The Speaker's Latest Ploy

by: Lucy Weber

Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 20:07:27 PM EDT

Just when you think there might be a break in the weirdness that is the current NH House, there isn't.  At today's House session, we broke for lunch early, and returned late, so the Republicans could have another mid-session caucus.  Here's what they are up to now:

For those of you who are celebrating the death in the Senate of some of the House Republican leadership's more excessive efforts, get ready for another round.  Speaker O'Brien and Majority Leader Bettencourt are attaching measures passed by the House and subsequently killed by the Senate back onto Senate bills as they pass the House, seeking another bite at the apple, as it were.

Four bills were amended in this fashion.

SB 378, an innocuous bill allowing municipalities to remove snow from private roads and driveways, was lumbered with a do-over on one of the anti-union bills allowing public employers to request de-certification of bargaining units. This manouver may count for extra credits with respect to sticking it to people, as Senate President Bragdon was a sponsor of the snowplow bill.  Another sponsor was Rep. Jennifer Daler, who had the temerity to win an election in the Speaker's district.

 SB 272, which addressed some of the problems attendant on the defunding of the CHINS program by modifying some of the truancy laws,  was the recipient of another anti-labor provision mandating that a member of the county convention be permitted to observe collective bargaining sessions at the county level.

 SB 155 was a bill which would allow greater deductions for business expenses under the business profits tax.  The underlying bill would have given a benefit to businesses,, but would also have resulted in even less revenue to the state to use for infrastructure and education, which are also necessary to a healthy business climate.  Republican leadership spliced onto this bill the particularly mean-minded moratorium on immigration provisions killed by the Senate only this morning.

 And finally, SB 295, a bill increasing the research and development tax credit, was the recipient of the newly resurrected 24 hour waiting period before an abortion.  This piece of brinksmanship certainly makes it clear that all that talk by Speaker O'Brien and DJ Bettencourt about being focussed like a laser on jobs and the economy is just so much hot air.  Speaker O'Brien is one of the sponsors of this amendment that holds a bill designed to promote business development hostage to the radical right's social agenda.  House Republican leadership's priorities could not be made more plain.

And for the icing on the cake, six other Senate bills passed by the House in the morning session were then tabled in the afternoon session so they , too, can be used as vehicles for more of this counterproductive gamesmanship.  In at least one case, the tabling motion will delay measures necessary for the Deapartment of Corrections to achieve savings it needs to meet its budget obligations in this biennium.  Any delay makes it fore difficult to meet the savings goals.  Apparently it is okay for the state budget to bleed dollars while the bill lies on the table.

Focussed like a laser on jobs and the economy, or holding their breath til their faces turn blue because they did not get their way?  You be the judge, and stay tuned. 

The Agenda of Destruction: This Week's Installment

by: elwood

Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 20:46:41 PM EDT

Second, the Sentinel reports that the the state is turning off the lights on local roads. More than a hundred street lights in the Monadnock Region will go dark to save money. There's no indication of any study to see whether this is, well, SAFE.

When we get a few poison deaths, and a few fatal car accidents, we'll have more data.

Meanwhile the legislature is working on new ways to cut revenues flowing into the General Fund. The Agenda of Destruction is just getting started.

(The title is probably too optimistic - it's only hump day, after all. Plenty of time left for more damage.)

Granite State Polls

by: Mike Hoefer

Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 10:17:13 AM EDT

According to recent polling out of UNH not only does President Obama have a +9 point  advantage over Mitt Romney, but both of the candidates vying for the Democratic Nomination for Governor are beating their Republican counterparts!

Maggie Hassan is +5 against Lamontagne and +5 against Smith
Jackie Cilley is +1 against Lamontagne and +7 against Smith

Get the PDF's from UNH here
http://www.unh.edu/survey-cent...

This is great news this early in the cycle and there is tremendous upside as NH learns more about the great people running on the Democratic ticket.

It should also be very motivating for those who are giving their time, tallent, and/or treasure to the candidates of their choice. Name recognition for our candidates is low and there are many undecided voters that need to hear about our candidates via phone calls, events, facebook, etc.

The election is in 195 days, what are you doing to help?

Say No to Refugee Moratorium

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Tue Apr 24, 2012 at 10:16:11 AM EDT

Bananas.

by: elwood

Mon Apr 23, 2012 at 20:07:21 PM EDT

I say that I hijacked myself, because the point of the diary wasn't language choice. The point was, the political "game" has changed - most visibly and troublingly in terms of policy, where we now fight off a tide of destruction, from education to health care to equal rights, but also in terms of deference to the rules.  The people on the other side are unilaterally changing them.  From Constitutional amendments, to attacks on the right to vote, to "creative" interpretations of the Constitution and of House rules, to a simple contempt for civility and embrace of petty vendettas, the people on the other side are not just playing aggressively on the field. They are inventing new rules and referees for the "game" on the fly.

Calvinball was fun, but the kid and the tiger weren't betting the family's welfare on the score.
I'm just a little younger than Jim Splaine, and I honestly do not recall a time when the fundamental institutions of our state were so threatened. Not under Craig Benson - not even under Medrim Thomson. This is a different political environment, not just in degree but in kind.

Alfred Kahn was an economic adviser in the Carter Administration, an academic prone to committing candor. He publicly warned that we were in danger of slipping into a depression. After being excoriated for those words, both in private and in public, he spoke to reporters again. "I'm not supposed to use the 'D' word," he explained.  "So whenever I want to speak about the challenges and risks facing us, I will just say 'Banana' instead."

I'm not going to worry any further about what we call those people who have adopted the Agenda of Destruction - our Distinguished Bananas.

9 Comments: The Stakes

by: elwood

Sun Apr 22, 2012 at 13:35:53 PM EDT

The current legislative session - and executive session, because our Executive Council is one of the weapons being used against us - has made clear what the stakes are.

In sum the stakes are simply our way of life. Our opponents - "enemies" is not too strong a word - have adopted an Agenda of Destruction. Nine examples of what I mean by that, below the fold.  

Let's Be Frank About Frank's Franking

by: susanthe

Fri Apr 20, 2012 at 08:00:00 AM EDT

In any case, the GFO of 2010 looked like this post from Guinta:

There must be a more efficient, and most importantly, less costly way to distribute these papers. Many of her points in the pamphlet include keeping taxpayers from "paying the price" for acts such as bailouts. In this case, because of her elaborate, expensive design and excessive distribution, the taxpayers did pay the price. How is this supposed to help our deficit?

One would expect, that given Frank's frank commentary about CSP's franking, he'd be mighty careful of his own.  

Live Free And .....

by: susanthe

Thu Apr 19, 2012 at 18:19:46 PM EDT

Tourism is NH's second biggest industry. Yet we fund our state parks by user fees. We are the only state in the nation that does this. As a result of this unique funding mechanism, many of our state parks are poorly maintained. Vermont has great highway rest stops where you can go in and grab coffee, use the rest room, stretch and be on your way.

NH celebrates our tourists with closed and/or seasonal rest areas. I heard mention of closed rest areas this morning on the Exchange, as I drove to Concord. Being a middle aged woman who had been drinking coffee, I elected to stop at the Sanbornton rest area on 93 South, as is my custom.

It was closed. It's now only open on weekends:

O'Brien Kisses ALEC's Ring

by: susanthe

Wed Apr 18, 2012 at 06:00:00 AM EDT

Given the recent partisan attacks on the American Legislative Exchange Council and legislators who are members, I have elected to become a member. These attacks are being played out in newspaper articles and letters to the editor here and throughout the country.

Well, at least he's coming out as the corporate lickspittle we all knew he was. It doesn't occur to him that it goes against the spirit of "live free or die" to have corporations write the laws of our state.  

The BIG lie in 2010

by: Lucy Edwards

Mon Apr 16, 2012 at 08:53:34 AM EDT

In 2010, the Republicans came up with a clever story for their campaign. They claimed that four years of reckless spending by Democrats resulted in a 25 percent increase in state spending, and a huge deficit.

Not one part of this story is true. There was no reckless spending. There was no 25 percent increase. There was no deficit.

The Cost of War

by: susanthe

Tue Apr 17, 2012 at 10:12:06 AM EDT

The Daddy State

by: susanthe

Sun Apr 15, 2012 at 21:16:12 PM EDT

"What you have is Mitt Romney running around the country, saying, 'Well, you know, my wife tells me that what women really care about are economic issues, and when I listen to my wife, that's what I'm hearing.' Guess what? His wife has actually never worked a day in her life. She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school, and why do we worry about their future."

The Romney campaign pounced, with Ann Romney putting out her first-ever tweet: "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work."

An Armed Society is a Polite Society

by: susanthe

Sun Apr 15, 2012 at 06:00:00 AM EDT

On Thursday in Greenland, 5 police officers were shot. The police chief of Greenland was killed. Two of the 4 other officers were in critical condition from their wounds, but they're expected to recover. The gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot, and a woman in his house was also killed.

On Friday, a 9 year old boy from Hollis was shot in the head.
On Saturday morning, he died.

That's 6 gun deaths in two days. There were a total of 13 murders in NH in 2010. We're already halfway there.  

"Prejudice Starts with the Simple Perception of Difference"

by: William Tucker

Thu Apr 12, 2012 at 21:37:15 PM EDT

When Mark Vallone read comments from state House Rep. Jason Antosz defending use of the word "defective" to describe a mentally disabled rape victim, the chair of the Epping Democrats felt compelled to write Antosz, his Representative and fellow parishioner. With his permission, the text of his message:

Jason,

After reading the Landrigan Report in the Nashua Telegraph, I am deeply ashamed and appalled by the comments you made regarding people with disabilities.

As a Catholic, I am appalled that you think it’s just "PC" to change the language in the law on aggravated rape from "mentally defective" to” (someone who) has a disability that renders him or her incapable of freely arriving at an independent choice whether or not to engage in sexual conduct."

If you think words are not important, you should think again.

I am attaching the Pastoral Statement of the US Catholic Bishops on People with Disabilities which calls for us to work for a "deeper understanding of both the pain and potential of our neighbors who are blind, mentally retarded, emotionally impaired, who have special learning problems, or who suffer from single or multiple physical handicaps-all those whom disability may set apart." Note also the reference to Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris which stresses the innate dignity of all men and women…"

Does the phrase "mentally defective" demonstrate the innate dignity of a person, or does it imply something less? Remember, SB 274 was written in response to the failure of a prosecutor to protect the "innate dignity" of someone who was assaulted. Changing the language in the bill is designed to help better protect people with disabilities. Why did you object to that?

Open Thread: Bold Progressives

by: Mike Hoefer

Thu Apr 12, 2012 at 14:53:10 PM EDT