A state agency wanted $4 million of your money to take pictures of New Hampshire. Wheeler helped kill it. New Hampshire photographers then lined up to do the same work for a photo credit.
Taylor Caswell is such a big spender. He came to us with a contract for $4 million to hire people to take pictures and videos of New Hampshire to help market tourism. After we killed that contract, we had numerous photographers come to us and say, ‘Hey, we’ll do it for free. All we want is our name on it.’
NH Journal, August 19, 2025
That is the entire argument for keeping a conservative on the Executive Council. Four million dollars stayed in taxpayers’ pockets because somebody read the contract and asked what it bought.
It was not an isolated fight. Two months earlier Wheeler voted against a $19,802,673 increase for the state’s advertising firm, taking that one contract to $37,874,873. He voted against $1,200,000 for an Indianapolis research firm and $600,000 for another branding campaign. The marketing budget has a standing objector and it is him.
He also told the room he could not support renominating the commissioner behind the spending, and reminded them how much power the Council actually holds. It confirms the Attorney General, the transportation and safety commissioners, and it sets the pay of department heads.
