The Seabrook Board of Selectmen, at their meeting of September 17, 2018, recognized and thanked Police Officer Jim Deshaies for his many years of service upon his retirement. Officer Deshaies spent many years as the School Resource Officer, and earned the respect and affection of the students he served. The Board of Selectmen offered their best wishes for a well deserved retirement for Officer Jim Deshaies.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Seabrook Police Department
Swimmers Pulled From Ocean at Seabrook Beach
At approximately 12:25 PM on Sunday August 19, 2018 the Seabrook Police Department responded to the area of 131 Ocean Drive for a report of multiple swimmers struggling in the water off Seabrook Beach. The Seabrook Fire Department responded and the Hampton Fire Department and Hampton Beach lifeguards responded with a rescue boat and jet skis.
Seabrook Officers John Giarrusso and Zach Bunszell were the first on scene. Officer Giarrusso shed his duty gear and entered the water assisting several of the parties to shore before returning to the water on a surfboard to search for the last party unaccounted for. Sergeant Dave Buccheri, K9 Officer Dave Hersey, Acting Chief of Police Brett Walker, and Lieutenant Jason Allen arrived shortly thereafter.
A female party pulled from the water was transported to the Seabrook Emergency Room.
The last male party was pulled from the water at 12:59 PM by a Hampton Beach lifeguard and transported to Anna Jaques Hospital.
A total of seven parties were pulled from the water including the six original swimmers in distress and one good Samaritan who aided in the rescues.
Seabrook Acting Chief of Police Brett Walker stated, “The quick and selfless actions of the police officers, firefighters, and lifeguards was essential in removing all parties from the rough waters today. The interagency teamwork was exemplary given the circumstances. Our officers on scene, along with the Seabrook and Hampton Fire Departments and lifeguards, quickly and efficiently coordinated both a targeted search and rescue area for those in the water as well as land-based evacuation for those requiring transport.”
CodeRed alerts as well as posts on the Seabrook Police Department Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts advised of the dangerous currents and to avoid swimming off of Seabrook Beach following the incident.
The names of those involved are not being released at this time and the conditions of those transported is not available. Anyone with information regarding this accident is asked to contact Officer Zach Bunszell at 603-474-5200. This incident remains under investigation.
The Seabrook Draft Hazard Mitigation Plan is posted here for review and comment. This plan was developed with a grant from New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and in conjunction with the Rockingham Planning Commission.
The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The “New Geography of Jobs” by Enrico Moretti is a book well worth reading despite the fact that it is a few years old. Moretti tackles issues of the economic divisions that exist in the country, how they developed, and why the trend is likely to continue under current conditions. Moretti describes the geographic clusters that have produced great jobs for the highly educated, while leaving some areas of the country (flyover country?) behind. How did these clusters come into being, and why are they not easily replicated? Moretti tackles those subjects with great and understandable analysis.
The implications of these economic developments in the United States have exploded onto the political scene, with the economic divisions Moretti highlights becoming the cultural and political divisions that have divided the country so seriously. Moretti refers to the “Great Divergence” and sees the trend-line of economic inequality increasing.
“This Great Divergence is among the most significant developments in recent American economic history. As communities grow apart, the U.S. population is becoming more and more segregated, not across urban neighborhoods but across cities and regions. With every passing year, college graduates are increasingly settling in cities where many other college graduates already reside, while high school graduates are increasingly settling in cities where many other high school graduates reside.”
Moretti, Enrico. The New Geography of Jobs (p. 102). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
That dichotomy really has had a broad (and negative) impact, which we are seeing the tangible results of. The geographic divisions have indeed, in my view, deepened and hardened our cultural differences.
“This has tremendous economic implications, but also social and political ones. A country that is made up of regions that differ drastically from one another will end up culturally and politically balkanized. Moreover, the concentration of large numbers of poorly educated individuals in certain communities will magnify and exacerbate all other socioeconomic differences.”
Moretti, Enrico. The New Geography of Jobs (p. 104). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
Moretti certainly has that right. He talks about the economics driving the “great divergence,” and how those economics work. We often talk about how the supply chain influences business decisions on where to locate. Moretti highlights the “human supply chain,” showing us how the innovation sector, relying on “human capital,” has tended to concentrate geographically.
“This trend reflects deep changes in the global technological landscape and the United States’ comparative advantage in the world economy and is therefore unlikely to go away anytime soon. It is almost as if, starting in the 1980s, the American economy bifurcated. On one side, cities with little human capital and traditional economies started experiencing diminishing returns and stiff competition from abroad. On the other, cities rich in human capital and economies based on knowledge-intensive sectors started seeing increasing returns and took full advantage of globalized markets.”
Moretti, Enrico. The New Geography of Jobs (p. 106). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
As the traditional U.S. business hubs have faltered(manufacturing, steel production, auto production) these innovation hubs have driven economic growth, and contributed to this great divergence. Those hubs are concentrated geographically, and Moretti brings us the dynamics of why that is. Some of the facts brought forward are counter-intuitive, but upon examination make good sense. (Outsourcing traditional jobs from U.S. does not impact some “innovation hubs,” who continue to provide logistical support to the offshore enterprises, as well as non-innovative job classifications doing substantially better within the confines of an innovation hub than outside of it)
Moretti has written a book that is understandable to non-economists, without technical jargon. In discussing how these innovation hubs develop geographically Moretti gives us the example of Wal-Mart.
“But when Walmart set out to enter e-commerce twelve years ago, it did not choose to locate its Internet division, Walmart.com, in Bentonville. Nor did it choose Bangalore, where costs are even lower. Instead it chose Brisbane, California, just 7 miles from downtown San Francisco, one of the most expensive labor markets in the world. (It also happens to be an area that is politically hostile to Walmart, which makes it hard for the company to open many local stores.) What sense does this make, given how aggressive Walmart is in keeping the costs of every division under control? Has Walmart betrayed its own business model? No. As it turns out, in the world of innovation, productivity and creativity can outweigh labor and real estate costs. Walmart saw three important competitive advantages to a San Francisco location, which economists refer to collectively as the forces of agglomeration: thick labor markets (that is, places where there is a good choice of skilled workers trained in a specific field), the presence of specialized service providers, and, most important, knowledge spillovers. Although not much discussed, these forces ultimately determine the location of innovative workers and companies and therefore shape the future of entire communities.”
Moretti, Enrico. New Geography of Jobs (pp. 123-124). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
As discussed this book gives us some of the underlying economics, and the impacts of those economics. The economic divide is becoming starker, with the highly educated widening the economic gap between themselves and those without higher levels of education.
“But whatever Americans’ self-perception is, differences in income levels are growing. As we have seen throughout this book, this increase has a strong geographical component. But it is also skill-based. Table 4 shows how the hourly wage of full-time male workers has changed since 1980 depending on their level of schooling. The wages of men with less than a high school education and of those with just a high school education today are lower than they were in 1980. By contrast, the wages of college graduates have increased significantly. The gain is even larger for workers with a master’s degree or a PhD. The “college premium”—the wage gap between those with high school and college educations—is the measure that labor economists most commonly use to track changes in labor market inequality, because it best captures the difference between the typical skilled worker and the typical unskilled worker. This premium was relatively small in 1980—only 31 percent—but has been growing every year since then and is now more than double its 1980 level. This difference is even higher when you account for other aspects of compensation, as college graduates tend to have better employer-paid health insurance and more generous pension contributions.”
Moretti, Enrico. The New Geography of Jobs (pp. 222-223). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
As we feel the impacts of political polarization and the vast cultural divide in America and wonder how we came to be in this position this book helps shed important light on the subject. Moretti has written an outstanding book which I recommend highly.
Police Chief Michael Gallagher, at the July 16, 2018 Board of Selectmen meeting, announced his retirement from the Police Department effective August 1, 2018. Chief Gallagher has performed just about every job for the Seabrook Police Department, and has had a very distinguished career. The Seabrook Board of Selectmen offered strong praise for Chief Gallagher after his announcement, highlighting his leadership in the battle against the scourge of opioids. Chief Gallagher will be missed.
Some biographical information on Chief Gallagher.
Chief Michael Gallagher served four years active duty in US Army Airborne Special Operations units (1982-1986) and was trained as a Special Forces Medic.
Chief Gallagher was hired as a full-time police officer by the Town of Seabrook in 1989 and attended the 88th NH Police Academy. In his 29 year career in Seabrook he has served as a Patrolman, Police Prosecutor, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Sergeant in charge of the Services Division, Lieutenant, Deputy Chief of Police, and Chief of Police.
In 1994 Chief Gallagher was given a Medal of Honor by the Manchester Union Leader for his actions in pulling two crash victims from a burning car.
In 2009, in response to the prescription drug overdose epidemic, Chief Gallagher started the first prescription drug takeback program in New Hampshire, where the community can drop off unused or unwanted prescription medications 24 hours a day.
In his efforts to better connect with the public, Chief Gallagher began regular Coffee with a Cop events at various locations in the town which gave the public an opportunity to meet the officers serving their community. Chief Gallagher also revived the Seabrook PD K9 program in the fall of 2017 with the addition of K9 Henry to the agency.
Seabrook Announces Voluntary Water Restrictions
Town seeks public assistance in reducing water use
Seabrook— The Town of Seabrook has implemented, on July 16th at its scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting, voluntary water restrictions for its water system. The Seabrook Board of Selectmen, acting in their capacity as the Water Commissioners for the Town of Seabrook, approved the request by Water Superintendent Curtis Slayton and Chief Operator George Eaton. Due to the recent dry conditions it has become necessary to ask residents to be mindful of how they use the water. Chief Operator George Eaton pointed out to the Seabrook Board that “our rainwater measurements are below that of 2016, the year of severe drought.” Chief Operator Eaton pointed out that the voluntary restrictions recommended are driven by the Seabrook Groundwater Management Plan, which offers safe parameters for the operation of Seabrook water wells. The Seabrook Board of Selectmen request that the public:
Repair any leaks inside or outside of the home.
Refrain from washing driveways and sidewalks
Cut back on irrigation times or irrigate every other day, or between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.
Reduce the frequency of the washing of cars
Check for and repair leaks in swimming pool systems
The Seabrook Board of Selectmen and the Seabrook Water Department are hopeful that more prudent use of water now will help to avoid mandatory restrictions at a later date and are appreciative of the support of the public.
The Town of Seabrook, after receiving a positive result on Friday July 13, 2018 from a single water sample indicating an E.coli contamination, has worked since that time with the New Hampshire DES to examine the Seabrook Water system, and ascertain whether the single test represented a wider problem with water quality in Seabrook. The Seabrook Water Department, represented by Superintendent Curtis Slayton and Chief Operator George Eaton, in close cooperation with DES, immediately began drawing new samples for testing. On Saturday morning, July 14, 2018, at 7:00 am, DES, with Chief Operator George Eaton, conducted a full sanitary inspection of the Seabrook Water System. Additional water sampling was also conducted and sent to a state certified lab. After the sanitary inspection was completed the N.H. DES representative indicated that there was “no apparent source of contamination” and found “no operational deficiencies” in the conduct of operations by the Seabrook Water Department. On Sunday July 15, 2018 extensive test results were returned to the Chief Operator George Eaton, as well as the New Hampshire DES. Those lab results show an absence of Total Coliform and E.coli bacteria. Since the initial positive result was not duplicated it appears that the initial finding was an anomaly. The residents of Seabrook can feel confident that the Seabrook Water Department continues to deliver high quality, clean water.
During this weekend the Seabrook Water Department closely adhered to NH DES rules, regulations, and established protocols. The Town of Seabrook is very grateful for the high level of assistance provided by the NH DES. DES was immediately available for consultation and was on site in Seabrook at 7:00 am Saturday. The strong work of Chief Operator George Eaton and Superintendent Curtis Slayton provided critical updates to the Seabrook Board of Selectmen, who are the Water Commissioners of the Town of Seabrook. Daily updates to the public were issued under the direction of the Seabrook Board of Selectmen, who instructed management to keep this process open and transparent. The Seabrook Water Department will continue to work with the N.H. DES, and will conduct additional testing beyond the traditional level over the next week.
The Seabrook Board of Selectmen joined Recreation Director Katie Duffey and the Seabrook Firefighters union, and Fire Chief Bill Edwards, as the new scoreboard and scorers table at the Recreation Center was unveiled. The Seabrook professional firefighters contributed 50% of the cost of the purchase, and I join the Board in thanking them for their generosity. Great job by Director Katie Duffey and the Recreation staff as well.
The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Author Chris Whipple has done a terrific job of examining the modern history of the Chief of Staff to the President position, and how that job plays such an important role in the ultimate success, or failure, of the Presidency. Chiefs of Staff are indeed vitally important to the success of an enterprise, especially the Presidency. The author believes that, and shows us how ineffective utilization of this position hurt several Administrations, and how effective Chiefs had an outsized influence on the success of many Presidencies.
I just finished the John Dean book “The Nixon Defense” and the person that Whipple describes as the father of the modern day White House staff system was a major figure in that book as well. H.R. (Bob) Haldeman had been with Richard Nixon for many years, and when Nixon won the Presidency in 1968 he turned to Haldeman to organize the Nixon staff, and to become Nixon’s “son of a bitch.” Nixon also described Haldeman as his “lord high executioner,” but Haldeman was so much more than a tough guy. He was highly organized, and indeed created a staff system emulated, in some fashion, by every following Administration. Whipple describes how Haldeman was seen by a future Chief of Staff.
“Holed up at their transition headquarters , Haldeman read everything he could on how to organize the White House. He devised what he called a staff system, a model and template of White House governance that almost every subsequent administration would follow. One person was paying particularly close attention: Donald Rumsfeld, the young, ambitious head of Nixon’s Office of Economic Opportunity. ‘There has to be a staff system, and Haldeman was the person who designed it,’ Rumsfeld would tell me years later. Haldeman, he notes, adopted the lessons Nixon learned from Ike: ‘It came really out of Eisenhower who had a military background, understanding the importance of communicating out to important elements-logistics and all the different elements in the military.’”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 22-23
H.R. Haldeman was eventually convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate scandal, and his public life was destroyed by his actions. There has been plenty written about Watergate, but Whipple brings us some of the interactions between a COS and his President when the Chief has an obligation to steer a President away from illegality. Haldeman, without question, slow walked or ignored many crazy orders from Nixon, but in the end he simply did not do that with sufficient vigor to keep Nixon, and his Administration out of trouble. Despite those shortcomings, in my view, Haldeman is indeed the “father” of the modern staff system, and a Chief that, despite his notable failures, was highly effective in many ways.
The book has a bias towards a strong chief of staff system, but that bias tends to be borne out by the history. Chapter two, on the Ford presidency, is one of the best in the book, and tends to confirm the bias towards a strong COS. Ford inherited the last Nixon Chief, Al Haig, who was quickly marginalized by the new Ford team. Ford adopted the “spokes of the wheel” management system, which had the major players reporting directly to him, going around Haig, and leaving him with an un-manageable inbox. Whipple shows the fast descent of the Ford presidency under this system, with the Nixon pardon and staff chaos driving his approval rating way down, and contributing to a perception of Ford as a bumbler that he never completely shook. When the President realized his trouble, and that the “spokes of the wheel” system was just not working he turned to Donald Rumsfeld, then Ambassador to NATO, who was an advocate for a strong chief. Rumsfeld gave Ford his views:
“”You don’t have the time to run the White House yourself,’ he told the President. ‘I know you don’t want a Haldeman-type Chief of Staff, but someone has to fill that role, and unless I can have that authority, I won’t be able to serve you effectively,’ In a memo afterward, Rumsfeld warned Ford that governing without a chief ‘is your quickest way to lose your credibility because even though you are honest the fact that you don’t know what you are doing misleads people and once you lose your credibility , you can’t govern, so there has to be order, and…I would consider it my job to see that there was order.’”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 53
The President evaluated, and concluded that the Rumsfeld approach was correct. Whipple quotes President Ford:
“As Ford wrote later: ‘I concluded he was right. The ‘spokes of the wheel’ approach wan’t working. Without a strong decision-maker who could help me set my priorities, I’d be hounded to death by gnats and fleas. I wouldn’t have time to reflect on basic strategy or the fundamental direction of my presidency.’”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 54
Not only do we get some very interesting history on this vital position, but we can revisit some of the outsized personalities that have impacted the last 50 years of U.S. history, often in different roles. Donald Rumsfeld did indeed take the position of Chief in the Ford Administration, and was succeeded in that role by Dick Cheney, a Rumsfeld protege and deputy. The description of Cheney is at odds with the person he would become as Vice President, as the author gives us a Cheney with a sense of humor, a much lighter touch, and a genial relationship with the media. Rumsfeld, on the other hand, appears to have changed little over the years. One of my favorite quotes from the book comes at the end of the Ford Administration, when outgoing Chief of Staff Cheney left a note for incoming Carter Administration honcho Hamilton Jordan. It said:
“Dear Hamilton,
Beware the spokes of the wheel.
Regards,
Dick Cheney”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 75
The author takes us through the years, with the failure of the Jimmy Carter staff system and the weakness of Hamilton Jordan as a staff person, notably highlighted, supporting the central theme of the book.
Another outsized personality that served in the role of Chief was Jim Baker, named by President Reagan as his first Chief. Reagan was willing to bring on board, in a central role, a man who had run the campaign of his main Republican opponent, George H.W. Bush. Whipple gives very high marks to Baker, and had access to Baker, who gave him some really outstanding insights on the Reagan presidency, and on the job itself. Baker, by any standard, is first rate, and his departure as Chief was not a good thing for the Reagan presidency. The ascendancy to that job of Donald Regan, in a job swap with Baker, proved to be disastrous for President Reagan. Highlighting the notable failures of Regan showed that a “strong” chief system could be as disastrous as the “spokes of the wheel” system. Iran-Contra happened on Regan’s watch, and when President Reagan had finally had enough he brought on as Chief another major name, Howard Baker Jr. Although Baker did not distinguish himself greatly his Deputy, Ken Duberstein did.
When George H.W. Bush succeeded President Reagan he named former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu as his first Chief. James Baker did express some reservations in the book about Governor Sununu, and the strong chief system took a hit under Sununu. Whipple scores Sununu for arrogance, not taking advice from prior chiefs, and breaking a lot of china in the room when he did not have to. Even Dick Cheney piled on:
“But Dick Cheney says his advice for Sununu fell on deaf ears. ‘Sununu comes over to my office and as I was talking, he sat back, looked at the ceiling, and twirled his thumbs,’ Cheney says. ‘He wasn’t the least bit interested. I think somebody told him he should do it.’”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 165
Sununu always receives high marks for raw intelligence, and of that there can be no doubt. His eventual problem was not his ability to grasp issues but his “domineering” attitude, and the alienation of other staff, and of vital congressional constituencies. Jim Baker highlighted the problem of having a “principal” in the job of Chief. (Don Regan was a Wall Street CEO)
“…but Sununu’s fundamental problem was his sense of entitlement. Jim Baker’s rule-that principals rarely succeeded in the job-had proved true again. ‘The people who don’t succeed as White House chief of staff are people who like the chief part of the job and not the staff part of the job,’ says Baker. ‘You’ve got to remember that you’re staff even though you are powerful.’”
Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Chris Whipple page 179
After a failed successor to Sununu, Samuel Skinner, President Bush 41 brought back James Baker as Chief of Staff, but it was not enough to prevent the loss to Bill Clinton.
The Clinton presidency brought staff chaos that was in many ways a function of the personality of the President himself. Two notable Chiefs of the Clinton presidency were Leon Panetta, and John Podesta. Both brought some discipline to a Presidency that badly needed it. When Panetta took over George Stephanopoulos gave him a copy of the book “The Haldeman Diaries” with a bookmark on the page where Nixon described Haldeman as his “lord high executioner.” The point was that Clinton needed a strong chief that could bring some order and discipline. The troubles, and successes of the Clinton presidency are well known, and both Panetta and Podesta became, and remain, outsized Washington figures.
The George W. Bush presidency, and the role of Andy Card as chief to Bush 43, is gone over in great detail. The dynamic is all the more interesting by the return of two former chiefs in different roles, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and Dick Cheney as Vice President. The disaster of Iraq, and some of the other major issues, are covered, with the advantage of having the principals all willing to talk, and take some pretty hard shots at each other. The dysfunction, in some respects, is laid at the feet of Card, but it really stemmed from Cheney and Rumsfeld, who did their best to circumvent the Chief of Staff system, and were largely successful in that effort. Cheney being forced to deliver the news that the President was firing Rumsfeld came after Card left, and was a function, in part, of the new Chief Josh Bolten recognizing that Rumsfeld was a liability to President Bush. A terrific chapter in the book.
The author does indeed get to the Obama presidency, and gives us some good insight from his first Chief, Rahm Emanuel, the current Mayor of Chicago. Rahm is a hard charger and possessed of truly extraordinary political instincts. Rahm’s style is well known, but his personality was not that of prior hard chargers who failed at the job. He knew when to hold them, and he knew when to fold them. The failure of Rahm’s successor, William Daley, is covered, with some good lessons learned.
The author gives us a very quick view of the first Trump chief Reince Priebus, who truly did fail at the job. The successor, John Kelly, is covered also, in a critical way. I do believe that Kelly understands the discipline that is needed for the job, but that style is just not suitable for Trump. Kelly’s position, that he was not brought in to “control Trump,” is criticized, correctly in my view, but must be mitigated against his true freedom of conversation while in the job. I would like to hear his perspective after he leaves the position, which will likely be shortly.
I give the book the highest rating, as it is both fascinating, and instructive, at the same time. The author has done a superb job.
On June 4, 2018 the Seabrook Board of Selectmen heard from David Fox, a consultant with Raftelis, a firm hired by the Board (after an Request for Proposal selection process) to do a water and sewer rate study for the Town of Seabrook. Raftelis was charged with giving the Board options for future rates after conducting an overview of the current rates. The strictly “operational” subsidy from the taxpayers of Seabrook to the water and sewer funds is approximately $1.8 million (based on FY2017 data.) I had given the Board separate studies on the Water Operations for 2017, as well as the Sewer operations for 2017. I have attached those below. The Power Point presentation by Mr. Fox is also below. The Board of Selectmen will have a public hearing on water and sewer rates on June 18, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. The rate options presented to the Board include a one year, five year, and ten year option for closing the “operational subsidy” from the taxpayers to the ratepayers. The Board has requested that Raftelis deliver a plan that would close the gap in seven years. If you would like to submit comments to the Board on water and sewer rates you may do so electronically by sending to wmanzi@seabrooknh.org
Bill Manzi.com 