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The New Hampshire House's Kangaroo Court Redress of Grievance Committee occupies some middle space between Speaker Bill O'Brien's open contempt for the basic American concept of separate but co-equal branches of government and the Theatre of the Absurd.
It's been in the news lately because of Chairman Paul Ingbretson's conflict of interest with one the the petitioners, obvious to everyone but himself and Bill O'Brien, and earning condemnation in three state newspapers.
Today the Union Leader's Tom Fahey unearths more to the scandal:
On Thursday, a video surfaced showing Ingbretson conducting an unofficial hearing in June 2009 on a similar petition by Johnson. The hearing went over the same basic ground the Redress Committee heard.
Speaker O'Brien, who cleared Ingbretson of any conflict of interest, is seen sitting beside Ingbretson, flanked by current House chief of staff Bob Mead. The video closes with O'Brien remarking about the case, wondering whether the state should establish an appellate division of the state's Family Court system.
I think conventional political wisdom says that, however foul to democracy, this is the kind of inside baseball stuff that doesn't resonate with voters, and to a certain degree I think that's correct.
But with Jennifer Daler's win finally breaking through the media filter the awareness that state Republicans have a Bill O'Brien problem, I wonder if this sorry chapter in New Hampshire's legislative history will pick up wider notice.
(find me > 140 on birch paper; on Twitter < 140)
UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader has found the video of the "committee" from 2009.
