Only in Cow Hampshire

While the Congress debated the stimulus plan, and citizens contacted Congress persons to successfully remove one billion dollars for nuclear weapons (do we need any more??) New Hampshire was undergoing its own budget revolution, announced by Governor John Lynch last Thursday.

Part of the budget for the next biennium includes trying to close a huge budget deficit. Since NH only has a property tax, the bulk of which goes to fund local education, towns and counties, the state has few options for raising revenue. Most of the tried and true methods include raising the cigarette tax, raising the business profits tax and trying to sell more liquor and lottery tickets. Quite the plan, eh? (My personal suggestion has always been to install condom machines in all high school bathrooms and fund state education through the revenue they would generate, but I digress.)

So, it comes as no surprise that really, the only thing the governor can do is cut state expenditures and consolidate state functions and departments. So, I'm sorry to report that:
1. We're apparently not drinking enough in NH and the governor plans to close several "underperforming" state-run liquor stores.
and 2. Our visionary governor has decided to consolidate the State Library and the NH State Council on the Arts (part of the Division of Cultural Resources) with the Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Game Department. I bet you are already imagining how these four agencies are related . . . I remember a painting a few years ago which had dung daubed on it and. . . . well . . . the moose license plates, made by prisoners, are sold to raise money for the Division of Cultural Resources . . . and......beyond that, I'm just speechless.

On the serious side of this, the State Arts Council is suffering a loss of 1/2 its 9 person staff. The Executive Director position will not be funded going forward, and the amount of money the Council gets from the Nat. Endowment for the Arts is a match for the amount of state money funding the agency, so of course that funding will be cut in half as well.

This is indeed a short-sighted strategy. Not only is there a lot of evidence to support the idea that the arts actually generate a lot of money in the rest of the economy, but it's obvious to most of us that the arts feed our souls and help us to transcend our earthly troubles. The arts helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us. And I'm just talking about what consuming the arts can do for us. To be an artist and to produce art is a way to share a personal vision of the world, and to interpret the world to others. Instead of being the first to be eliminated from schools and from state government, the arts should be last. I hope we can find a way to shovel through the b.s. in the Governor's office, and preserve the State Council on the Arts so that they can continue to bring art to schools, communities and individuals.