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A friend invited me to go with her to this year's dinner, held at the Grappone Center in Concord.
I was very impressed with Governor Lynch's speech. His main theme was the lies spread by an out of state hate group that is heady with its successes in California and Maine. The governor is really standing by his decision to sign the marriage equality bill. He said he did it because it was the right thing to do, which got him a standing ovation.
He aggressively countered the lies of the out of state hate group as well as the other lies spread by the opposition. It was an important message and one we have to keep pushing. We can't let the other side define us. And we have to go beyond tagging them as the party of "no" and counter their policies, may of which would create a repeat of the economic collapse keeping us in a perpetual one and take basic rights away from women, gays, and others.
Keynote speaker Brian Schweitzer of Montana told many interesting stories. The one that stands out in my mind is the one he told of an Irish girl who came to America in the early part of the last century using her sister's passport and visa. This girl could not find work in New York, so she took up an offer to go to Montana in a boxcar and homestead 350 acres. She did this on her own. Eventually she married another Irish immigrant and raised a family. This "illegal alien" was Governor Schweitzer's grandmother, and he wondered whether he should be deported for this. He asked how many of our ancestors had proper papers. Good question.
We also heard from Congressman and US Senate candidate Paul Hodes, CD-02 candidates DeJoie, Kuster and Swett, and Speaker Norelli and Senate President Larsen.
The bottom line is that we have to work harder than we did in '06 to keep New Hampshire blue at the state and federal level. Change always produces backlash. We cannot allow this to happen and lose the gains we have made. Get involved at whatever level and in whatever way you can. It is crucial.
