ALEC and Its Granite Marionette

Democratic legislators - (4.00 / 5)

Please have the ALEC language placed in the official House or Senate record wherever you find this.

We want to preserve Mr. Bettencourt's basis for a plagiarism suit.

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by: elwood @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 00:24:09 AM UTC

Excellent work (0.00 / 0)

Thanks for providing this comparison. How could D J Bettencourt think that nobody would spot the "similarity" ?

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by: victoriap @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 01:19:03 AM UTC

because DJ lacks the seriousness to be majority leader (4.00 / 2)

DJ does not think through his words or actions. It is all just memorized words spouting from his mouth. DJ would be much better suited to be the press intern at the NHGOP. Only in the madness of O'Brien's reign would someone like DJ be given that role. He is truly way in over his head and it shows.

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 Jan 25, 2012 at 14:26:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Reminds me of an Academic Integrity hearing I chaired (4.00 / 2)

Student B is accused of plagiarizing Student A's paper.  Student A had run the experiment  because B didn't come to class that day and he shared the results with B.  B claimed up down and sideways that he had written the paper himself.  He did not charge A with plagiarism though.  He couldn't explain how the papers ended up being identical--spelling errors and grammatical errors all in the same places!  I guess it was just a miracle.  Or maybe that old story about if you put enough monkeys in a room with typewriters one of them will come up with Hamlet.  Maybe if you put Bettencourt in a room with a typewriter......

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by: PoliSigh @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 03:42:28 AM UTC

Bettencourt and Morse also... (0.00 / 0)

Had the same prepared remarks. It was blatantly obvious to some of the  members of the committee that they were the same as well. A few of them were trying to stifle laughter. One even rolled his eyes while Morse was reading the very same words that the DeeJay had just finished saying. Of course they will fall in line and support the DeeJay in the end.

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by: Legal Beagle @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 18:16:29 PM UTC

DeeJay's pathetic defense... (4.00 / 4)

The DeeJay states that:

"It is a classic tactic of the Democrats to demonize every piece of legislation that they don't like as the product of an 'out of state group' to avoid a substantive discussion on the real issues facing New Hampshire.

However, at the hearing it was brought out that the bill cannot be amended as it must pass in identical language in each state in order for the compact to be legally formed. Oh, and who authored this great piece of legislation David?  Oh that would be Healthcarecompact.org. Where oh where dear friends do you suppose healthcarecompact.org is located? Concord?NO! Manchester? NO! DeeJay's parents basement? NO! they are located at:

3901 Courtland Circle
Alexandria, VA 22305

Now doesn't that just beat all! They are located out of state; how could that be? An out of state group authored the language, not the DeeJay? Say it aint so!
Dear Leader then continues to dig his hole deeper:

It's a completely dishonest fallacy that they continue to use to distract from the fact that they have no solutions other than a bigger government and higher taxes. The Democrats should produce some evidence of their claim."

David, David, David. DeeJay, DeeJay, Deejay.
Maybe those Democrats that were calling you out had access to this magical thing called GOOGLE.  

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by: Legal Beagle @ Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 18:31:21 PM UTC

Let's ignore the U.S. Constitution, shall we?! (0.00 / 0)

Humm . . . I wonder if those Constitution-loving Republicans considered the U.S. Constitution when they wrote the following into the model law to override federal law:

State Control. Each member state, within its state, may suspend by legislation the operation of all federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding health care that are inconsistent with the laws and regulations adopted by the Member State pursuant to this Compact. Federal and state laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding Health Care shall remain in effect unless a Member State expressly suspends them pursuant to its authority under this Compact.

U.S Constitution - Article VI:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

They seem to forget Article 1 Section 10 as well:

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

emphasis mine

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by: JimWilson @ Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 18:09:05 PM UTC

Since they like pledges so very much... (0.00 / 0)

Put your money where your mouth is...I propose a new pledge for every candidate running in New Hampshire...pledge to reject ANY out of state money for this election cycle. Any takers? Who knows how many of our new wave of '10 reps who were whisked off the week following the election to the ALEC get together/indoctrination?  

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country: but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Thomas Paine December 23,1776

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by: Kelley Monahan @ Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 12:23:11 PM UTC

Why would anyone think that Mr. Bettencourt is being deceptive? (0.00 / 0)

Just because he is apparently unable or unwilling to reconcile legitimate questions about his own background, doesn't meaning he is being untruthful.

It does seem though, if he didn't have something to hide, he would come clean about the circumstances surrounding his graduating from a Massachusetts high school when he was citizen of New Hampshire. How or why did that happen?

Why won't he clarify whether or not he received a tax-payer funded scholarship when he attended UMass? If attending a public university (funded in a substantial part by tax payers) was financially good for him, why would he ever want to deny others the same affordable education advantages he enjoyed? The same question should be posed to the House Speaker as well...after all, he too attended a publicly funded college and, I believe, benefited from federally-supported loan assistance programs to pay for law school.

Why wouldn't DJ want to clear the record up as to his residency went he transferred to UNH or if he received yet another tax-payer funded scholarship when he attended that public university?

Staying on the subject of his education (and in the spirit of good-faith disclosure and transparency) it would also seem that DJ Bettencourt ought to tell his constituency whether he was the beneficiary of any sort of "insider dealing" in obtaining college admission and scholarship assistance when he attended UMass and UNH. In order words, did his father (at either of those universities) play any sort of direct or indirect advocacy role on the Majority Leader's behalf?

What would be, in my opinion, even more revealing about Mr. Bettencourt's veracity lies in his past representations about his employment and political history. Was he really a "Special Aide" to the Governor of Massachusetts or was he simply a part time, unpaid, intern reporting to someone else on the Governor's staff?

According to information he has disseminated on various public forum, he would have the voters believe that he played some sort advisory role to Mitt Romney back in the 2004 timeframe. This, however, really doesn't seem to pass the smell test. Just what advice was Mitt expecting from the young, college student, Mr. Bettencourt...which dorm has the best "keggers" or which sorority has the best lookin' babes?

Also, from a logistical point-of-view, something just doesn't fit. How does a college student work in the Governor's office located on Beacon Hill in Boston while he is simultaneously attending college in Amherst, Massachusetts (about a 230 mile roundtrip commute)?  A politician wouldn't embellish or lie on his resume..........would he?

Moreover, what were his exact advisory duties and responsibilities? It seems to me that he must have some sort of documentation that would specifically corroborate the position he held. Come on, Mr. Majority Leader; release some evidence that supports what you have told NH voters about the high level, political, advisor role you held when you were 19 years old!

Last but certainly not least, is it just me or does anyone else wonder just how is Mr. Bettencourt able to afford law school (at about $40,000 a year) when he does not work full time or appear to have any meaningful source of income?  Has he availed himself of some sort of government supported loan program or grant? If the answer is "yes", doesn't that seem to fly in the face of his "anti-government," "anti-education", "anti-social program" posturing?

By the way, how come the House Speaker (following in the spirit of his hero, Neutron Gingrich) hasn't demanded that the House Majority Leader (who is a Romney supporter) also release his tax returns so the public can reach their own conclusions about where he derives his income?

In fact, the Speaker should also release his tax returns...this way the NH citizens will know that he doesn't have any questionable foreign sources of income, hidden foreign currency assets, offshore Swiss or Cayman Island bank accounts, or any other conflict of interests between his legislative initiatives and income derived from tobacco, energy or oil companies.

Come clean Mr. Majority and Mr. Speaker...show the voters that you really are just a couple of "good fellows"...nothing to hide here because everything is just "copasetic" and "five by five."  

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by: Dave O'Brien @ Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 17:04:19 PM UTC