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What Did the Speaker Know, and When Did He Know It?

by: William Tucker

Tue May 29, 2012 at 07:59:15 AM EDT
What did the Speaker know, and when did he know it? A quick scan of the newspapers this morning makes it clear the focus of the Bettencourt scandal is now turning to House Speaker Bill O'Brien's role in the attempt to let Bettencourt resign without disclosing his academic misconduct.

Associated Press:

O'Brien, the House speaker, also could come under pressure in the days ahead, said Bob Clegg, a former Senate majority leader and speaker pro tem of the House during his 14 years in the Legislature. He said people are going to ask if O'Brien was covering up for Bettencourt and how Bettencourt came to land a job at the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation, which lists O'Brien as its vice chairman on its website.

"I believe the speaker was trying to help the kid out of a bad situation, but a lot of people are going to ask if that was the right thing to do," said Clegg, a Republican from Hudson. "Are the coming days going to be tough on Speaker O'Brien? You bet."

Fosters:

Rep. Julie Brown, R-Rochester, said she would "absolutely" support an investigation into how the situation was handled by the House's GOP leadership.

"If there was to be an investigation, I would certainly support that to find out what the speaker knew, when he knew it, and why he didn't handle it differently," she said.

In a late night email to his Republican causus, O'Brien acknowledged the attention on his personal involvement:

"There will be those that say that D.J.'s failure and his resignation characterize our current majority. Others will say that it characterizes the leadership of our caucus," O'Brien wrote.

The Union Leader, that purveyor of Democratic Party propaganda, has seen enough:

While it is unclear just what the Speaker knew about this fiasco and when, he might do his party and the House a favor by reflecting on his own future as a leader.
William Tucker :: What Did the Speaker Know, and When Did He Know It?
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What Did the Speaker Know, and When Did He Know It? | 9 comments
The political arena seems to be particularly well suited for people (4.00 / 1)
who exist in an ineffable present and give little thought to past, present and future and whose gift for gab allows them to reminisce and project with abandon.
David J. Bettencourt is a fairly good story teller, if that video of his presentation to the committee on state house regulations was representative. In the interest of fairness, we might recall that Democrat John Edwards has been in the news for doing on his own behalf (putting the best story forward) what he was praised for doing on behalf of plaintiffs in the court room. Rep. Bettencourt just seems to have gotten a little ahead of himself, making up a history whose particulars he should know to be inaccurate because they are his own.  A lawyer advocating on behalf of another can always claim that not all the facts are known.
To me, it's weird to see all the ruckus about O'Brien's role in this... (4.00 / 1)
This is small potatoes - incomparable to the damage he's done to the state and to the House.  But to folks like Andy Cline, all of that was good, or at worst "misguided", or "collateral damage".  

Maybe Bully's "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" moment has finally arrived.  But I wish it had been about his public conduct as speaker, rather than this sideshow - that he was going out with a resounding bang that would be a lesson to those who would emulate him, not with this pointless whimper.

It is the last straw (3.50 / 2)
in 2011, crticism of O'Brien was viewed by media as partisan kvetching. In 2012, media started to see that while criticism was partisan, it didn't mean the criticism was wrong, and that many reps afraid to break with the GOP. The Mead and Bettencourt scandals have now made the crticism non-partisan.

Same thing happened when Benson was governor. It is a slow boil, but eventually it boils over.      



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

[ Parent ]
Agreed (0.00 / 0)
The only reason I hope that this doesn't represent O'Brien's downfall is because I'd rather that come as a result of the voters in November.

While people like Andy Cline may think this is what warrants O'Brien (and the Republican legislature)'s fall, I think most--and a growing number of people in this state realize that this latest disgrace is just on top of the damage he has done to the state. I am increasingly optimistic that he will be out of power come November, and if this scandal forces him out, he'll always be able to say it was professional ethics or conduct, and not his horrendous policies that brought him down.

[ Parent ]
Re the UL: (4.00 / 2)
If the Speaker has lost the UL, the game is over. Same as when LBJ realized he had lost Cronkite.

But there are always those who never do get it, and go out whining and acting victimized. Nixon comes to mind.

November 2012
Hope for a return to sanity.

Chippers (0.00 / 0)
The Speaker has too big of a chip on his shoulder, in previous cases of brinksmanship he has always blamed the other guy or media blowing things out of proportion. I am sure he will do the same thing, blame the media, the democrats, the governor and throw in the feds too because, you know, they are all trying to destroy the American way of life as we know it. He won't step down because he has an oversized ego.
[ Parent ]
lost the UL in January IIRC n/t (0.00 / 0)


Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. ~ Mark Twain
[ Parent ]
even NHPR (0.00 / 0)
is asking would this have come out if DJ had done what Guida and the Speaker wanted him to do.  
Around and around (0.00 / 0)
Now will someone support the idea that the Republicans care about this in the least? What they say is that it is justified because the Democrats do the same thing. That all parties are equally bad and we have to do this sort of thing so that the righteousness of our positions wins the day. I think those of us on the left fail to appreciate just how adamant conservatives are about this kind of thing.

Take Issa for example who is now in charge of the federal House of Representatives ethics committee. He started out in business stealing cars with his brother. Graduated to owning an electronics firm which, when times were troubled, he burnt it down for the insurance money. Then he moved to California where he is currently using his position to locate highways near his real estate to increase its value. This it their ethics chief.

So don't get so excited. It makes no difference. There will always be some excuse or other. They just don't care. They don't care about facts - look at voter id laws, they don't care about results - look at the Clean Air Act or REGGI, they don't care about popularity among voters - look at marriage equality, they don't care about logic - just look at anything.

You and I care, they don't. It doesn't produce shame, regret or efforts not to do it again. That's just the way that they are. Read any of the research on the subject, Nyhan-Reifler, Mooney and on and on.  

Wearing a ring doesn't make you a bath tub.

What Did the Speaker Know, and When Did He Know It? | 9 comments

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