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"Baby's Got the Hammer"

by: Dean Barker

Thu Jan 13, 2011 at 05:58:55 AM EST
Pretty much it in a nutshell.
Dean Barker :: "Baby's Got the Hammer"
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"Baby's Got the Hammer" | 10 comments
Great Piece Asking For Peace (4.00 / 1)
By the way, the "compromise" that I heard announced about public posting of House Committee Executive Sessions on bills sounds suspicious to me.  If Committee Chairs are given authority to announce at the beginning of hearings that a bill might be immediately voted on if it's "non-controversial" or merely "housekeeping" or "simple," who's to decide that's the case?

I've seen many bills that could be perceived as "simple" that have many ingredients and implications.  A one-word statutory change can have great ramifications.

ALL bills should be subject to a hold-period of having a break between the actual hearing and the voting on a bill.  That's not the formality in the State Senate, and we've seen a number of times when a bill is on the Senate floor and sent back to a Committee because "we have to look at it again."  That's easier to do with 24 members, but when you're addressing a bill on the House floor with 400 members it can get muddy.  

Naked power grab (4.00 / 2)
Committee Chairs will decide if it's simple enough to Exec that day.

Chairman Reagan just "decided" that public input wasn't really that important during committee Tuesday because he already heard as much as he needed to.  "Silly Public - do not waste our time in committee" he may as well have said.  Who serves whom???

I sit on a committee (lopsided membership of course due to the numbers) whose responsibility, apparently, will be to "decide" on the constitutionality of a proposed measure , or whether the Legislature has the constitutional authority to pass a particular bill.

And thanks to new House rules, we will - for the first time that anyone can recall - now have a standing committee whose Chair will decide if the matter being brought before the committee does, in fact, merit committee attention in the first place.  Or not.  The Chair will have a veto.

This is an absurd start to a legislative session.  With only 2 weeks behind us in 2011 it has been about one thing - consolidating power and making sure nobody gets in your way.  Rules, Process, History, Decorum all be damned.  

[ Parent ]
My Replacement Can Handle It... (0.00 / 0)
...better you than me!  Just kidding, except the handling part.  You're going to be a star in the Legislature again, Chris.  Wait till they run into you.  Do good things.  
[ Parent ]
You're on Itse's revolutionary committee? (4.00 / 2)

Strap yourself in because you are in for a helluva ride the next two years! You're guaranteed to have some interesting anecdotes to tell the neighbors.
[ Parent ]
Indeed. First Up, HB 0125 - States Rights + Guns. (4.00 / 1)
"This bill exempts firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition manufactured in New Hampshire from federal law and regulation."

How. Special. Is. That.

[ Parent ]
I look forward to the discussions (0.00 / 0)
Rep. Serlin and I are seat mates in the committee.

BH's token Republican / Libertarian / TeaPartier / Free Stater, courtesy of a Federal Affirmative Action grant, despite many of his comments being marked down and hidden.
[ Parent ]
Sorry Mike... (0.00 / 0)
just caught that you had already commented on this very item.  Well done, and well said.
[ Parent ]
Excellent adventure (4.00 / 2)
That Constituionality committee will be interesting - the leadership has already shown in the Brunelle fiasco (maybe we should call it the Greazzo fiasco) tht they do not know or understand the state Constitution. If Itse starts claiming that the courts do not have the power of judicial review, I have a copy of an article about the Ten Pound Act cases that is on point.

Which leads to this question - why is Mirski's committee hearing from legal experts on the meaning of Article 7? If they are going to go through this charade, shouldn't it at least be the right committee?      



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
The correct committee (4.00 / 2)
There is only so much in the way of "about-face" that these guys are going to dispense at any given time ;-)  Admitting two mistakes in one week?  

Um, no.

[ Parent ]
amen to that brother n/t (4.00 / 1)


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other
"Baby's Got the Hammer" | 10 comments

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