VIDEO: NH House GOP Leaders Respond to Lynch's Address

Republican leaders in the held a short press conference after Gov. John Lynch, D-Hopkinton, made his to counter some comments.

House Speaker , R-Mount Vernon, and Majority Leader , while flanked by Republican leaders, started out by commending Lynch for making an eight-year commitment to the office of governor and the time he took interacting with the people of New Hampshire.

However, they also took issue with a number of statements made during the address, including comments Lynch made about attacks on public employees and solving the education funding problems. O’Brien stated that Republicans “did an uncommon thing for elected officials – we kept campaign promises.”

O’Brien stated that Republicans faced a $900 million budget deficit left by Democrats and quickly closed the deficit without raising taxes. He said 12 tax cuts, some on businesses, were approved. O’Brien said it was important to get the state’s economic outlook back on track so that the tens of thousands of unemployed Granite Staters could get back to work.

“To do this, we need to make our state a magnet for new employers and give the ones who are here now an incentive to grow,” he stated. “That’s why we will continue to focus our energies this year on strengthening the New Hampshire Advantage.”

Bettencourt was even harsher in his tone about Lynch’s speech. He criticized the governor for attacking Republicans about the widening of I-93 project stating that the caucus supported the project but wanted to fund it without new taxes. He said the speech offered all kinds of programs with no way of paying for the proposals. Bettencourt added that it was Republicans who cleaned up the financial mess in the state.

“Republican leaders over eight years warned the governor that he was spending at an unsustainable rate,” he said. “And that a day of reckoning financially would come to New Hampshire if this spending would not get under control. The day of reckoning came and this Legislature tackled that crisis head on, making tough decisions, often while being criticized and demonized by the governor.”

Bettencourt also said if Lynch wanted to change the tone in Concord, it would need to be a two-way street, since Lynch and others were constantly attacking Republicans for trying to improve the state.

“Frankly, I have seen members of my caucus demonized and attacked in personal ways that I have never seen before in New Hampshire politics,” Bettencourt said.

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