Annual Membership Meeting

The 2011 annual membership meeting will be on Sunday, September 25th from 1:00PM to 6:00PM in Pembroke, NH. The Board will report on the past year’s events and successes as well as objectives for the upcoming election and legislative seasons. Members are welcome to present their thoughts or suggestions to the Board on how to improve NHLA’s influence and recognition. To RSVP or for more information about the annual meeting, including the venue location, email membership@nhliberty.org.

There will be a pot-luck luncheon immediately following the meeting. Please consider bringing something to eat or drink for all to share. Please bring extra chairs, tables, or coolers to the event.

In keeping with the Spirit of private charity, we will be holding a collection for a New Hampshire food pantry. Any non-perishable items you could bring would be welcome.

Liberty Dinner Recap

The 8th Annual Liberty Dinner was a great success. More than 100 people were in attendance on July 10th at the Chateau Restaurant in Manchester, NH. Most of the attendees for the dinner also arrived early for the engaging conversations at the VIP reception.

The 2011 NHLA Legislator of the Year award went to the Honorable Representative Mark Warden of Goffstown. His unwavering support for liberty demonstrated by his voting record earned him the highest score in the 2011 Liberty rating among a strong group of contenders. Representatives Paul Brown, Seth Cohn, and Brian Seaworth all tied for second place.

As is tradition, we unveiled an advanced copy of NHLA’s 2011 Liberty Rating. The official copy of the 2011 Liberty Rating is now available at http://www.nhliberty.org/2011_Liberty_Rating. The Liberty Rating is an objective evaluation of all 424 New Hampshire state senators and representatives based on 56 roll call votes in the House and 22 in the Senate. Bills have been carefully selected for inclusion which clearly demonstrate the level of respect our elected representatives show for our individuals rights and liberties.

The 2011 NHLA Activist of the Year award went to Kevin Bloom. He has been a regular figure at the statehouse in support of pro-liberty legislation. His biggest influence was on the Nanobrewing bill just signed into law that would allow the growth of smaller brewers by reducing excessive overhead in licensing fees. A thank you also goes out to Kevin for his hard work in organizing the two most recent NHLA Liberty Dinners.

Larry Lepard was this year's keynote speaker. Larry has been a professional investor for 30 years and runs Equity Management Associates (www.ema2.com). He was an early supporter of Ron Paul in the 2008 election and ran full-page advertisements in USA Today. At the Liberty Dinner, Larry gave a powerful speech titled "Monetary Chaos - The Future and How We Get There." The speech covered the problems with current monetary policy, the coming credit default of nations like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and how it could happen in the United States. He noted how Iceland is successfully recovering without having a bailout its banks. He also highlighted how former New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, who played a major role on the bank bailouts of 2008, joined Goldman Sach just months after leaving the office. A full video of the speech can be found online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf64KWi6gis.

Mark Edge, co-host of the radio show Free Talk Live, was on hand as the emcee for the evening. For newcomers to the Liberty Dinner, Mark gave an excellent description of the mission and history of the NHLA. Video of Mark's talents and the award presentations can be found online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2jxkYCY9M.

A thank you goes out to Amanda B. for organizing the silent auction at the dinner. The auction raised $1,602 which will go toward the NHLA PAC fund to help elect pro-liberty candidates.

On July 5th, Chris Lopez of Canterbury, fell 15 feet off her deck when a railing gave way. The fall broke her back and caused a serious spinal cord injury. She has successfully made it out of surgery but has a long road of physical rehabilitation ahead of her. Chris and her husband Rep. Seth Cohn have been tremendous supporters of the NHLA and Liberty in New Hampshire. At the NHLA Liberty Dinner, it was announced that the NHLA would use civic action funds to match up to $250 in donations that went toward Chris Lopez. This mark was quickly exceeded by the generous attendees at the dinner. If anyone else would like to donate, a ChipIn fund can be found at the site http://seth.naturalrightscouncil.org.

Special Elections Update

GENERAL Election - Rockingham County District 14 (Hampton Falls, Kensington, Seabrook, South Hampton) for State Representative. The general election date is on September 16, 2011. The NHLA has endorsed Brendan Kelly for State Representative. Anyone looking to donate to or help with his campaign can visit his website at http://brendankellylpnh.com.

GENERAL Election - Hillsborough County District 3 (Greenville, New Ipswich, Peterborough, Sharon) for State Representative. The general election date is September 20, 2011. The NHLA is waiting on the completion of candidate surveys before making endorsements.

Endorsements are based on candidate surveys and/or Liberty Rating scores from previous House incumbency voting records if available.

Help the NHLA Support Pro-Liberty Candidates with a Monthly Donation

The NHLA website has been updated to enable reoccurring monthly donations to be made to the NHLA Political Action Committee. PAC funds will go toward NHLA endorsed candidates for state office. Endorsements are based on candidate surveys and/or Liberty Rating scores from previous House incumbency voting records if available. The goal of a monthly donation is to start early in building up funds to support pro-liberty candidates come election time. Please visit http://www.nhliberty.org/campaign-fund to help the NHLA make an even bigger impact on future elections.

Amazon.com to fund Civic Action

One of the ways NHLA is funded is through the amazon.com affiliate program. By clicking on the link http://amazon.nhliberty.org before you make your purchases at Amazon.com, a portion of what you pay will go directly to NHLA without additional cost to you. Previously, funds brought in by the affiliate program have gone to the NHLA operations account. In August, the Board decided to allocate future funds from the amazon.com affiliate program to the NHLA civic action account based on increased need.

The NHLA also wanted to highlight a new resource, UShareNH.org, for those looking to help their New Hampshire neighbors in need. UShareNH describes themselves as "a web-based tool designed to help make connections for neighbors in need. Someone once said the impersonal hand of government can’t replace the caring hand of a neighbor. But in today’s world neighbors often don’t know who’s in need nor who to contact." UShareNH is looking to put people already in the role of state, community, or faith-based services in touch with local people that can can provided resources for their neighbors in need. Resources can be anything from clothing, furnishing, or groceries to transporatation, counceling, or snow removal. You decide when you want to provided those resources based on actual needs that people have. When you sign up, you can elect to get action alerts within your area and in only the categories of resources that you are able to provide.

Searchable Database of State Government Transactions Now Online

The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy has put together a searchable database of nearly 750,000 state transactions covering all dollars spent by state agencies in 2009. Records for 2010 and 2011 are currently being collected. The information has been gathered via “Right to Know” requests to the New Hampshire Department of Administrative Services. This resource can be found at http://nhopengov.org.

Liberty Books

Jim Dodson of Liberty Books in Concord (75 Allison Street) hosts NHLA’s monthly Board meetings. Please visit this treasure-filled store for books on history, economics, and politics, as well as an unrivaled collection of graphic novels and comic books. You may also visit Jim on the web at http://www.libertybooksnh.net/.

Get NHLA news and alerts fast by joining the NHLA group on Facebook.com. http://facebook.nhliberty.org

Help support the NHLA by making all your Amazon purchases through the NHLA/Amazon.com affiliate program. Go to http://www.nhliberty.org/books_and_videos and click on the “Shop at Amazon.com!” link.