My challenge to The Daily Sun news staff has gone unmet

To The Daily Sun,

Does anyone wonder why politicians and newspaper writers are held in low esteem? Read today's (Nov. 5) article by Mr. Amsden in The Sun if you harbor any doubt as to this being the case.

Having labored through a tumultuous two years as a delegate to the Belknap County Convention, I read article after article by Mr. Amsden and his colleague Mr. Kitch which were steeped in inaccuracies and bias. The former head of the convention, Ms. Worsman, was pilloried on a regular basis. She and a

majority of the convention insisted on the statutory basis for line-item control of the county budget. Not to omit others in media bias, WMUR showed up at one meeting to ask why Rep. Tilton would press this issue. They had done zero research. The other paper in town, The Citizen, ran a front page article the day after the dispute went to Superior Court and never sought a comment from any Republicans who were present but did prominently feature Democratic diatribes.

It was all going to be different in the present biennium, right?

Well, no, this Belknap Commission is no more transparent than the last group and fully as snarky and intellectually dishonest. I have not seen the agreement which was reached with Mr. Logue and cannot comment on it. I can say that the innuendo-filled article by Mr. Amsden has many inaccuracies.

The heart of the disagreement among the current board centers on personnel policies and not on personalities. Personal dynamics make better reading than do policy discussions, right? It is true that policy disagreements have exacerbated personal distaste.

Since Mr. Amsden mentions yet again the meeting at which the chairmanship of the commission was wrested away from me and vested in Mr. DeVoy, allow me to state once again that there was no precedent nor statute which made it legal. What did make it legal was a lifeline thrown to Mr. DeVoy by the Superior Court, which held that the power to appoint to an office implicitly carries with it the right to remove from office. The briefs filed by three lawyers were summarily ignored, which is an example of why it is most agreeable to be a judge: you not only get to be lofty but to make it up as you go along. I was elected to be chair and have never been appointed to anything. The Sun references my election in this (Nov. 5) edition.

Several months ago, I challenged the editor of The Sun and Mr. Amsden to do some research on nursing home matters. Instead, we get a another recycled hash of half-truths. If anyone is interested, I will supply a list of sneers and smears engaged in by Amsden and The Sun.

In the meantime, allow me to recite a few facts which you have not seen in print: The Belknap Count Nursing Home, despite poor policy decisions by this and the former Board of Commissioners, went from three star status in 2012 to its current five star status.

Clinical outcomes, measured scientifically, are in the top 2 percent of all nursing homes nationwide. Mr. Logue was awarded the Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award, a national honor accorded to him by the American College of Health Care Administrators. Under Director Logue, the county experienced the lowest operational deficit in 10 years and the largest increase in revenues ever garnered. BCNH has had a 100 percent increase in rehabilitation patients over the last two years, an increase which has been sustained. The county enjoys a strong and experienced staff at the Nursing Home and would do well to encourage those who are employed at the facility to stay.

Much support has been extended to me over the past year, in some cases from surprising sources. Thank you. In turn, I will serve the next 13 months to the best of my ability.

Dick Burchell

Belknap Commission, District 2

Gilmanton