Expanded gambling not always sure thing

Kevin Landrigan leads off his weekly column in the Nashua Telegraph by reporting a glitch in the proposal to put video slot machines at the state's racetracks.

As it turns out, VLT gaming appears to meet the definition of a state lottery game. Voters approved more than a decade ago an amendment to the state Constitution which says that all profit from lottery games has to go to education.

For the layman, the essential difference is that at a VLT, all players are competing for one big jackpot. Theoretically at least, two people sitting next to one another playing a slot machine can win the jackpot at the same time.

Gaming Commission Chairman Andrew Lietz has confirmed that he would be asking Attorney General Michael Delaney’s office for a legal opinion on this subject.

Lots of other good stuff in the column, as always.

Mass. gambling push may force N.H.'s hand

Robert Cook reports in Foster's that backers of expanded gambling in New Hampshire are trying to beat Massachusetts to the table.

That argument has been part of the gambling debate in Concord for years, but Massachusetts hasn't previously been quite so close to rolling the dice.

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Revere, in October named Massachusetts State Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, the point person for developing a casino bill.

The legislation, which Bay State lawmakers could vote on as early as January, could allow slot machines at Boston-area race tracks, including Suffolk Downs, Wonderland Greyhound Park, Raynham Park and Plainridge Racecourse. Suffolk Downs also has publicly expressed an interest in getting a full casino license.

Groups raise concerns about gaming study panel

Jarret Bencks reports in the Eagle-Tribune that both pro and anti-gambling groups are upset at the working of the Governor's gambling study commission.

Joe Casey, president of the State Building Construction Trades Council, attended the commission's meeting on Oct. 6, which was supposed to focus on the status of gaming in nearby states. The commission heard from three sources — a former Foxwoods Resorts executive, an official from the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy, and a presentation from the Rockefeller Institute, which recently completed a study on declining gambling revenue in the United States.

Casey said he found the discussion at the meeting to be off track.

"When I went to the meeting and the charge was to collect data from other states, that's what I expected to see," he said. "But it isn't what I saw. I thought we were going to see real data on revenues, real data on problem gaming."...

Jim Rubens, director of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, has regularly attended the commission's meetings, and by his count, the panel has heard presentations from three people who support expanded gambling, one who is neutral, and just one who is against gambling. He said he plans to continue to attend the meetings, expecting the opinions of the speakers to balance out.

"I am hoping the commission by the end of its hearings gets a more balanced set of proposals," he said. "I think they are serious about doing what the governor asked them to do."

Foster's- Let's keep Gaming Commission fair, balanced

Foster's editorial page questions the timing of a new Commission to study "Gaming" in New Hampshire:

Let's take an open and honest look at social costs and properly test revenue estimates — out in the open and without bias.

That said, the timing of Lynch's commission is worrisome.

Two superior court judges have frozen state-held funds totaling more than $100 million. Another lawsuit is set to challenge a state budget decision to hike the contributions cities and towns make to the state retirement system.

Should any or all of these be successful, the recent two-year budget plan adopted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Lynch won't be worth the paper it is written on.

And if the legislative debate over that budget debate is any indication, Gov. Lynch and the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate won't look to cuts as a solution.

That is where concern lies over establishing a gaming commission. (more)

Belmont Track can't collect new tax on gambling winnings

Laconia Sun reporter Michael Kitch wrote yesterday that the Lodge at Belmont isn't planning to sue the state over its new tax on gambling winnings, but it can't collect the tax for the state either. Less than two days into the fiscal year, and the state already has two injunctions against it, and another tax it can't collect.

Laconia Daily Sun- Gambling 07-01-09

Charlie Arlinghaus- A Gambling Commission won't cure the state's budget woes

By CHARLES M. ARLINGHAUS

The governor is right to continue to look at the long-term financial future of the state. But it will take more than just a commission on gambling. The state's fiscal situation is bad right now and will continue to deteriorate over the next few years. It will take more than a look at one potential revenue source to move us back to fiscal stability.

The budget as passed is nominally balanced by the addition of taxes and fees to raise more than $300 million. But the budget also uses more than $500 million in one-time sources of revenue that will not be available in two years. Couple that with temporary spending cuts, and even if nothing else happens the starting deficit for the next budget will be even larger than this year's.

Adding to our troubles, the state has developed a debt problem. U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg wrote eloquently in these pages yesterday about the federal debt problem. New Hampshire is slowly building its own mountain of debt in imitation. State debt continues to rise every year. The latest budget increases the debt limit for turnpike bonds from $586 million to $766 million.

This secured debt increase has also been joined by the equivalent of a state credit card. After a temporary experiment with borrowing $40 million for building aid to fix a short-term budget hole last year, the state has decided to pull the credit card out again and borrow another $80 million this year. These costs have been operating expenses from time immemorial, but now we're not going to pay as we go. From $40 million to $80 million is not a good trend.

The problem gets larger in dribs and drabs and accumulates until you have a mountain. Our long-term liabilities are a sign. Twenty years ago, the state's pension obligations were fully funded. Bit by bit, the funding percentage has declined. Today the state's retirement plans have pension and health unfunded liabilities of more $7 billion.

In the most recent budget, lawmakers decided to move $18 million that was supposed to begin funding some of those obligations and use it instead to solve the problems within the operating budget. Borrowing from pension funds is what companies do shortly before bankruptcy.

Of course, the $18 million would have been just a drop in the $7 billion bucket. And though it is only temporary, it is a sign of the pressures the current operating balances put on decision making. The $40 million in borrowing for school construction aid was a temporary fix last time, but it didn't go away, it grew. Suspending $50 million in revenue sharing is a temporary fix this year, but I don't think any town is banking on how temporary it will be.

Recognizing the structural problems, the governor has decided to take a closer look at gambling. He worked hard to keep gambling out of the current budget, but not because he definitely supports or opposes it. He announced he'll appoint a special commission to examine the possibilities of more gambling.

This is reminiscent of Jeanne Shaheen's blue ribbon commission a dozen years ago to look for ways to increase state revenues. Back then, the senior partner of Gregg and Son was as clear-headed about state fiscal policy as the son is clear-headed today about federal policy.

Former Gov. Hugh Gregg thought revenue commissions were premature or at least represented only one half of the coin. I've talked before about the piece he wrote for The Josiah Bartlett Center urging New Hampshire not to abandon its "unique and admirable fiscal history" in a search for the "least onerous source of new taxation."

It was good advice then, and it's good advice for the governor today. Former Gov. Gregg proposed a "red ribbon commission" to look at state spending, the other half of the budget coin. If we're going to try to decide if gambling is the least onerous source of new revenue, we'll almost certainly consider other sources of revenue as well. But if a commission is going to look at sources of revenue, ought we not also look at the increased spending that creates the pressure for gambling?

Our history is the boom and bust cycle that Gov. Gregg spoke about. Every 10 years or so a belt-tightening occurs after a period of higher spending. Steve Merrill's 1995 budget reduced spending in actual dollars. The Benson budget and the first Lynch budget in 2003 and 2005 both reduced spending compared to inflation.

If we're going to be looking at new revenues, let's not forget Gov. Gregg's admonition that there are alternatives to "the least onerous source of new taxation."

Charles M. Arlinghaus is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord.

Gambling supporters "wait 'til next year"

Tom Fahey reports in the Union Leader that supporters of expanded gambling didn't get what they wanted in the state budget, but are taking Governor John Lynch's last minute offer to study the issue as a sign of growing gambling momemtum:

Lynch said he will appoint a gambling study commission soon to look at the expansion of gambling and issues like who should control it, own it, the number of sites and ways to prevent proliferation.

Killion said Millennium Gaming's plans are unchanged for Rockingham, where it owns an option to buy the track and set up video slot machines. It calls for a major construction project and upgrade of the horse track, with the state getting 49 percent of slot revenues.

Meanwhile, the Concord Monitor editorializes against slots, citing the experience of other states that rely on gambling revenue:

Las Vegas casinos aren't the only ones to crap out. The Trump Casino in Atlantic City filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and The Donald and his daughter resigned from the board of Trump Entertainment Resorts.

This week, Rhode Island's Twin River greyhound and slots parlor folded a financial hand that can no longer be played in this economy. The racino can't pay the mandatory 61.5 percent of its take to the state and pay off its creditors too, so it filed for bankruptcy.

Pro-Gambling Senators Speak Out

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro led a group of six pro-gambling Senators in a press conference calling for a "non-taxpayer based" revenues source for the state budget. The Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and lead negotiator for the Senate in budget negotiations has been taking a hard line that gambling must be included in any budget he supports.

D'Allesandro, flanked by Senators Peggy Gilmour, Bette Lasky, Michael Downing, John Gallas, and Betsi DeVries, presented a plan to raise $205 million from casino-style slot machines at the state's race tracks and in the North Country.

D'Allesandro's says his plan would produce a $55 million surplus, which would be used to address Charter School or other cuts made to the budget. His plan also includes:

• State employe furlough
• Additional 1/4 point increase in the Rooms and Meal Tax, slated to go 8.75%
• Direction to the Governor to cut $15 million in each of the next two years

D'Allensandro said he would not accept a compromise offered by Senator Kathleen Sgambati, which would allow a single expanded gambling license to Rockingham Park. D'Allesandro said he was in favor of economic development for the entire state, and repeated his pledge to oppose any budget that does not include some form of his plan. Gallus, who has long pushed for a pair of slot parlors in the North Country, also opposed any effort to limit slot machines to Salem. However, Manchester's Lasky said she was open to compromise, but still preferred expanded gambling across the state.

D'Allesnadro said he would not take himself off the Committee of Conference. All Conference Reports must be unanimous, though Senate President Sylvia Larsen could remove any holdouts to a final budget agreement. Larsen has sat through most of today's negotiations, and at one point sat in when Sgambati is out of the room.

Governor John Lynch has been holding private discussions with key lawmakers throughout the day, but D'Allesandro says he has not been taken aside yet.

"I'm felling a little slighted. The Governor hasn't taken me into a room. What am I going to do?" D'Allasandro joked. "You know, my wife does that to me sometimes."

The clock continues to tick down as the Committee faces a Thursday deadline to pass the two-year, $11.5 billion back to the full House and Senate. However, Committee Chair Marge Smith has the power to "stop the clock" and hold off that deadline as long as necessary to get a deal done. Both Smith and D'Allesndro hope to avoid a Continuing Resolution, which would allow New Hampshire government to remain open should the Legislature fail to pass a budget by the end of the Fiscal Year on June 30th.

Concord Monitor- "Reps turn down plan for slots "

Lauren Dorgan reports on the second to last day of budget negotiating, and says that the House rejecting of gambling doesn't necessarily mean the Senate plan is dead:

House and Senate negotiators stopped work about 11 p.m. last night on the $11.5 billion, two-year budget, which they are supposed to finish by noon today. A number of issues large and small remained unresolved, including a proposed enrollment cap at the state's charter schools, the fate of union-prized seniority protection for state workers known as "bumping rights" and which of the state's district courts they would close.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, the chief sponsor of the Senate-backed gambling plan, vowed that his fight was not over and said he would not vote for a budget that didn't include gambling.

"I'll be the last man standing," said D'Allesandro, a Manchester Democrat who's been pushing for expanded gambling for a decade. His plan would sell licenses for 5,000 slot machines at Salem's Rockingham Park, 2,000 at each of the state's dog tracks and 2,000 at two North Country slot parlors.

House rejects gambling

Tom Fahey reports in the Union Leader that the House rejection of the Senate's gambling proposal sets up a tense final day for budget negotiators:

The House move set up a stalemate on finding new revenues. After the House vote, the Senate responded by blocking both a House effort to bring forward an estate tax, sometimes called a death tax, and a capital gains tax. The capital gains plan exempted gains from sale of a house worth up to $500,000, and up to $10,000 on other investments for a couple.

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, prime sponsor of gambling bills over the past decade, stood firm saying, "I will not raise taxes in a recession."

He said later he'll stick to that stance when talks resume today.

UL- "State budget clock ticks away"

In the Union Leader, Tom Fahey reports on the progress, or lack thereof, of the Conference Committee hashing out the state budget:

More than a week after negotiations on an $11.6 billion two-year budget began, a committee of conference has made slow progress in coming to agreement on things such as funding for courts, closing the Laconia State Prison, childcare money for low-income workers, cancer prevention and a variety of welfare programs.

The big items are taxes and gambling, and no mention of either one had been made as of late last night. The House members of the committee are steadfastly against the need for legalized slot machines at state tracks and two proposed casinos. The Senate said the plan, with up to 13,000 slots, will bring more than $200 million in badly needed state revenue.

Charlie Arlinghaus suggests budget writers take the time they need to fix the budget.

Concord Monitor- "Gambling debate has created off alliances"

Lauren Dorgan's Capital Beat column notes that both support for and opposition to expanded gambling in New Hampshire cut across party lines. And there are some interesting glimpses into last week's late night negotiations.

Eagle-Tribune- "NH House may be shifting on slots"

Jarret Bencks in the Eagle-Tribune looks at ongoing budget negotiations at the State House, and interviews southern tier lawmakers about the chances of the House adopting gambling in the state budget:

The original budget plan from the House shored up a portion of the state's $650 million deficit with new taxes — including a capital gains tax — and spending cuts. But the Senate amended that plan, replacing those measures with six licenses for up to 15,000 slots around the state.

Proponents of legalizing slot machines will have to persuade members of the House that slots are a better resolution to fixing the budget than new taxes.

The committee met yesterday to review how each body came to its budget decision and get a feel for where each legislator stands on some of their major differences. The committee is expected to meet again this afternoon.

Based on licensing fees, legalizing slots would bring in an estimated $205 million for the state in the next biennium.

The key will be whether the House members of the Conference Committee would be willing to accept the slots plan. If that group doesn't agree to the Senate proposal, the full House won't be voting on it at the end of the month.

Budget Coverage Roundup

The Union Leader, Nashua Telegraph, and Concord Monitor via the AP all lead their coverage of ongoing budget negotiations with yesterday's press conferences for and against slot machines at the state's racetracks.

Monitor Editorials on State Budget

The Concord Monitor publishes a pair of editorials on the state budget this morning.

First, they urge the House to hold the line against the Senate's expanded gambling proposal:

Among the gambling opponents who voted in favor: Democrats Sylvia Larsen of Concord and Harold Janeway of Webster.

The surprising votes were merely procedural, the senators said, a way to get the budget passed and get going on the hard work of negotiating a compromise with the House. Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, the only Democrat to cast a nay vote, asked gambling opponents to extend sympathy to her colleagues. "Their vote was much harder than mine," she wrote.

What is being cast as pragmatism could surely also be seen as cynicism. These senators are asking voters to pay attention to their words, not their votes - and to trust them to reverse themselves in the future, when it really counts.

And then they plead with budget writers to avoid gimmicks to get their work done:

Expanded gambling isn't the only bad idea being floated by New Hampshire budget writers these days. There's a scheme to raid a land conservation fund specifically set up to discourage such raids. There's a plan to cut aid to municipalities - the effect of which could be seen in the sad parade of people begging the Concord City Council to save the library. There are plans to increase regressive state fees and stick it to businesses by suspending a critical tax credit for a year.

But when it comes to eyebrow-raising budget measures, no one at the State House has come up with anything half so creative as officials in South Carolina, where state history is being sold off on eBay in small pieces.

Weekend Roundup- Budget Edition

We take a look at the weekend political columns.

In the Union Leader's "Under the State House Dome", Tom Fahey lays out three competing versions of the state budget:

The competing budgets lay out very different solutions. Gas tax versus toll hikes, gambling versus estate and capital-gains taxes; whether to loosen liquor controls, cut business tax credits and/or tap LCHIP money; and how to fund school building aid -- plenty of flash points.

Gambling runs the risk of outright House rejection. The Senate hates the capital-gains tax. Lawmakers and the governor's office have been holding brainstorming sessions on replacement taxes that haven't yet seen the light of day. They include a tax on refinanced debt and closing the limited liability corporation loophole on dividend taxes.

Of course, there's always the Republican plan -- throw all tax hikes in the trash and start cutting the budget. Unfortunately, they admit they don't know where to cut. They said they'd leave it to department heads, the folks they usually dismiss as "bureaucrats." In the GOP's eyes, they are now highly paid policy experts who know the budget best.

Fahey also has items on the business taxes increases in the budget, the dispute over whether the state can confiscate $110 million from a medical malpractice fund, and the debate over toll increases.

Lauren Dorgan's budget coverage makes it off the Viewpoints page with a full scene-setter in the Concord Monitor, but her column does address the chances of getting toll increases through the Executive Council:

After Lynch came out for vetoing the gas tax last month, lawmakers scrambled to figure out how to pay for road repairs. Hence the new Lynch/Senate "aggregation" plan, which hinges on the idea of raising tolls, including increases from $1 to $1.50 at Bedford and Hooksett.

But the Executive Council, which sets tolls, has given a frosty reception to the concept.

After all, councilors just raised tolls in 2007 from 75 cents to $1 - to raise them 50 cents now would mean doubling tolls in just a few years. And, the toll plan is matched with "aggregation," a.k.a. tapping toll booths to pay for repairs on nontolled highways for the first time ever, a plan that has few fans on the council.

"I would say, from what I've been hearing from my associate councilors, that it doesn't even have a half a vote," said Republican Councilor Ray Burton, an enthusiastic backer of the gas tax.

Pignatelli, who has never voted for a toll increase, said she might listen if a toll plan was paired with some relief for toll-ringed Merrimack. But aggregation is a nonstarter for her.

"I do not favor the aggregation of the highway system and the turnpike system," she said.

"It would not be an easy thing to explain why we're paying tolls in the southern part of the state to pay for roads in the North Country."

And in the Nashua Telegraph, Kevin Landrigan also covers tolls, but has word that Governor John Lynch is working with hard to invent new taxes to pay for the state's increased spending:

Gov. John Lynch continued to privately sound out lawmakers and other House players on revenue-raising proposals.

Until April, the three-term governor had been hoping that the federal stimulus cash, restrained spending, higher tobacco taxes, a new gambling tax and a slew of fees would be enough to balance the budget.

The spending and revenue trends of the late spring changed all that, and at this late hour, Lynch is left to scramble in search of ways to raise enough new money to put the state back in the black.

The always-cautious governor isn't tipping his hand about which revenue proposals he'd been willing to accept.

Lynch and associates sketched out the newest – and some believe most promising – revenue concept, which is to go after the untaxable income held by limited-liability companies.

Budget Coverage Roundup

In the Nashua Telegraph, Kevin Landrigan leads with taxes and spending. He notes that the only major change adopted on the Senate floor was a proposal to not raise taxes on businesses by as much as originally planned:

The budget (HB 1) and companion bill that makes necessary changes in state law (HB 2) raises taxes for those who smoke, eat a meal, rent a car or stay in a hotel room and increases fees to use an E-ZPass, register a car, get a driver’s license, have a vanity license plate, register a boat or fish in the ocean.

Senate Republican Leader Peter Bragdon, of Milford, said it was counter-productive to increase state spending over the next two years by more than $250 million when the state faces a severe recession and zero inflation.

“It’s cold comfort the increase in spending is only half the 17 percent in the last budget, and we saw wild revenue projections helped get us in the budget mess we’ve been in,” Bragdon said.

In the Concord Monitor, Lauren Dorgan leads with slot machines, but also reports that the budget is far from complete:

The fight over the budget - and gambling - is far from over. House and Senate negotiators will hammer out a final budget later this month.

Like budget plans drafted by Gov. John Lynch and by House lawmakers, the Senate's $11.6 billion, two-year budget would raise a host of taxes and fees - including taxes on cigarettes, restaurant meals and hotel rooms - and would lay off scores of state employees. Like Lynch's plan, the Senate would shutter the Tobey School, several district courts and the Laconia prison.

The Senate budget, which passed 15-9, would also grant greater autonomy to the liquor commission to, as Lynch puts it, "run like a business." While the House supported a 15-cent increase in the gas tax to fill the state's near-broke highway fund, the Senate plan instead relies on increased car-registration fees and taps revenue from the state's tollbooths to, for the first time, pay for maintenance on roads that are not tolled.

The biggest difference between the budgets: where the money comes from. Lynch's budget, presented in February, projected significantly higher income - about $200 million more - from the state's existing revenue sources than the Senate's budget. The House budget included two new taxes on the wealthy, a capital gains tax and an estate tax, expected to bring in a combined $85 million over the two-year budget. Senators nixed both those plans, instead backing gambling.

And in the Union Leader, Tom Fahey reports that Senators were talking apples and oranges when debating how much this budget increases spending:

Republicans and Democrats debated how much actual spending increases in the Senate plan. D'Allesandro said spending of state funds increases only 0.63 percent compared to the two-year budget that closes June 30.

Minority Leader Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, said the actual increase is 8.8 percent, roughly $270 million, when budget changes and cuts Gov. Lynch ordered over the past year are taken into account.

Budget Coverage

The Senate Finance Committee has sent the $11.5 billion dollar, two-year spending plan to the full Senate, after increasing both taxes and spending late into the night.

In the Nashua Telegraph, Kevin Landrigan leads with the fact that a Hudson golf course was left out of the racino sweepstakes:

Proponents of a casino destination resort in Hudson said Senate budget writers "surprised and disappointed" them, crafting a two-year state budget that only legalized slot machines at three racetracks and two North Country sites.

Thomas Friel, co-owner of the Green Meadow Golf Club site, said he thought the Senate Finance Committee plan would permit gambling at slot machine parlors and a casino-style resort to legally co-exist.

The final amendment, surfacing after midnight Wednesday, allowed up to 13,000 slot machines at five sites to generate $185 million over the next two years.

In the Union Leader, Tom Fahey also leads with gambling, and also reports on an increase in business taxes:

House Finance Chairman Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, said she thinks both House and Senate "agree on the overwhelming majority of what's in the budget."

Besides gambling, she said, sticking points will be changes to the Liquor Commission, funding for highways and the suspension of the Business Enterprise Tax credit against business profits tax liability, she said.

Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said the governor will examine the business tax change, which just made its first appearance this week.

"Obviously, the governor has a lot of serious questions about what this would mean for businesses, how it would impact the economy and future revenues," Manning said.

Currently, New Hampshire pay the Business Enterprise Tax or the Business Profits Tax, whichever is higher. The Senate plan would whack businesses with both.

In the Concord Monitor, Lauren Dorgan highlights the differences between the Senate and House budgets.

Slots aside, the Senate budget closely followed the stark budget plan unveiled by Gov. John Lynch this winter and the one recommended by the House Finance Committee earlier this year; like Lynch, senators would close several district courts, the Tobey School in Concord and the Laconia prison, and lay off scores of state workers. Final numbers weren't available yesterday, but the total likely topped 200.

One major difference: With the recession continuing, senators now expect the state to draw about $200 million less in revenue than Lynch predicted in February. Meanwhile, senators funded some programs Lynch did not, including $1.2 million for a catastrophic illness program and $14 million to help people with developmental disabilities who are on a waiting list for state services. They also voted to fund $87 million worth of aid to local school districts; Lynch had urged lawmakers to borrow that money, and House lawmakers, balking at Lynch's plan to borrow, didn't fund the program.

Gambling-Business Coalition Forming

Tom Fahey reports in his weekly Under the State House Dome column that New Hampshire businesses are teaming up with the racetracks to push for expanded gambling in the state:

When Millennium Gaming and Rockingham Park unveiled their new "Fix It Now" coalition last week, they brought along a big group of labor and business owners.

The company continues to hold out the promise of $450 million in new construction at the park in exchange for a bill that in its words would allow "limited gaming." Leading the alliance is Chuck Rolecek, president and CEO of The Premier Companies. The company is the operator of C.R. Sparks Event Center and restaurant in Bedford and the upscale Chop House in Manchester.

He's teamed with about 20 others as well as owners of Millennium and Rockingham to push for a change in state gambling laws.

The group includes the Building and Construction Trades Council, with 7,000 workers in member organizations, trades like construction, electric, plumbing, plastering and sheet metal.

Also in the group are: engineering firms T.F. Moran and Inc. and Waterline Industries; executives of Kelly Construction Co. and Harvey Construction Corp.; food service providers Rolecek, Ron Doucet, owner of the Executive Court Inn and Banquet Center in Londonderry, and Hopi Stradling of the One Hundred Club in Portsmouth. There are also car dealers Paul Holloway of Dreher-Holloway in Exeter and Toyota of Portsmouth. Add to them former state Sen. Chuck Morse, the Tracey Edwards Company ad firm, and Centrix Bank.