HB 474: Is Going AWOL Smart Politics?

So Glad.... (4.00 / 3)

...Margaret Chase Smith didnt "go AWOL" for the sake of 'party unity.'

There is a facebook smear campaign against 5 or 6 Derry Republicans who oppose the RTW bill, along with some whining about asking them 'to walk' rather than oppose Robespier....er, O'Brien.  

If one helps to achieve the very thing they oppose by walking, it is, in my book, even worse than an honest 'yes' vote.

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by: Tully Fitzsimmons @ Tue May 24, 2011 at 10:56:15 AM UTC

"AWOL" (4.00 / 5)

I'm guessing that somebody will object to calling reps who don't show up "Absent Without Leave" if they get permission slips from the Speaker.

The thing is, representatives don't work for the Speaker. They work for their constituents. Just because the Speaker wants them gone, doesn't clear it with the voters.

AWOL is AWOL.

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by: elwood @ Tue May 24, 2011 at 11:04:14 AM UTC

WI Dems Were Ridiculed (4.00 / 6)

But, as always, IOKIYAR.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue May 24, 2011 at 14:46:24 PM UTC

The games that O'Brien is playing - (4.00 / 4)

getting some of his caucus to duck out when the vote is coming, keeping the time - even the date and month - of the vote secret in hopes of finding enough Dems away from the floor, manipulating the calendar so representatives can stay away -

all this anti-democratic third-rate parliamentary trickery makes clear that a veto override SHOULD require two-thirds of the entire chamber, not just those present.

The Court screwed up in ruling otherwise. If it isn't willing to restore checks and balances here, we need an amendment to the state constitution.

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by: elwood @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 01:13:27 AM UTC

Should I read into that (4.00 / 1)

That the numbers tomorrow are not there to sustain? Sure sounds like it from the tone.
Say it ain't so, Elwood!

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 01:25:51 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

See NHPR for more: (0.00 / 0)

http://www.nhpr.org/obrien-may...

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 01:54:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The fundraiser with Joe Biden (4.00 / 2)

should be prepared to move on a Tweet's notice to the statehouse en masse (with Joe in the gallery) if they pull the "while you were out" gambit.

I'd like to see a bill to bring back the pillory and stocks as a penalty for this kind of malfeasance.

They. Don't. Care.
We do.
Rinse, repeat.

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by: GreyMike @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 03:57:08 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I guarantee you the Vice President's protection detail (4.00 / 1)

is not prepared to move on a Tweet's notice to anything that wasn't already planned.

I am supportive of the concept however.  This is a thoroughly disgraceful episode.

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by: MartyInNashua @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 11:27:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

As long as loaded guns are on the House floor... (4.00 / 4)

no presidential candidate with secret service protection will be allowed in the House.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

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by: Ray Buckley @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 11:55:13 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Having worked with (0.00 / 0)

some of those very details way back in much less edgy times, I knew that it was a practical impossibility, especially in light of Ray's comment below regarding the embedded house militia vigilantes pistol packing yahoos 2nd amendment activists.

The idea of all those folks in the gallery just made for such a great picture in my addled mind.

They. Don't. Care.
We do.
Rinse, repeat.

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by: GreyMike @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 16:33:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

TCTC n/t (0.00 / 0)

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 01:57:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

By speculating about the schedule O'Brien says in the spotlight (0.00 / 0)

That may guarantee that this stays uncertain for as long as possible.

Anything for more camera time for the Narcissists of Nastiness.

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by: elwood @ Wed May 25, 2011 at 10:13:41 AM UTC

we took one vote... (4.00 / 1)

We did take a procedural vote at the end of the May 25 session on whether or not we should end the session.  That "Third Reading" motion passed 255-119.  The one who missed that vote were:

Hatch, William Democrat Coos 3 Not Voting/Excused
Thomas, Yvonne Democrat Coos 4 Not Voting/Excused
Pastor, Beatriz Democrat Grafton 9 Not Voting/Excused
Beattie, Thomas Republican Hillsborough 17 Not Voting/Excused
Scontsas, Lisa Republican Hillsborough 22 Not Voting/Excused
Reed, Dennis Republican Merrimack 2 Not Voting/Excused
Coffey, Jennifer Republican Merrimack 6 Not Voting/Excused
Hess, David Republican Merrimack 9 Not Voting/Excused
Deloge, Helen Democrat Merrimack 12 Not Voting/Excused
Hutchinson, Karen Republican Rockingham 3 Not Voting/Excused
McKinney, Betsy Republican Rockingham 3 Not Voting/Excused
Packard, Sherman Republican Rockingham 3 Not Voting/Excused
O'Connor, John Republican Rockingham 5 Not Voting/Excused
Major, Norman Republican Rockingham 8 Not Voting/Excused
Welch, David Republican Rockingham 8 Not Voting/Excused
Hofemann, Roland Democrat Strafford 6 Not Voting/Excused
Emerton, Larry Republican Hillsborough 7 Not Voting/Not Excused
Hopper, Gary Republican Hillsborough 7 Not Voting/Not Excused
McCarthy, Michael Republican Hillsborough 21 Not Voting/Not Excused
Christiansen, Lars Republican Hillsborough 27 Not Voting/Not Excused
Patten, Dick Democrat Merrimack 11 Not Voting/Not Excused
Lundgren, David Republican Rockingham 3 Not Voting/Not Excused
O'Brien, William Republican Hillsborough 4 Presiding

One of the no-shows on this vote was Jennifer Coffey, a prominent O'Brien ally who missed the May 18th session because of illness.  She came back on May 25th, looking very pale, but left early.  Perhaps the moment she left was the moment after O'Brien told her there would be no HB-474 vote?

It was a huge turnout: there were certain reps who never show up ever who found a way to be here on the 25th.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu May 26, 2011 at 22:05:46 PM UTC