This is the third part of our Dossier series on Councilor John Tabor. This first section repeats the first part of Part I and Part II because some of you may start this series by reading Part III.
Councilor Tabor has become a fixture in City Hall. So, we wanted to take a little extra time looking at his claims to fame and what might really lie behind them. This is why we have created three parts to this dossier.
Councilor Tabor’s Personalities
We struggled to find the personification of City Councilor John Tabor. Since he is running for a third term on City Council, we wanted to give him his due. There are sides of John Tabor you might not know. As you will read below, John Tabor is filled with the spirit of Apate, ready to do mischief on behalf of the Portsmouth powers that be.
In fact, Councilor Tabor serves many masters, it seems. He aims to please. His agenda is to serve those in power, such as City management and the developers. He cozies up to the powers that are in Portsmouth, people such as Michael Kane, John Bohenko and Mark McNabb. If the current City manager needs something done, Councilor Tabor is on the call list.
All well and good, if he were open about this. But there is deception and deviousness involved. You’ll see the track record below.
Who Does a City Councilor Serve?
We ask: if elected as City Councilor, who should that City Councilor serve? Is the Councilor there to follow the instructions of the City Manager or the City legal staff? Or should the City Councilor be independent and work to govern City management? We think it is the latter. A Councilor needs a backbone.
Councilor Tabor thrives in a world of such duplicity, as you will see. This is a perfect setting for Apate to thrive as well.
Who Is Apate? (From Mythology Wiki, www.theoi.com)
Apate is the minor/primordial goddess personifying deceit, fraud, and deception, which also sums up her personality quite well. She is cunning and cruel, and her thought process is usually twisted and vile. She has no love for anyone or anything and takes pleasure only in rooting out people’s weaknesses and using these as weapons in her own favor. To her, everyone is fair game. She is certainly not past empty promises and stabbing those near her in the back. The only ones who have any form of slack against this are her siblings, though even this is not guaranteed.
Let’s Combine Councilor Tabor and Goddess Apate for His Role in Part III
Used Car Salesman John – Community Power
Community Power is the Eversource-endorsed plan to remove power generation from Eversource’s line of business. It is onerous and heavily regulated, and it wasn’t “green enough” as Eversource ran it. Electric utilities would never be seen as “ESG” enough! This was going to be the greenies’ huge win! Get everyone to sign up for solar and wind generation. All green, all the time. Well, that’s plenty of green for the wind-generating and solar-generating companies.
So, Eversource had to convert its thousands of electric utility customers to Community Power. Complicating this transition was that many Portsmouth residents had already signed up for an alternative, independent power generator and left Eversource behind.
Switching without Consent
Despite promises to the contrary, Used Car Salesman John switched many residents into Community Power from these independent generators without their consent, forcing them to leave their existing power suppliers. After all, who checks their utility bills closely or thinks someone would be so devious? Used Car Salesman John was sure able to snooker a lot of the City residents, sweeping them into Community Power.
Less than 1% Want All-Green Energy! (Well, Maybe It Is Too Expensive)
Of those city residents who now use Community Power, not all are dummies. About 11,000 residents and businesses were swept into Community Power. Only 107 accounts signed up for the all-green power. Not a surprise.
Used Car Salesman John wants you to believe the Community Power all-green power he’s selling is a bargain and saves money. Not so fast, Used Car Salesman John. It’s 40% more expensive than the conventional power the rest of us use. And it’s not the cheapest green power available.
Smart Energy’s All-Green Power Much Cheaper than Community Power’s
Look at what the public market rates are if a Portsmouth resident wanted to switch from Eversource and not use Community Power:
| Character of Power | Supplier | Cost (cents per kilowatt per hr) |
| 100% Renewable Content | Community Power | 15.2 |
| Smart Energy | 11.7 | |
| Default “Dirty” Energy Source | Eversource | 12.6 |
| Community Power | 10.9 | |
| Direct Energy | 11.8 |
Community Power’s “all-green” power is 15.2 cents. An intelligent green consumer would avoid this expensive option and just buy the “all-green” power from Smart Energy for 11.7 cents.
Used Car Salesman John loves to quote Eversource’s cost of “dirty” power, which is 12.6 cents. But an intelligent consumer would have already switched out of Eversource into Direct Energy at 11.8 cents. Community Power is the low-cost supplier at 10.9 cents if you trust buying power from this new entrant. Caveat emptor, especially when dealing with a Used Car Salesman.
Never Buy the First Year Model of Anything!
As Portsmouth residents, we should be happy that Peter Rice, our manager of the City’s Public Works Department, decided not to sign up for Community Power despite all the promotional material Used Car Salesman John distributed.
“It’s too early to commit to something as untested as Community Power,” according to Peter Rice. Wise man. Better wise than being snookered. Goddess Apate and Used Car Salesman John are not happy.
Snooper John – Flash Vote
Trench Coat Redux
It’s almost as if Trench Coat John hadn’t learned his lesson about accosting commuters in the Parrott Avenue parking lot. He’s at it again, helping to set up the City’s “Flash Vote” system to poll whoever wants to sign up to opine on topics of the City’s choosing. The trouble is that in signing up, the citizen has to provide a lot of personal information to Snooper John. The only thing that’s missing is Snooper’s trench coat and clipboard.
Wealthy John – Can We Afford His Prescriptions for Portsmouth?
The nice thing about being Wealthy John is that he seems to have a hefty bank account. In fact, his advice to incoming City Councilors: “Don’t worry. Portsmouth residents can afford the City’s many amenities and services.” As a cost-conscious taxpayer, you can be sure Wealthy John doesn’t represent your interests.
Wealthy John Likes to Spend Your Money, Contrary to His Claims Otherwise
Maybe that’s why he seems to enthusiastically support spending taxpayer money on so many projects while voting year after year to increase city budgets significantly. Wealthy John and Goddess Apate don’t have the taxpayers’ best interests in mind. Deceit and deception cover this up so the taxpayers won’t know … until they get their new tax bills!
This Concludes Our Dossier on Councilor John Tabor
Of course, we are ready to add more depending upon how Councilor Tabor behaves. Whatever we do, we’ll be watching for Goddess Apate’s involvement, for the two of them almost seem inseparable.
