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Terie Norelli has been, by acclimation, unanimously named Minority Leader for the upcoming biennium after a vote where she won 53 votes to David Campbell's 38 to Kris Roberts'4. She is also the caucus candidate for Speaker of the House.
We have to do all we can to support those left standing in the state legislature. They are the mainstay of our firewall against the extremist agenda of the House Republican Alliance.
HRA priorities include a repeal of the gay marriage law; tax breaks for people who choose home or private schooling; allowing health insurance purchases across state lines... impeaching Commissioner of Education Virginia Barry; and requiring photo ID of all voters.
This is only the beginning, as there are Legislative Service Requests (LSRs) for everything from taking New Hampshire out of federal health care reform to doing away with child abuse laws, to taking the state totally out of education funding.
I'm a bit depressed still, as I'm sure all Democrats are. Even though last June I wrote a column with my early-warning projections that we'd have 250 House Republicans and 16 Republicans in the Senate after November 2nd, and called all the other races as they turned out -- and I got blasted by some of my colleagues for saying so -- I was still unprepared for the depth of our losses.
Many good friends, many hard-working Democrats are being replaced by Republicans who have a view of government that most people really don't share -- but people voted for them anyway.
Government should work for people, and there is a role for government in finding solutions to our problems. From the post-election interviews, it's clear that too many of the newly-elected Republicans think government is itself the problem, and they want to use it for their own purposes.
Jennifer Daler's diary today made me think about the many reasons I, too, support Terie Norelli for Speaker. After starting and discarding several rambling comments to Jennifer's diary, I realized that I had a diary of my own, and that it was already written. It is the nominating speech I gave two years ago, and it still fits today. Here is what I said:
It is my great honor to place in nomination as the Democratic candidate for Speaker, the member from Portsmouth, Terie Norelli.
The Speaker of the NH House is the toughest job in NH government. Think of it-four hundred members, hundreds and hundreds of bills, three historic buildings, many staff members. It was even more of a challenge two years ago, when the Democrats became the majority for the first time in living memory. Two years ago, we elected Terie Norelli to the position.
To this challenge, Terie brought a wealth of life experience. She taught math at Winnecunnet High School prior to her election to the legislature. She has long been an advocate for women-for their medical needs and for their safety. In the legislature, as a member of the Committee on Science, Technology and Energy, she was involved in the restructuring of the electric industry, and advocated for a variety of environmental initiatives. She also served on the Finance Committee.
Terie is a quick learner. She has an ability to keep her eye firmly on the big picture, while not forgetting the details. In just one month, she had to oversee all the usual tasks of a new session, while making the transition from minority to majority. Committee chairs were appointed, committees were assembled. Whole offices were moved. And the session commenced.
I learned a lot from watching Terie in the Speaker's Chair. She is careful, and considerate, and deliberate. She has endless reserves of patience. When unforeseen issues or challenges arise, she takes the time to listen, to consider, and to give a thoughtful response.
Terie brings a sense of humor to the position. She has a great smile and a great laugh. She can even maintain control of the House while wearing a hard hat.
Terie brings more energy to the job than the Energizer bunny.
Terie cares about people. As a freshman, I was astonished by the number of times she stopped people in the halls simply to ask how things were going. At the end of one very long session, she beckoned me up to the side of the podium. "I heard you had a difficult week," she said. "I think you ought to take the flowers from the podium home with you when we are done."
Perhaps the biggest challenge Terie faces is that we are Democrats. Each of us has very firm ideas about what we should be doing. Every day, the Speaker has to walk a tightrope. Individuality and ideas need to be encouraged, but somehow enough direction must be provided so that bills progress through the House. None of us will ever be completely satisfied with how that balance is set. But in my opinion, Terie performs that balancing act with great consideration. I have never had cause to feel that I had to answer for my vote to anyone but my own conscience and the voters of my district.
There are many more reasons to vote for Terie Norelli. The two years experience she brings to the job are invaluable. But to me, the most important reason of all is that I simply cannot think of another member of this caucus or this House who could do it better.
I hope you will join me in voting for Terie Norelli as the next Speaker of the New Hampshire House. Thank you.
And now for the update. With the passage of another two years, I am still of the same mind. The past two years were far more difficult than the first two. The economic situation spiralled downwards. The House made some great proposals that foundered in the Senate. The Senate made counterproposals that did not make it through the House. The Governor required last minute changes to legislation we firmly believed to be perfect. No one was happy with the final results. Everyone had to compromise and let go of some of their most dearly held projects. But as of now, the Democrats have an impressive list of solid accomplishments they have achieved so far. Our state is in far better shape than most. And Terie Norelli's leadership has been key.
Yesterday I was among the over 100 Democratic House members and candidates who stood with Speaker Terie Norelli as she announced her intention to run for a third term as Speaker of the New Hampshire House. She outlined a long list of Democratic accomplishments:
By acting boldly, the Granite State now has the second fastest growing job market of any state. In the last year alone, we created over 10,000 new jobs while nationally thousands of jobs were lost. In addition, our unemployment rate currently sits at 5.7%, which is 40% below the national average.
When it comes to the budget, we also acted quickly to close a gap that resulted from struggling revenues. We made the tough decisions, making difficult cuts while protecting essential services to our most vulnerable citizens. We were able to pass a responsible and transparent budget and as a result, we ended fiscal year 2010 with a $60 million dollar surplus
(I'm hoping for encores in from Rep. Splaine, but this is a good time for a bow and a cheer. - promoted by elwood)
One of my first political heroes, State Representative Duke Maynard of Portsmouth, very long ago told me that the greatest wisdom of getting old(er) is to realize that life is short, and as you age year by year, life is even shorter. He told me that back in 1969 at a time when I was a really young pup serving my first year in the New Hampshire House, and he was then about the age I am now.
For me, leaving isn't new. I've left the NH Legislature after being in it four times -- from the House in 1970 after a term (lost re-election by 5 votes), again in 1978 (ran for the Senate and won), then from the Senate in 1984 (had enough of that!), and the House again in 1996 after having returned there for another three terms (onto other things). Each time I eventually went back, even though after I left on each occasion I thought I never would. That's my intention this time as I leave in 2010 -- not to return even someday, but one never knows what tomorrow brings.
With my years ahead of me getting shorter, I've been planning to move on for the past several months, really the past year. The only reasons I'd feel I would want to stay would be to defend House Bill 436, marriage equality, or because we need all the Democrats we can get for 2011-2012. However, I'm confident that especially with our ability to defeat the repeal of gay marriage a few weeks ago by such a wide margin in the House and in referendums in town meetings, the defense of our success in achieving marriage equality will be carried on by others very well.
And in November, 2010, whether I ran or not, we'll continue to have an all-Democratic team from Portsmouth and Newington. In fact, by me not running gives a good former House member who wants to return an easier shot without losing any of our current other good House members who may seek re-election; fact is, there may be other "new" ones who should have their chance to serve and offer their fresh perspectives.
At the moment, there's a mighty good chance I won't be running for reelection to the New Hampshire Legislature this November, after a bit too many years of being there off-and-on since 1969. But in all that time, I've never been prouder of our state government than during the past five years.
There was a dark cloud over our government for many of those years I've been there, with some glimpses of sunlight now and then with Governors like Walter Peterson, Hugh Gallen, and Jeanne Shaheen. These past five years, with Governor John Lynch, and Democratic majories in the House, Senate, and Governor's Council, the sunrise has come, and especially these past few months show why that is important to us all.
My take on the current review of the Financial Resources Mortgage Ponzi scheme is government working at its best. And despite some of the news media, Democrats should feel especially proud of some of the activities at the State House in recent weeks.
Years of information and records concerning FRM have been uncovered and released publicly, and those who have been hurt by the greed of a business are seeing that sunlight and openness has been brought to the process. That is a good thing.
Yes, some mistakes and oversights have been identified by agencies that should have prevented the Ponzi scheme of FRM from going on for so long. Mistakes occur in government as well as business. No process is perfect, and years -- decades really -- of cutting staff and making fewer and fewer state employees assume larger and larger volumes of work is bound to result in oversight not always being as good as it should be, or in follow-up action being limited. Employees can only do so much with the machinery and the personnel they have.
When you look at what was done and what was missed through the years, the fact appears to be that the Department of Banking did do most of the audits it was required to do and wrote the reports it should have. The Department of Securities did what it interpreted that under the law it had the authority to do, and took most of the follow-up action it should have done.
And the Attorney General's Office fulfilled most of the functions on those matters where it believed it had an enforcement role. From my detached point of view, it's not so much a matter of assigning blame for the past as it is clarifying responsibility for the future. We need better process, specific procedures, and clearer policies.
It's been an interesting ride. And to be pleased with where we are, it might be good to see where we've been, how far we've come, and what's ahead of us.
Anyone who has been paying attention to the progress of House Bill 436 and marriage equality knows the train track it's been on. Almost all along, it's been a balancing act, sort of like walking along the top cliff trails of the Presidentials.
Introduced formally on January 8th, HB 436 had a great 3-hour public hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on February 5th. That Committee voted a 10-10 tie on the bill, giving "no recommendation" to the House floor. The legislation initially failed on a 182-183 vote in the House on March 26th, then passed on a 186 to 179 vote. It went to the State Senate and had another great public hearing -- this one over 5 hours -- in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with over 500 people, most of them supporters, filling the State House chambers.
House Bill 436 received a 3-2 recommendation from that Committee that it be "inexpedient to legislate," or killed. However, our Democratic Senators worked to craft an amendment and on April 29th they approved the bill by a vote of 13-11. Back in the House last week on May 6th, HB 436 passed in final form by 178-167. Because of absences, if all those who we know supported the bill were present, it would have likely received 203 votes.
"I am pleased that the Senate and the House agree in principle that this is an important law to pass for New Hampshire. I look forward to further action in the House."
Glad to see her step right up to the plate to lead on getting the two versions together.
In an op-ed piece published in the Union Leader, Speaker Terie Norelli takes a stand against discrimination and for equal protection under the law.
I agree with her statement
It's disgraceful that opponents of House Bill 415 have trivialized the very real challenges faced by a small segment of our population -- citizens who have come face to face with losing their job or being denied housing.
CONCORD - "I am pleased that the banking commissioner has fully embraced the intent of the Legislature to prohibit predatory lending practices," said House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth).
It must be dizzying running a morally depraved business like predatory pay-day loan shops during this time of deep economic peril. On the one hand, the world is teeming with opportunity. On the other, pesky state governments like ours are doing what they can to stop these wolves from ruining lives with 500% annualized interest rates. What to do? Well, here's a way around the do-gooders:
According to a letter sent to the New Hampshire Banking Commissioner, Advance America wants to switch over to doling out open-ended small loans, which, it claims, are "not legally subject to the 36 percent interest rate cap" on title and payday loans, according to a letter written by attorney Steven Lauwers of Rath, Young & Pignatelli.
Terie Norelli is not amused (via email release):
"The intent of the legislation was to prevent companies from charging these outrageous fees," Norelli said. "We are talking about rates up to 500 percent."
Advance America says it wants to use rates between 365 percent and 465 percent on a "credit line product."
Norelli added, "Those are exactly the kind of predatory lending practices we are trying to prevent."
Based on the Monitor piece, I suspect Advance America will win this round. But if they don't, maybe they could take a dip in the TARP pool? There's no troublesome accountability there to worry about.
A brief update to all those political-junkies who might have slept in this morning and didn't hear: Terie Norelli was re-nominated for Speaker this morning by the 200 + Democrats of the New Hampshire House meeting in caucus. She outdistanced a challenge by Rep. Kris Roberts. Each spoke to the caucus and were well-received by the membership.
Ray Buckley did very well in calling the incoming Legislators to order. It's not an easy task to get over 200 Democrats to quiet down so a meeting can begin. It was his 59th birthday and we all tried to sing Happy Birthday to Ray, mostly off-key along with some mispronounced words.
Former House Democratic Leader and State Senator Rick Trombly did his usual good job running the caucus proceedings. He's lost lots of weight, and that's a good thing! He's down to his fighting weight and looks great, so he must be up to something.
I first met Granny D -- just a few quick times -- in 1999 and 2000. I saw her again, and more often, in 2004 when she ran for United States Senate. For those who might forget, she was our Democratic Party nominee against Judd Gregg. Yes, he won, but she took the challenge to him. It was generally a tough year for Democrats.
Back then, I was fascinated by this somewhat short and unassuming woman who seemed to have a lot of get-up-and-go. I enjoyed campaigning for and voting for this visionary, very positive human being.
But only in the past two years or so have I seen her quite up close (REALLY close when she gives you the patented "Granny D Hug"), and come to know, better understand, and even get to love this 98 year old New Hampshire treasure who is made of gold.
I could write so much about her, but watching her for a couple of hours this past Thursday as she experienced one of her greatest victories -- the New Hampshire State Senate approving a bill that she and her cause has inspired -- kind of sums up all about her.
That legislation, House Bill 794, called "The Granny D Bill," creates a seven-member Commission to craft and recommend a public financing program for New Hampshire. Whether that can be done is not the question -- some dozen other states have similar programs for at least some of their candidates, and Maine, Arizona, and Connecticut have rather complete systems. And whether it WILL be done here is not the question -- it will be someday, because it is at least a partial answer to improving democracy and making it more accessible by more of our citizens. It will happen. It has to.
And all that is Granny D's cause. She says the same thing -- that this will happen -- that we must do this not for ourselves, but for our future, and our children. To hear her say that makes you believe that it will be done. Because it has to.
But what was remarkable this past Thursday was to see this energetic woman walk the halls of the New Hampshire State House, a building only a little more than twice her own age, with just a cane while leading her troop of supporters at a fast pace. More on that walk in a moment.
After being introduced to the Senate by Keene Senator Molly Kelly and Senate President Sylvia Larsen, she sat for close to an hour in the historic chamber for her bill to come up and be voted on. It passed unanimously after two speakers, one a Democrat (Senator Jackie Cilley of Barrington) and one a Republican (Senator Peter Bragdon of Milford) recommended passage. Then Granny D stood to the applause and thanks of a gallery full of her longtime supporters who came from throughout the state to cheer her on.
Then she stepped -- "ran" might be a better description -- out of the Senate into her crowd of backers while she answered questions from reporters. In the midst of all this commotion Governor John Lynch walked up the stairs going toward his office. He stopped for a moment to say hello to Granny D. It gave her a chance to corner him on her cause...(more below fold)
Well, the Republicans are dependable -- they're at it AGAIN. Now two Republican Legislators in Oregon are proposing a statewide initiative to repeal a 2007 equality law that prohibits discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation.
By the way, New Hampshire adopted a similar law way back in 1997, with the help of visionaries like then-House Democratic Leader Rick Trombly, along with Ray Buckley, Mo Baxley, Bill McCann, Marlene DeChane, Martha Fuller Clark, Terie Norelli, Peter Burling -- and the list goes on. Each worked in different roles on the march toward greater equality -- a march that continues today. That law was signed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Compare ANY of our leaders to those Oregon Republicans and you'll see the difference between, well -- visionaries and reactionaries.
In 1997, New Hampshire became just the 11th state to adopt such protections for gays and lesbians. Unfortunately, even today only 20 states provide such a provision in their state statutes, including Oregon last year. We have lots further to go, but we're getting there.
Just WHAT don't the Republicans in Oregon, or anywhere else for that matter, get about equality issues? Just WHAT is wrong with preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas of housing and employment?
The Associated Press actually reported an answer to that question. It seems that Oregon State Senator Gary George and State Representative Kim Thatcher just feel that "perverts" shouldn't be out about their "perversion." They don't think that the workplace is the place to discuss gay sex and that if they do they should be able to be fired.
Simple enough. Just gay sex though, I guess. If you talk about straight sex, or have pictures of the Mr. or Mrs. on your desk and mention your kids, that's okay.
Senator George was a little more specific. He is quoted as saying "If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel." He told Oregon's biggest gay newspaper, Just Out, "As an employer, I don't wanna hear about it. This workplace is for work purposes. My advice to the gay community is shut up, just don't talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel."
Glad we've got that straight. Whoops, can I say that?
I'd like to hear more about why some Republicans are so preoccupied about the sex lives of their constituents.
In the meanwhile, I'm going to call my cable company and learn more about that Pervert Channel which Senator George seems to know about.
Speaker of the House Terie Norelli announced today that she was supporting Hillary Clinton for President. She was named a New Hampshire Co-Chair of the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign.
She said in her statement:
I have met with Hillary and talked with her. She is a woman of warmth, compassion, and dedication to issues that really matter. For 35 years she has stood for transformational change, and she is the candidate who has the experience and wisdom necessary to handle complex challenges.
"As a citizen legislature, we have a responsibility to be open and transparent in our work. Our new Web site provides clear, easy-to-use information about legislation and elected representatives." said Norelli. "We took the best ideas from the former site and made them more visible on the new one, and updated the design for a cleaner, more modern look."
Features include Who's My Legislator, Streaming Media, and House Fast Facts sprinkled throughout.
Personally, I think streaming video/audio, be it federal or state, is a huge development towards opening up government to everyone. C-Span's fantastic, but unless you live in TiVo Land it can be catch as catch can.
I'm hesitant to say anything about Vaillancourt's allegations against Ray Buckley until we know a little more about what is going on here. But if the press is going to speculate about the accused, I think it's only fair that we shine the light backwards as well.
Our member andyj has pointed out that this was not the first letter Vaillancourt sent last week. As a matter of fact, if I have the timeline right, he may have sent the allegation letter shortly after sending this letter to Rep. Norelli. The following is from the introductory paragraphs of his An Open Letter To Speaker Terie Norelli and The N.H. House Rules Committee, dated December 26, which is at most a couple of days before the letter with the allegations was sent:
At 11 a.m. this morning, I received a call from Rep. Anne-Marie Irwin welcoming me to the Executive Departments and Administration Committee. As I told Donald Manning, your chief of staff, last Thursday and again Friday in an attempt to set up a meeting with you, I have no intention of serving on the EDA Committee. Of the 20 House committees, that would be my 18th choice. Serving in my sixth term, I believe I deserve to be placed on a committee of my choice. Is that not the purpose of sending out a card asking members to name their top three choices? I made it quite clear to Republican Leader Michael Whalley that I would be perfectly happy with either Finance, Judiciary, or Criminal Justice; Finance because I believe I possess talents which would benefit the House and the State; Judiciary and Criminal Justice because I have personal concerns which will most likely go to those two committees. I never pressured the Republican leader to be placed on Finance, but certainly never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that you would, contrary to all precedent in this great institution, over-rule his decisions, not even display the simple decency to call and consult me about which committee other than Finance I would prefer; and place me on a committee I have no interest in, a committee which by the way already has no fewer than five Manchester Representatives on it.
(emphasis mine)
What I am saying is this. If this letter was sent out shortly before the letter of allegations was sent to John Lynch, I would cast a very skeptical eye on the allegations. Whatever Vaillancourt is alleging, it appears it may have only been pressing enough to report after he did not receive a seat on the finance committee.
There's a lot of hedge words in the above sentence. That's because I don't make allegations lightly. Looking at Vaillancourt's first letter, and noting the timing of his second, I have doubts whether the same can be said of Steve Vaillancourt.
(For some reason this didn't FP, but here it is now... - promoted by Mike)
Like most NH-ites, I know precious little about Terie Norelli. So I was happy that the Telegraph reprinted a Portsmouth Herald editorial ("N.H. House speaker should cool activism") that described her as an "activist" who will have to learn to "cool her activism" in her new role; for better or worse it was a helpful start at defining her.
Or was it? As I read through the "activist" positions of Norelli, I became more more and more confused. Says the Herald (via the NT):
Norelli's voting record is that of a leader on women's issues, including a woman's right to make her own personal health-care decisions. She has fought to increase access to health care as a sponsor of the Healthy Families Campaign.
She has advocated for economic justice by fighting to increase the minimum wage, to repeal the unfair statewide property tax and to lower electric rates. Norelli is also dedicated to protecting our quality of life as a champion for clean air legislation.
Norelli won a majority of the vote on the first ballot of yesterday's Democratic caucus. She received 128 of 218 votes, while Rep. Stephen DeStefano of Bow received 57 votes, and Rep. Jay Phinizy of Acworth received 33 votes. After the initial vote, the caucus took another vote, electing Norelli unanimously.
Norelli quickly defined the bounds of what bipartisanship means, and more importantly, does not mean:
Norelli said she would not appoint Republican chairs of committees, noting "the role of the chairmen of committees is the direct the policy of the committees. As the majority, it is our right to direct that policy."
But she did say Republicans and Democrats alike would be treated with respect, and noted Republicans would not be in a small out-of-the-way office. Several years ago, Democrats were moved from their long-held, third-floor office to much smaller space on the first floor of the State House.
She also stated that her understanding is that a statewide income tax for education is off the table.
