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Fahey reports on the new majority in his column this morning. He mentions that O'Brien won the nomination for Speaker by the thinnest of margins. But the fissure is still there.
Apparently, the campaign for Speaker was not without the typical Republican attack motif. Gene Chandler:
"I came under attack for how I'd run the House from people who hadn't been here. I had to defend myself against people who hadn't seen me," he said. He was also labeled as anti-gun by some O'Brien supporters.
Chandler, Weare conservative Neal Kurk and O'Brien all agree the budget must be cut. They think they have been given a mandate to shrink government and services.
That will cause a lot of pain for a lot of people, Kurk said.
It seems as though he is looking forward to others' pain.
But the best is last. O'Brien thinks that because of their large majority, the Republicans will not only have no problem pushing their social agenda through, but it will be done quickly and quietly, with nary a peep from the opposition.
Using death penalty expansion and parental notification as examples, he said, "While in prior Legislatures (they) might have been controversial, time-consuming pieces of legislation, with the majority we have now, they're going to be much easier to move through and give people of New Hampshire what they want. They're not going to distract us."
We cannot allow this to happen. We have to take the time to write to our legislators and document their responses. We have to write letters to the editor. We have to attend hearings and session days when these socially regressive bills come up. We have to light the fire their feet must be held to now, and not let it go out for the next two years.
Bill O'Brien beat Gene Chandler for the nomination of the Republican caucus to be the next Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives on the second ballot: 142-133.
O'Brien is the co-chair of the House Republican Alliance, whose legislative agenda includes repeal of marriage equality, a constitutional amendment to take the state out of education funding, nullifying health care reform in New Hampshire (O'Brien himself sponsored a floor amendment last spring to make it a felony for a government official to carry it out in this state), among other things.
Adding: I have since heard there are many disappointed Republicans despite the "unified" face. Looking at the numbers above, I can see why. The other thing is that O'Brien is just entering his third term. He doesn't have much experience. At all.
A story in today's Conway Daily Sun tells us about Frank Pingree from Bartlett, who is trying to get legislators to force first time political candidates to go through a background check, and mandatory jail time for any elected official that breaks the law.
Economists are quick to tell us that our economy is showing signs of recovery. This seems to mean that Wall St. is doing well. Main St. doesn't seem to be ready to tap dance just yet. The unemployment rate for New Hampshire was seven percent in January. Those statistics are skewed to be lower than the real numbers of unemployed. They don't count folks who haven't been able to find a job long after their unemployment benefits ended, or those who weren't eligible in the first place. The real number is perhaps as high as 14%. More NH families are using food stamps than ever before. Our homes aren't worth what they used to be, though foreclosures seem to be slowing down. In other words, for the most part, the news isn't good. NH folks are having a tough time, and tough times always seem even tougher in the north country.
