Flotsam & Jetsam
Come fly with me At last month’s Nackey Loeb Awards dinner, Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid took a moment to thank David Fink and Timothy Mellon of Guilford Transportation - owner of Pan Am Airlines — for supplying the plane…
News
Real estate should remain a good investment for 2005
It’s November, the end of the year is soon upon us. My partner and I will be sitting down to budget/forecast 2005. Norton Asset Management Inc. is a small firm (10 full time employees). We have three areas of business:…
The Pfundstein Report
Several days after last month’s column on insurance producer compensation was published, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) issued its first draft of a model broker compensation disclosure law. I was pleased to see that the NAIC rejected the…
Cook on Concord
Gov.-elect John Lynch continues to shape his upcoming administration. While the ceremonial aspects of planning the inauguration are fun and full of adrenaline, the real business of government became apparent as department heads presented their proposed budgets to legislative committees…
Improving Performance
I had never seen the polls so crowded. As I gave my name to get a ballot, I noticed two strange-looking women with clipboards hovering over the table. They didn’t look like they belonged, and they were obviously paying attention.…
Utilities watch
In November the five-member Executive Council voted 3-2 to confirm Michael Harrington, a Republican state representative from Barrington, as a member of the Public Utilities Commission. Harrington will fill out the term of former PUC Commissioner Susan Geiger, who resigned…
Letter: Get your life back under Sarbanes-Oxley
To the editor: U.S. companies have gained a year’s grace before they need to change from a period of 75 days to 60 to report annual results. Big deal. It’s about time we got something back from Sarbanes-Oxley Rule 404,…
No way to treat a commissioner
John Ratoff, commissioner of the state Department of Employment Security for the last 20 years, deserved far better treatment than the unceremonious dismissal he received earlier this month at the hands of Gov. Craig Benson. Benson decided in the waning…
Guest Opinion: Benson’s legacy - What a short, strange trip it’s been
Now that Craig Benson’s term as governor is drawing to a close, an obvious question that comes to mind is: What is the Benson legacy? Since the Claremont II decision was issued in 1997, one of the primary standards by…
Guest Opinion: Medicaid needs a dose of personal responsibility
In 1965, Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the law that created Medicaid. The program was enacted to provide care to impoverished citizens for their medical needs. Medicaid was never designed to offer subsidies for middle- and upper-class individuals…
