On February 7, 2011, newly minted Speaker of the NewHampshire House, Bill O’Brien had this to say: “We are committed to bringingtransparency to state government and making it easier for people to know whattheir government is doing.”
That was certainly a lofty and admirable sentiment. Ofcourse only a month later, O’Brien closed the House gallery to the peopleduring a lengthy debate. The Speaker also refused to allow Concord Monitorreporter Ann Marie Timmins into a press conference. The Monitor had publishedan unflattering cartoon of the Speaker, and Mr. Transparency responded bytaking it out on Timmons.
The Speaker’s latest foray into transparency came at the endof September, when we learned that he’d attempted to keep the LSRs filed byincumbents under wraps until after the upcoming election. There’s an earlyfiling period (Sept. 17 – 26) when incumbents can file LSRs (potential billsfor the upcoming legislative session) so that Legislative Services can get anearly start on writing and researching the bills. With a 400 member House theproposed legislation can stack up, and indeed, they are. There are 255 proposedLSRs on the House General Court website today.
O’Brien denies making an attempt to change the rules. Fordecades proposed bills were released in writing every week. In recent years,they’ve been posted daily on the House website. The postings are notcomprehensive – it’s generally a title or a reference to the subject of a billthat has yet to be fleshed out. There is often enough information, however, todiscern what the bill is about. That’s why the Speaker wants these bills keptquiet until after the election – he doesn’t want the legislators filing them tobe held accountable by the electorate. It is rumored that this all came aboutbecause flagrant homophobe Rep. Al Baldasaro filed a bill to repeal marriageequality. Apparently “making it easier for people to know what their governmentis doing” hasn’t turned out so well for a Speaker and a House intent onpursuing a far right social agenda.
A number of bills are coming back, some for the umpteenthtime. The Speaker himself has filed a right-to-work bill, despite howthoroughly he was routed on that particular subject last year. Rep. Dan Itsehas filed his perennial bill to form a state militia. This is the fourth timeItse has filed this particular piece of legislation, showing remarkable disdainfor the taxpayers of our state who pay for the filing and writing of the bill,not to mention the cost of this militia to the state. (An estimated $500,000per year in 2011) Itse also shows disdain for his colleagues who have to listento it again. And again. Rep. Robert Kingsbury of Laconia became famous on latenight comedy shows last year when he sponsored a bill to include a relevant phrasefrom the Magna Carta in each new piece of legislation. Apparently he liked the spotlight,because that bill is back. He’s also filed a bill that requires the rebuildingof the Old Man of the Mountain. The bill to require random drug testing of foodstamp recipients is back. As you may recall, in 2011 we learned that this wouldcost NH taxpayers $3 million a year, while saving them absolutely no money.There are also a few other bills taking a run at food stamp recipients. What Ididn’t see were bills aimed at bringing NH into the future. Forcing food stamprecipients to urinate into cups won’t rebuild the NH infrastructure; in fact,it will divert money that could be used to fix our dreadful infrastructure intoa witch-hunt against poor people.
The Speaker doesn’t want you to know what incumbents have inmind for 2013, but there’s little he can do to keep their voting history overthe last two years a secret. The folks at Granite State Progress have puttogether a legislative report card database that is very easy to use. You canlook up incumbents and learn how they voted on a number of issues during thelast biennium. The data was compiled from some 200 roll call votes. This is agreat resource, and I urge all voters to use it before they vote.
In July, former Rep. Norman Tregenza told the Conway Sunthat the key concerns of valley residents are: “ jobs, liberty, and roads.” Hementioned his concern for road maintenance, and his intent to divert funds forrepair work. Given his comments to the paper, I was shocked to learn thatformer Rep. Tregenza voted in favor of cutting the highway fund – which iswhere the monies for constructing, repairing, and maintaining our highways andbyways comes from. Tregenza also voted against establishing a commission toencourage broadband service in underserved areas. He voted against allowingmunicipalities to bond for building their own broadband infrastructure. Roadsand telecommunications are essential to the economic future of our state, afact that seems to be lost on Norm Tregenza, despite his claims to thenewspaper.
He did vote in favor of every gun bill, though, includingthe ones that would have allowed stalkers and abusers to legally possesshandguns. He voted for a bill that would have made it impossible for amarried couple with minor children to obtain a no-fault divorce. He voted forevery bill aimed at regulating women’s reproductive decisions and defundingPlanned Parenthood. He voted to repeal NH’s marriage equality law. Liberty, it would seem, is only forheterosexual men.
Governor Lynch vetoed a bill that would ban abortion even when the woman’shealth is in jeopardy. Representatives Umberger, McCarthy, and Tregenza allvoted to override that veto. That’s right, women. They all voted in favor of letting you DIE ratherthan get an abortion. That’s right, men. They voted in favor of letting yourwife (and possibly the mother of your children) DIE rather than have anabortion that would save her life.
These people are but a few of the extremists desperate toget back into the NH legislature. They all supported O’Brien’s election asSpeaker, and will again, should he be re-elected to the House. Gene Chandlerdidn’t just support the Speaker, he’s also part of the O’Brien leadership team.
I wish I could say “vote for them at your peril” but byvoting for them, you imperil the rest of us.
Do your homework before you vote: http://granitestateprogress.org/service/legislator-report-cards
h/t to Mike Marland for the cartoon
© sbruce 2012 This was published as an op-ed in the October 12, 2012 edition of the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper
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