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(I addressed this systemic flaw in our "citizen" legislature here as well. Part put below the fold. - promoted by Dean Barker)
My last 3 or 4 comments have consisted mostly of asking people to just shut up, so I felt like it was time to contribute at least a little something. So, we all know the NH state house is the fourth biggest representative body since the dinosaurs, or whatever it is, and I was rereading an old blog about how many democratic slots will go without any candidate at all in the upcoming election. This is a cross-party problem actually, though it might affect dems a little more. But really, a problem for state government as a whole.
I'll keep this simple, since I'm pretty sure I delivered a similar rant two years ago.
This is the third electoral cycle in a row where I have effectively been barred from running for office in our "citizen" legislature.
Barred, because, like many of New Hampshire's citizens who would like to serve, I have a job with set daytime hours.
Selectmen and school board members all over this state manage to have full-time day jobs and fulfill the duties of their office with late afternoon and evening meetings.
Why can't our statehouse do the same?
Other options:
a) stop pretending it's a "citizen" legislature, and call it something else ("volunteer"?).
b) reduce the number of reps and professionalize the office.
Dean had a link to the TPM story on this, but The Monitor's Shira Schoenberg gives some more details:
On the House floor, a group of Republican lawmakers led by Rep. William O'Brien of Mont Vernon tried to nullify federal health care reform on the basis that it exceeds the power the granted to the federal government by the Constitution. The amendment declared the law unconstitutional and invalid in New Hampshire. It would make enforcing health care reform a crime.
Once the nullification amendment failed, and the bill passed, Republicans lined up to file official protests. The protest slips read: "As most of NH Citizens find forced National Health Care repugnant and this bill facilitates the implementation of Universal Health Care on NH citizens, I file my protest against this vote according to Part Second, Article 24 of the NH Constitution."
I'd like to remind these representatives, again, there's a statue of Daniel Webster outside the State House. Daniel Webster fought hard against nullification back in the early 19th century.
In 1830, in one of the greatest exchanges in Senate history, Webster opposed nullification and argued for the supremacy of the federal government (Webster Hayne Debate). Webster and Andrew Jackson were united in their opposition to nullification, but disagreed on most other matters.
In the midst of budget debates and other issues affecting the people of New Hampshire, my state rep and his party colleagues have nothing better to do than create ideological theater.
It's scary to think what would happen if this group were to get the majority in the next election.
Our citizen legislature stepped up to the plate today (House email release):
Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives today raised nearly $2,300 in less than 30 minutes to be used to help with relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Donations were sought in support of Haitian-born Rep. Jean Jeudy, D-Manchester, who was in attendance for today's session. Rep. Jeudy, a third-term legislator, has family remaining in Haiti and works closely with the 1,200 other Haitian refugees who live in New Hampshire.
The AP's Norma Love is reporting the Republicans plan to take back the State House by focusing on the economic issues Republicans caused through their deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy, and blaming the worst economy since the Great Depression on the Democratic Party.
Republicans plan to stick with the anti-tax, low government spending themes that made them New Hampshire's party of power for decades. They want voters to blame Democrats for losing their jobs, their homes to foreclosure and their economic security in a lingering recession.
Repeat the lies and distortions that led to the economic collapse, war in Iraq, and the myriad of problems faced by the state. Top that with an icing of social intolerance and we'll be Back to the Future all over again.
Love reports that social issues such as marriage equality will not be highlighted. But that will be repealed, along with most other progressive policy initiatives put in place over the last three years, should the Republicans retake the State House in 2010.
They're good at stealth, getting elected as "tax cutters" but doing nothing to lower the main tax in this state, the property tax. And while in Concord, many spend their time replaying fights from the 1830s, such as nullification of the US Constitution. Or chasing Secretary of State Bill Gardner around with the latest in "birther" madness.
While they're at it, they will kick 1500 children off their health insurance. So while blaming Democrats for the outcome of Republican policies, the GOP will take away the bit of safety net that's there to mitigate the consequences. How nice.
Well, 2010 is just around the corner. Time will tell whether this strategy works.
This afternoon I drove up to Concord with Rep. Jill Shaffer Hammond (D-Peterborough) for the gathering in favor of Health Insurance Reform announced by Zandra yesterday. There was a decent turn-out in front of the State House. I'd have liked to have seen more people there, but it was okay.
Lo and behold, the gathering would have been no gathering without the tea party contingent:
At one point, the tea party contingent tried to rattle the pro reform gathering by breaking into "God Bless America". But then everybody started singing, so they got confused.
Today's State House columns opened with reports on the SEA's negotiations with the state. Tom Fahey leads with Friday's impending deadline. Union leadership has urged members to vote against the contract. Workers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, deciding between unpaid furloughs and lay-offs. Also, the vote may pit workers with greater seniority against those without. Apparently, the contract restores "bumping rights" the legislature removed.
The Concord Monitor's Shira Schoenberg opens with the same story, different focus. There are apparently 1359 vacant positions at the state level.
Jay Ward, SEIU political director, said the state should examine unfilled positions before resorting to layoffs.
Ward said the list proves that state employees have already taken a hit. "For every person that doesn't get hired, we're picking up the slack for all of those unfilled positions," Ward said. Lynch is asking state employees to give up another $25 million, Ward said, but "how much has he already taken in personnel cuts?"
But Linda Hodgdon, Department of Administrative Services Commissioner, says the numbers Schoenberg got from the state website are misleading. Not all the positions were funded and not all the funds were set to come from the general fund.
It's been a long, difficult journey for both sides in this debate.
Good news from Kevin Landrigan's column: The folks in Washington, DC are saying that New Hampshire has been very effective in its use of federal stimulus dollars. Projects around the state include an addition for Nashua Community College, a commuter bus station in Nashua, improvements to Hampton Beach, and construction at the University of New Hampshire. I've seen a few signs in my area telling travelers that stimulus funds are being used for repaving.
Lauren Dorgan opens with a report on the astroturf protest at the town hall meeting that wasn't.
So, right-wing groups like the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition (which is linked to Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by an oil-and-gas tycoon sometimes called the richest man in New York) urged folks who oppose the health-care reform bill now percolating in the Senate to attend the ordinary office hours held by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's staffers in towns including Grafton.
The man Dorgan refers to is David Koch, who, along with his brother, funds most of the right wing activities in the US despite legal and other troubles.
While Reid and Pelosi harm the public option's chances for survival by letting everyone go home, it's great to see some in our state house proudly stepping up to the plate for that key element of health care reform.
Progressive States Network has rallied state legislators to the cause of meaningful health care reform by having them sign on to a letter of support urging the Obama Administration and Congress of the critical importance of this such legislation. From the letter:
Key priorities for reform are reflected in recent state initiatives and public opinion polls which show that Americans want more choices and options for quality health care. Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families. Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families. Another key priority is strengthening and expanding the Medicaid program with the help of enhanced federal support so that it can serve all low-income Americans. Related priorities include: guaranteeing affordability for individuals and businesses; preserving consumer choice of doctors; eliminating racial, ethnic, gender, and rural health disparities; ensuring shared responsibility among employers, individuals and government in financing health care; and, cost containment strategies that eliminate waste and inefficiency and improve quality, especially for people with chronic illnesses.
Full letter, and list of Granite State legislators who have signed on, are below the fold (and at the link is a way to contact your legislator to sign on of they haven't already).
Just read this report by Tom Fahey at the UL. It seems the House side of the committee of conference voted down expanded gambling. The votes aren't there, for one thing, and Finance Committee Chair Marjorie Smith (D-Durham) does not believe it is a long term solution.
"I have no problems with gambling. What I do have a problem with is that I do not believe that gambling is a reliable funding source," Smith said, adding that her preference is an income tax.
Representative Dan Eaton (D-Stoddard) confirmed the votes in the House are not there.
I cannot count to 201," he said, praising D'Allesandro's dedication.
For their part, the Senate refused to allow the estate tax and the capital gains tax to move forward.
According to Fahey, the state will tap into the "Rainy Day Fund" and then still have to close a $30 million hole in the present budget.
Plans waiting in the wings when talks resume today would close a key business tax loophole, set a new tax on mortgage refinancing, boost the Rooms and Meals tax rate and possibly create a tax on entertainment.
If you feel strongly about the refinancing tax, call the Governor and your State Senator and Reps and register your opinion. Once it's put in, it will be very difficult to change down the road.
The subject of the week is the state budget, which has to be approved by the end of the month. The House and Senate Conference Committee is set to meet this week to come up with a final plan. The shortfall is $150 million and there are a few ideas on the table to bridge that gap.
Republicans are yelling cut! cut! cut! To Lynch's credit, this quote from the article about the refinancing tax, shows his thinking on that:
Lynch said he does not support an across-the-board spending cut as a solution. He called that option "simplistic and poor financial management." He said he will consider specific cuts but said he and lawmakers have already made deep cuts, which will result in about 200 layoffs.
Reducing state services, particularly to the needy, would simply redirect them to communities and their welfare offices, Lynch said.
Minority Leader Senator Peter Bragdon pulled out his "San Francisco" ways today when he tried to force marriage equality to the ballot box.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats defeated Republican efforts on Wednesday to put the question to voters in a nonbinding referendum. Democrats argued New Hampshire isn't a referendum state and pointed to court rulings rejecting past attempts to hold them.
It seems Bragdon has a track record of late of trying to change the rules when his cohorts are pushing efforts that violate state law.
Interesting that Sen. Bragdon is looking to California for advice on how to circumvent equality. Of course, his other argument about voters needing a voice on the issue was just as interesting, as was Sen. Deborah Reynolds keen observation that:
... New Hampshire citizens are well-represented by 24 senators and 400 representatives. "We stand in the shoes of the electorate under the constitution," she said.
Newly elected state Rep. Clinton Bailey has apologized to the voters of Londonderry for a poor attendance record during his first several months in office and promised to improve his performance for the remainder of his term.
Bailey has attended just two of 12 voting sessions this term and participated in just 7 of 130 (5.4 percent) of the votes cast. Bailey is currently attending the University of New Hampshire for his Master's degree in business and he blamed his poor voting record in the Legislature on a burdensome school schedule.
"I definitely apologize to my constituents," said Bailey, a 22-year-old Republican. "Once I get done school ( later this month) I will definitely be giving 110 percent to my job in the Legislature."
There have been absentee issues on both sides, but this is ridiculous.
A more generous interpretation is that the lad has a poor sense of organization. A less generous one suggests he thought the title might make good resume padding.
I mean, really: I thought of running for Rep for my town last cycle, but I took one look at my teaching profession (at least in its curent iteration) and the public service I would be undertaking, and decided that my type of day-job set schedule citizenship basically bars me from being in our citizen legislature. That took about 10 minutes to figure out.
And a pet peeve: boy do I cringe whenever I hear people promising to give more than 100% of their effort to something. A meaningless idiom that ends up detracting from the earnestness of the statement it's in, imo.
Alternate Title: The House, Not the Governor, the Fundamental Obstacle to Tax Reform?
So despite socking away money all year during an incredibly stressful economy featuring a period of sky high gas prices and a constant rise in food costs, and even accounting for an expected, significant increase, I found myself faced with a property tax bill that went up 10.8% this year, almost three times the rate of inflation. And that in a town that, I believe, does a really good job of balancing the needs of the community with real fiscal conservatism. This increase had a direct, negative effect on my (already Scrooge-like) consumer spending for the holidays, and to be honest, my ability to pay the bills. Like so many others, I anxiously wonder if in the coming years the tax bill will outpace cost of living salary increases such that I will be obliged to take part in the uniquely Granite State tradition of having to sell my home - not because of the mortgage bill, but because of property tax increases.
Fine, I think. I'll stop complaining, and actually do something about it. I'll run for the state house and advocate for tax reform.
Oh, wait. Like the bulk of middle-class people who pay the property taxes that bring in the chief revenue source for the state, I am effectively barred from running for office because I have a full-time job with fixed working hours. I'm not rich, or retired, or able to set my own hours. So there's no way I can afford participation in our "citizen legislature" or whatever other euphemism we use to describe our gargantuan, virtually unpaid state house.
Now, the rich and the retired and those who can set hours around the legislative sessions certainly have to pay their taxes too, and feel the same pressures as I. But the current setup effectively bars a huge portion of the taxpaying electorate from participation.
Or to put it another way: our 18th-century system of revenue is aided and abetted by the 18th-century structure of our legislature. Now, I love me my covered bridges and maple syrup and stone walls and small farms and town hall civics. But I would deluding myself if I thought the people of this state lived and worked as they did 200+ years ago. Yet major aspects of our governmental institutions remain stuck in the landed gentry era.
And no, I have no idea where to start to address this foundational-level problem. What state house would voluntarily vote to reduce dramatically its numbers? What electorate in a period of great economic peril would allow even part-time salaries and benefits for state house legislators?
It's my hope that this post can generate some non-hyperbolic discussion in the thread. Are the two linked? Does either, linked or not, need reform?
Note: This is not at all a knock on our current Democratic reps in the state house. Indeed, that's where most of the progressive energy for tax reform exists in the party. So maybe the two antiquated systems are not mutually enabling after all. And if there are Reps who are Blue Hamsters who are able to serve the public while still holding down a fixed-hour full-time job, please let me know how you do it. Because the research I've done has tells me that the only way to pull it off is with a high degree of absenteeism, and I'm not really down with that.
Here's a spreadsheet of all the state reps' floor votes over the past year along with another sheet containing links to all of the bills that were voted on one way or another on the floor of the house this year and their corresponding House Journals (except for the Special Session.)
There's also another sheet in this workbook that can show you which state reps you agreed with the most according to how you would have voted on each of the floor votes in the House this year.
