frank Guinta and Aldermen Mike Garrity, Kelleigh Domaingue, Ted Gatsas, Peter Sullivan, Ed Osborne and Real Pinard for standing with the voters of Manchester. NHAC plans to file a similar measure against the City of Concord this Friday. Attached you will find the full injunction as filed.