Foiling Regional Planning

After the Tea Party took over the GOP in 2011, we began hearing talk of a strange and frightening thing…. Agenda 21. This agenda, we were told, was a devious secret plot by the United Nations to secure global domination by taking away our property, our cars, and our toilets, and making us ride the bus, or something like that. Planning? Planning is the work of Satan and his minions! The John Birch Society threw the gasoline on the fire, and the Tea Partiers, 912 groups, and the liberty crowd fanned the flames.

The outrage grew and grew to the point where small town planning board members were harassed by irate residents about something they’d never even heard of. Reliable media sources like WorldNetDaily, infowars, Glenn Beck, and of course Fox News were churning out the agitprop about this nefarious plot. 

Agenda 21 is a document that came out of the UN and the Rio Conference on the environment – in 1992. Yes, that’s over 20 years ago. And yes, if they planned to take over the world, it’s the slowest takeover of anything ever. It’s a non-binding set of resolutions, intended to encourage countries to conserve resources, protect open spaces, and promoting sustainable growth. You can see why that would become a tinfoil encrusted nightmare.  How dare anyone tell us to conserve! That’s commie talk! Freedom means using up everything and never having to say we’re sorry!

The flames spread. Agenda 21 conspiracy films were shown at the Majestic Theater in Conway. Books were written. Videos were made. Propaganda was spewed. Even though the Tea/Birch crowd was mostly deposed from our state government in 2012, eventually the tinfoil trail led to the NH State House.


Last year a bill was proposed to phase out lead sinkers and jigs from fishing tackle. The lead kills our loons. This seemed pretty reasonable, and there was science behind it. This simple bill turned into hours of debate thanks to the Agenda 21 crowd. Apparently part of the UN’s slow motion plan for global domination includes invading the tackle boxes of NH fishermen. Perhaps most egregious was a bill to allow municipalities to work together to finance and build water and sewer projects. It turns out that the UN doesn’t just want your tackle box; it wants to take over your toilet. The wailing and gnashing of teeth went on for hours, and still the bill passed by a huge margin.

The Reynolds rappers are still with us. Last week I sat through part of the hearing on HB 1573, a bill that would eliminate all nine of the regional planning commissions in the state. This is because NH’s regional planners are engaged in a project to have a dialogue about planning for the future. It’s called Granite State Future. The dialogue includes business, towns, cities, regions, old timers, newcomers, and anyone that wants to be involved. The discussion involves nefarious stuff like how best to manage our shared natural resources going into the future – like forests and water. This has become linked to Agenda 21, by the tinfoil brigade, who believe that planning ahead is really all about the permanent loss of your privacy rights and of course, the UN’s plot for global domination.

The first speaker I heard was Rep. Glen Cordelli from Tuftonboro, who muttered dire warnings about regional planning commissions, and how “advice is not their game, power is their game.” A man from Jaffrey spoke about how the RPCs are an asset to his small town, because they have resources that the town does not. Planning board members from a variety of towns praised the RPCs and the help they provide. Rep. Bill Butynski from Hinsdale testified that property taxes would have gone up in his town if the RPCs hadn’t helped with their process of rebuilding the bridge to Vermont. Carol Miller, Director of Technologies at the Dept. of Resources and Economic Development, is focused on broadband needs, and has worked with the RPCs to develop a state broadband plan. She said she’s found the data they provided from the various regions to be invaluable. Bill McNally, a Bircher from Windham handed out information on Granite State Futures and Agenda 21.

 That’s how it went. Speakers who were well versed on the planning needs of their towns were followed by speakers who were not at all interested in the needs of our state – just convinced that there is a conspiracy afoot to defraud them of their property and pave the way for the UN takeover. Or something like that. It was painful. The Free State Project is heavily involved with the destruction of the RPCs – and indeed all planning. In their Randian paradise, we’re all free market buccaneers with no rules or regulations – every pirate for himself. And if your water gets Freedomed, as W. Virginia’s recently did, well, that’s too bad. You’ll just have to buy your water on the freedom market.


Without planning and zoning that’s what we get. Pirates come in and take over. We saw it happen in Tamworth with the racetrack. When Tamworth voted on zoning, Club Motorsports came in and bought the election. A bill changing the definition of a racetrack (SB 458) was allowed to glide silently through the legislature, and most of those who kept the silence were rewarded with campaign donations from Club Motorsports.

Where there is no planning and zoning, the big money privateers come in and do what they want. If the town doesn’t like it, well, suck it up buttercup, because freedom.




A few of the tinfoil legislative brigade have tired of wreaking havoc in their own towns, and are moving on to mischief in other communities. They’ve been working successfully in Rindge, where all the talk of the evils of gummint money, led by Rep. John Burt of Goffstown, has created an ugly us v. them climate in the town. Rindge has petitioned article this year on their warrant that specifies that the town would not be able to accept any federal funds, except once a year at town meeting. In other words, natural disaster like the flood in Alstead or the devastation created up north by Hurricane Irene? Too bad. You’ll have to wait till March to vote on getting federal aid to rebuild your roads, bridges, or businesses. That’ll teach the feds!   

As always, this serves to underscore how badly we are served by the NH media. Our only statewide media doesn’t report on these stories, so people around the state don’t connect what’s happening in their town to other areas of the state.

© sbruce 2014 

published as a biweekly column in the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper

Pass the Popcorn

The candidates are coming! The candidates are coming! The next presidential election is three years away, but already the fringe hopefuls are coming out of the woodwork to visit NH to test the waters. Or cast the maple leaves.  (Note to candidates: careful with maple syrup. Ask Rick Perry.) Or maybe just to fatten their PAC funds. In any case, it’s time to make a fresh batch of popcorn and settle in to take a look at the first round of  hopefuls who have no chance of reaching the White House.

Former Florida Congressman Allen West will be the keynote speaker at the Nashua Republican Committee’s annual “Steak Out” fundraiser in August. West is a big favorite of the Tea Party crowd. West is indeed a colorful character, so much so that he lost his GOP seat in Florida, of all places, to a Democrat. These days, he’s a paid commenter at Fox News. He recently told Sean Hannity that we should elect someone who has been “called” to be president. Voices in his head? God? Wrong number? Stay tuned.

 In the wake of President Obama’s remarks about racism in the US, West was quick to say he’d never experienced any such thing as a boy in inner city Atlanta, because HIS parents brought him up to be respectful. His respectful nature fails when it comes to women. In 2011 he called colleague Debbie Wasserman Schultz, “despicable, vile, and not a lady.” Before being elected to Congress, West was a monthly contributing writer to a biker magazine that regularly featured misogynistic material, including one article asking readers to imagine having sex with the aforementioned Congresswoman. Other pieces referred to women as “oral relief stations.” If Allen West were coming toward my car, I would lock the doors post haste.

West was forced to retire from the Army after he admitted to watching his men beat an Iraqi policeman that West suspected of planning an ambush. West fired a gun near the man’s head to scare him into divulging the details of the alleged ambush. There weren’t any. There was no plot, as all investigations revealed, despite West’s claims that his actions saved lives. Far from being repentant, he campaigned on being proud of his actions. In some circles, torture and detainee abuse is something to be proud of, along with Islamophobia.

That leads us to noted Islamophobe, Congressman Peter King of NY, who will be speaking to the Carroll County Republicans in August, and the Strafford County GOP in September. King is considering a run for president because he wants to push a national dialogue about the need for a more robust national security. Given that we are currently shoveling 58% of our federal discretionary budget at the Dept. of Defense, one wonders how much more robusticity we can afford. Rep. King was the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee. The Dept. of Homeland Security is one of two cabinet level federal agencies that are unable to pass an audit. The other is the Pentagon.  

King was quite annoyed with Senator Aqua Buddha’s recent filibuster on drone strikes, calling it a “trivial and unimportant debate.” King also recently called for the prosecution of journalists who report on classified information. He doesn’t seem to think that we have the right to know about the US surveillance programs that came to light thanks to Edward Snowden. King would like to make sure that you don’t sully your pretty little head with any knowledge of what kind of things the government is up to in your name.

Tea Partier Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is coming to headline a NH GOP fundraiser in late August. He’s also going to be the keynote speaker at a Florida Tea Party event hosted by the Koch Bros. funded group Americans for Prosperity.

Cruz was elected to the Senate last year. This is the first time he’s held office. Cruz was born in Canada to a father who was a Cuban citizen and an American mother. There are some questions as to whether he’s eligible to be president on those grounds. The rest of us have other questions about his eligibility.

Cruz is a proponent of the Tea Party/John Bircher tin foil hat brigade on the issue of Agenda 21. Cruz thinks it’s a plot by George Soros who is leading the UN to eliminate golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. Senator Cruz apparently slumbered through 2008, and thinks that turning the Social Security Fund over to Wall Street is a good idea. He also believes that Sharia law is an “enormous problem” in the United States, despite a lack of any evidence that this is so. It’s GOP standard issue Islamophobia.

Cruz is definitely a big bagful of nuts. He recently said that marriage equality would lead to hate speech laws and the imprisonment of pastors who support traditional marriage. Again, there’s no evidence that any group is moving toward any such thing – but a lack of fact or evidence doesn’t seem to deter the folks on the far right.

NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn calls Cruz, “one of the most principled and exciting new leaders in the Republican Party.” This is the same Jennifer Horn who has also said that the philosophy of the Free State Project “is something that’s right in line with the Republican Party.” The Free State Project is a group of libertarian anarcho-capitalists moving to NH with the goal of taking over the state, dismantling state government, and threatening to secede. They’re hoping to move 20,000 of their fellow Rand worshippers to NH in time to swing the 2016 election. As people in some towns and counties (notably Carroll, Strafford, and Belknap) can attest, they’re already doing some very real damage. In a video of a panel discussion of Free State office holders, Rep. Mark Warden said, “The Republican Party asked Carol McGuire (also of the FSP) to recruit more FSP candidates.”

The NH GOP has obviously learned nothing from their last round of electoral defeats, and has every intention of continuing to merge with the fringiest of the fringe. This first round of presidential wannabes are straight from the Mad Hatter’s table.

Pass the popcorn. 


© 2013 sbruce
published as a bi-weekly column in the Conway Daily Sun newspaper

Obstructionist Theater

The New Hampshire legislature is a mirror, reflecting what goes on in Washington. In Washington, petty obstructionism is the order of the day. The same is true in the People’s House here in the Granite State.

The loon and lead sinker bill is a good example. SB 89 was aimed at ending the use of lead sinkers and jigs weighing an ounce or less. These lead sinkers are the leading cause of death in the adult loon population. They’re also littering the bottoms of our lakes and ponds. We don’t use lead in water pipes any more, or in paint because now we know that lead is bad.  The wrangling over this bill went on for well over an hour, because the liberty crowd is convinced that this bill has something to do with Agenda 21. Rep. Al Baldasaro opined in April that this was a UN attempt at getting fisherman off the lake. After enduring what one can only assume was copious public and private ridicule, he’d changed his tune by session day, and told media that this was just a “feel good bill.”

Rep. Burt of Goffstown openly mocked the concerns of those who supported the bill, dismissing the idea that lead was dangerous. The loonkillers lost, and the bill passed on a roll call vote (yep, they wanted this enshrined in the public record) of 225-142. You can look up your representative’s votes on the House website. This whole process took nearly 2 hours – and the loonkillers lost, big time. What else can we call this but obstructionist theater?

The big vote last week was on SB 152, the casino bill. That debate lasted for a little over 4 hours, but that debate was justified. The result of the vote was destined to have a big impact on the state no matter which way it came down. We all now know that the House voted down the bill. The why of it isn’t being honestly being told. All of the NH media seems united in presenting this as legislators being either for or against gambling. No nuance need be discussed. While sitting through the committee vote, and then the 4-hour debate on the House floor, I heard plenty of nuance expressed. The real problem with the bill is that it was bad. Many representatives who support expanded gambling voted against it because it was a raw deal for the state.

SB 152 ensured that NH would get 30% of the take from the machines of Millennium Gaming, the gaming corporation that the state is courting. In 2012, a similar bill gave NH 49% of the take. In 2008 it was 50%, and in 2004 it was 55%. Pennsylvania gets 55%. Thirty percent was a great deal for Millennium – but not so great for the state. Millennium was also given the opportunity to write the regulations governing the casino. Putting the fox in charge of the henhouse has never been successful, but our state senators were keen on trying.

A commission authorized by Governor Lynch a few years back found that the regulations for a casino should be in place before any negotiations with a company began. There was money put in the budget to put that regulatory infrastructure into place. It was never done. The idea of letting the casino write the regulations defies all common sense. The bill was voted down on a vote of 199-164. A motion to reconsider failed on a vote of 212 – 152.

There were nearly a dozen bills that were unheard in last week’s session, and so were brought forward this week. The NH Liberty Alliance (essentially a front for the Free State Project) hands out gold (naturally) sheets to folks heading in to Representatives Hall. These sheets give the Liberty perspective on bills, and generally provide a blueprint for how much obstructionism to expect on any given bill.

SB 96, a bill aimed at curbing vexatious litigants (nuisance lawsuits) was deemed Anti-Liberty. Given the Free State Project’s propensity for filing nuisance lawsuits, this came as no surprise. In Randia we will all be able to sue each other all the time. Gold! Austria! The bill passed, despite the protestations of the residents of Libertopia.

SB 100, was a bill to allow employers to stop issuing paper checks, and give wages on cards – like debit cards. The problem here is that those cards (issued by companies like Visa) have fees associated with them. This is a mode of payment that is reserved almost entirely for low wage workers. Carl Nelson does not get his paycheck in the form of a plastic card with user fees attached. This benefits employers at the expense of employees. It also benefits banks and credit card companies, all who want a piece of the low wage pie at the expense of workers. Shameful. The bill was defeated on a vote of 235 -93.

The most interesting fight of the day was over SB 11, a bill allowing municipalities to work together on water and sewer infrastructure projects. Sounds sensible, right? What you don’t know is that this is a sneak attempt by the UN to achieve global domination through your toilet. The John Birch Society and other wearers of tinfoil berets decided this bill (written to aid Stratham and Exeter in particular) was part of the nefarious Agenda 21. This is a bill that came out of committee with a recommendation of ought to pass on vote of 18-0. Normally it would have been put on the consent calendar, but this legislature isn’t exactly normal. All who were present donned their sunglasses to block the glare of 100 tinfoil berets.

A motion to table the bill failed. Rep. Jane Cormier of Alton gave a one-woman filibuster against the bill that included all manner of bizarre assertions (well stealing, property takeovers) including her belief that “the EPA now considers rainwater a pollutant.” A move to recommit the bill (send it back to the same committee that unanimously passed it) failed.

Rep. Abrami (Republican from Stratham) finally had the chance to speak, and pointed out that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hadn’t visited Stratham, and that the bill had nothing to do with Agenda 21. He also said, “I’m a conservative guy. You think I’d stand up here and allow the state to steal our wells?” The bill was finally passed on a roll call vote of 254 -74, after all that posturing and bloviating. With each vote (table, recommit, final vote) the tinfoil crowd lost votes. Their goal isn’t winning – they know better. Their goal is posturing and obstructing. Just like Congress.

© sbruce 2013 

Published as a regular biweekly column in the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper. 

Sinkers, Loons, and Knaves

It was a long day at the NH House. SB 126, a bill concerning business practices between manufacturers, distributers, and dealers took a long time. Free Stater Emily Sandblade of the Commerce Committee supported the bill, but the rest of the tinfoil brigade were quite annoyed about it. JR Hoell (the next best thing to a Free Stater) was wearing a button that seemed to suggest that passing 126 was likely to end NH as we know it.

They pressed on to SB 89, a bill aimed at eliminating the use of lead sinkers and jigs (weighing an ounce or less) for the fishermen in our state. One of the reasons for this, is that lead sinkers are the leading cause of death for adult loons. Also: lead bad. That's why we don't use it in paint or water pipes any more. Lead bad.

The tinfoil hat brigade defended their right to kill loons to the bitter end.

Rep. Webb introduced a floor amendment to give the manufacturers of lead tackle more time to comply. Apparently the 3 years specified in the bill wasn't long enough.

Best of all though, was Rep. John Burt from Goffstown. Burt spent a lot of time mocking the whole thing, saying that "the science just isn't there." That bald eagles kill loons. When asked why all the other states around us have passes similar legislation, Burt responded, "monkey see, monkey do. He asserted that the lead isn't dangerous, the lead in the water isn't dangerous, that there's mercury in the water - a hodgepodge of distractionary nonsense.

Rep. Manley, a science teacher, gave us some schoolin' on the science. Like: lead bad. We view lead as damaging to the environment. We regard lead as a threat to water.

Lots of consternation from the GOP - do lead sinker manufacturers donate heavily to GOP campaigns or something?

Michael Garcia, the Free Stater and fauxDem says the only way this practice will end is to change the culture. "It will impact small businesses. Who will want to buy back banned products?"

Anecdote: I know some guys who fish. None of them have any lead tackle.

Apparently this bill didn't go anywhere last year, and the committee last year agreed that the bill wouldn't come forward again in 2013. The possibility of losing their seats doesn't seem to have occurred to them. The guys who did get reelected seem quite miffed that this bill came forward AFTER a different group agreed that it wouldn't.

Best part of the hearing? Al Baldasaro walking by the media section saying, "this is just another feel good bill." Really, Al? Just last month, Al was claiming this bill was part of the UN's clever plan to take over the US via tackle box. “If you take a look at other areas, uh, what’s going on around the country under Agenda 21, this isn’t get – the nose is already under the tent. This now is pushing the foot under the tent, to slowly get the fishermen off the lake. That’s what this is gonna do.”

Al must have had an adjustment to his tinfoil beanie since then, because no one mentioned Agenda 21. Or maybe they've been mocked so much about Agenda 21 that they don't want to bring it up in public.

This was a long, painful debate that really boiled down to this: do you want to do the right thing, or do you want to reserve the right to kill loons? 

The loonkillers lost, on a roll call vote of 225-142.

After that came SB 122, concerning the establishment of a commercial shrimp license.
The tinfoil crowd was all wound up about this. Not sure why.  The voice vote failed. Free Stater Rep. Carol McGuire asked for a roll call vote. The bill passed 257-122.

                                             This is a high end casino: Montbleu in Stateline, NV. 

After lunch came SB 152, the casino bill. Last week the 45 member supercommittee of Finance and Ways and Means voted to ITL the bill. The full House needs to overturn the ITL before it can begin hearing and voting on the 20+ amendments to the bill that are just waiting in the wings.

Strange little caucus groups spring up around the chamber. O'Brien/Ober. Itse/Lambert. Baldasaro/smart phone. Even Stellaaaaaaaah is here this afternoon.

At one point, O'Brien, Itse, Lambert, Baldasaro, and Warden all slither out to the anteroom to plot. O'Brien all puffed up, and plotting. And why not? He refused a committee assignment, so he hasn't done any work this session.

Groups swap partners. Itse/O'Brien. Ober/Hoell. Baldasaro/Twitter.

Rep. Lovejoy spoke in favor of not overturning the ITL. She cited revenue, regulations, and social costs as reasons for her decision. Baldasaro gets a question. Al, it seems, worked in Delaware (this guy must have the longest resume in the United States. He had 10 different jobs in 10 different states all at the same time before he moved to NH. But, in Delaware, he tells Rep. Lovejoy,  he didn't see no crime, and no hookers like you're talking about. (she hadn't mentioned hookers.) At the end of her lengthy and respectful answer to Rep. Baldasaro,  Lovejoy added, "I don't expect there will be a big influx of hookers to Salem. I hope that doesn't disappoint you."

Rep. Sapareto repeating last week's line about "booze, butts, and bets." It was better last week. He also said of the legislature, "We're about 25 years behind the people we represent." (You can carve that in stone.) Sapareto also said that we have no other way to raise revenue.

(new sideline caucus: Rideout, Itse, Hoell, Lambert)

Rep. Webb reminded us that the bill addresses our social concerns, there's a fund built in to help problem gamblers. This always reminds me of the fund to help problem drinkers - to fund treatment, education and prevention. The fund has never been fully funded since 2003, when it was highjacked by the legislature and siphoned into the general fund. Also, his mother gambles at Foxwoods and she's not a criminal. When people come here to gamble, they'll buy our cheap booze and cigarettes. And buy gas, and pay the gas tax! Now, there's a sore subject, since the Senate finance committee just ITL'd an increase to the gas tax.

Gionet (revolution!) and Webb do a little theater performance of pretending to ask and answer questions.

No one ever mentions that casinos feed gamers free booze as long as they're playing. There will be a new crop of dual addicted folks: booze and gambling. It's never mentioned. I saw it all the time out in Tahoe.

Rep. Vallaincourt gives an inspired speech on how this bill (written by lobbyists from Millenium Gaming) cheats the state of NH, and what a bad deal it is for us. Pennsylvania gets 55% of the take from Millenium. They want to give NH 30%.

(sideline groups: Baldasaro/Chandler. Cormier/O'Brien. Warden/Winter)

Vallaincourt claims the state will lose over a billion in revenue in a 20 year period. "We will never get a do-over if we pass this." "Better do nothing now than try to fix this later."

Rep. St. James - this bill is good for NH.

Rep. Rideout: supports ITL. Is in favor of expanded gambling but opposes the monopoly that this bill would give Millenium. "Money is supposed to go to the north country - but the bill says nothing about it." "This bill is a goulash of government."

Rep. Butler: overturn the ITL. Bill will create 2000 jobs.

Rep. Azarian: the casino will provide the money to expand 93 and fix our infrastructure.

Rep. Groen moved here from NJ, and spoke about the big promises made by casinos there. They kept dropping the state's share of revenue every year. The developers promised to make Atlantic City the pearl of the Eastern Seaboard. "We got a sliver of glitzy buildings surrounded by a slum."
"The only thing worse than a gambling addiction is a state addicted to gambling revenue."

Rep. Hess: None of us (the committee) had any experience in regulating a casino. We were at the mercy of the lobbyists and lawyers of the industry. The revenue streams are fanciful at best. NHFPI finds that the casino may well result in a net loss for our state. "How can we meet unmet needs by creating more needs?"

Finally, at 4:40 pm the roll call vote on overturning the ITL finally takes place. The ITL upheld on a vote of 199-164.  Rep. Richardson makes a motion to reconsider. He wants the House to vote against reconsideration. (thereby killing the bill dead, dead, instead of just dead.) Rep. Walner asks for a roll call.

Richardson comments that this bill has had more scrutiny than any bill in NH history except possibly the loon and lead sinker bill.

The roll call on the motion to reconsider: 152 yea and 212 nay - the motion fails. SB 152 is dead, dead.

This is not a high end casino. Winners Casino in Winnemucca, Nevada is more like what NH will be getting 30% of the take on.