Published in the Nashua Telegraph on August 15, 2012.

NASHUA – In person, new vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan is friendly and cordial, according to U.S. Rep. Chris Von Hollen, who sits with Ryan on the House Budget Committee.

But, as he hits the campaign trail as Mitt Romney’s running mate, Ryan’s charisma shouldn’t mask his politics, Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said Wednesday in a meeting at President Barack Obama’s Nashua campaign office.

“It’s important not to confuse civility with ability to compromise,” Van Hollen said. “(Ryan’s) budget is the Tea Party manifesto. … He has a very uncompromising approach.”

As chairman of the budget committee, Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, has championed budget plans that proposed to give further tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle and lower classes, according to Van Hollen, the budget committee’s ranking Democrat.

Ryan’s budgets, known as the “Path to Prosperity,” also proposed to turn Medicare into a private voucher program, which could saddle the country’s senior citizens with further costs, Van Hollen said, speaking alongside Congressional candidate Ann McLane Kuster.

Click here to read the full article on NashuaTelegraph.com →