A recent editorial in the
Valley News quoted a state rep as describing the current state of affairs at
the NH legislature in this way, “We address problems that do not exist, we
misunderstand problems that do exist, and then we do the wrong thing for ideological
reasons.” That pretty much sums it up.
The very first bill passed by
our legislature this year – their urgent priority - was not legislation aimed
at fixing our infrastructure, solving our infrastructure problems, doing
something about our affordable housing problem, or the opioid crisis. The very
first order of business was passing a bill to ensure that gun owners were no
longer required to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
There have been many attempts
to solve non-existent problems. A bill to solve the problem of poor people
eating was retained by the House Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee.
Senate bill 7 would have changed the eligibility requirements for food stamps,
potentially kicking 17,000 families with children off the program. This was not
going to save any money – in fact it was going to cost the state to do it. It
did nothing to prevent fraud. All it was going to do was ensure that the
working poor would have a harder time feeding their kids. Truly a victory for
our well-to-do state senators. Only it wasn’t, because the House HHS committee
had an outbreak of decency and decided to retain the bill. They’ll have to act
on it, of course, but by the end of the year they may decide to quietly kill
it.
Our Governor’s first big
appointment was Frank Edelblut, the Commissioner of Education who has no
background in education, homeschooled his 7 children and had never been inside
a NH public school. His confirmation was along party lines, despite all those
constituent calls to Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, who does the wrong thing
for ideological reasons at every opportunity. Sununu chose to drop his nominee
to head the Dept. of Environmental Services, when most of the Executive
Councilors thought businessman Frank Kujawski’s past as a Boy Scout wasn’t
enough of a qualification for the position. Joe Kenney, however, was quoted in
the press as saying he would have voted for him. He voted for one unqualified
guy – why stop now?
Frank “I’ll be an
implementer” Edelblut has decided to go for a big power grab. He got Senator
Reagan to add an amendment to a bill that had already had a public hearing in
the House, giving Edelblut unchecked power to reconfigure the Dept. of
Education, an undefined plan he apparently developed without speaking to any of
his alleged colleagues. There was something of an uproar over that bit of
jiggery-pokery, so a public hearing was held, in a room that was too small for
it, with Senator Reagan allowing all the lobbyists to speak before
constituents, then berating those who questioned Edelblut’s fitness for the
job. Nothing says, “I’m a duly elected representative of the people” like lecturing
them for expressing their concerns. Even the Union Leader (the official state
mouthpiece for the NH GOP) thought Frank’s power grab was a bad idea. Despite
the best efforts of Senator Reagan, the Senate Education Committee voted thumbs
down on the amendment. It still has to go before the full Senate.
To his credit, Edelblut has
been out visiting, so at least now he knows what the inside of a NH public
school looks like. He asked the state board of education to reconsider the
standards for teaching science, something they’d just spent two years doing.
Edelblut’s criticisms of the science standards were based on a report by
conservative education think tank, the Fordham Institute. Fordham uses cutting edge 1950’s
science teaching as their criteria for evaluation.
The bill to solve the
non-existent problem of voter fraud, SB3, is still languishing in committee.
Meanwhile, HB 238, a bill to create yet another study committee to study the
actual problem of broadband access to the internet is likely to pass. I predict
the study will reveal we need better access, especially in the northern part of
the state, and that nothing will come of it. I hope I’m not the only one amused
by Senator Bradley’s attempts to cloak his opposition to legalizing marijuana
in the objections of the police chiefs – the same police chiefs he blithely
ignored when it came to concealed carry.
At the NH House, the
bickering between the self-styled Freedom Caucus and the leadership continues,
after their failure to pass their own budget.
None of this will be helped by the recent revelation that GOP State Representative Robert Fisher from Laconia seems to have had some reprehensible things to say about women in a number of online forums, including one he created. He used a variety of personas to put forth his views, including the astounding statement that rape isn’t all bad, because the rapist enjoys it. Fisher is refusing to resign.
None of this will be helped by the recent revelation that GOP State Representative Robert Fisher from Laconia seems to have had some reprehensible things to say about women in a number of online forums, including one he created. He used a variety of personas to put forth his views, including the astounding statement that rape isn’t all bad, because the rapist enjoys it. Fisher is refusing to resign.
Problems, misunderstanding, and ideology. Rinse, lather, and repeat.
