Elections Have Consequences

The priorities of the legislature should reflect the priorities of the state. If that’s the case then obviously NH voters are completely unconcerned about our failing infrastructure, and obsessed with guns, MOAR GUNZ, and completely unrestricted, unregulated gun ownership!

On Wednesday the NH House passed SB 116, the so-called “constitutional carry” bill. Constitutional carry is a cutesy name created by the NRA or the American Legislative Exchange Council (aka ALEC) the special interest groups behind the kind of gun legislation that crops up in a number of states simultaneously. It’s nationally coordinated, then fed to state legislators to make it look “local.” SB 116 removes the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed pistol or revolver. If a gun owner wanted to carry concealed, they applied to their local police chief for a permit. Police chiefs seldom refused, by the way. They did, in some instances; attempt to keep concealed guns out of the hands of known drunks and abusers. Quelle horreur.

The NH statute that required the permit has been in place for over a century. Saint Meldrim Thomson was in favor of the permitting process. All was well until the last few years, when suddenly (with the help of the NRA and ALEC) gundamentalists realized their rights were being infringed upon. Our own Senator Jeb Bradley stepped up and filed this bill to protect “law abiding residents who want 2 protect lives, liberty” as he tweeted out on Wednesday. I tweeted back to ask him why he didn’t file this bill in 1990, when he was serving in the NH House. Poor man – simmering with rage for 25 years over this terrible injustice to our noble gun owners! No wonder he failed to answer my tweet. I’m certain it had nothing to do with his attempts to suck up to the libertea crowd to get their support for his upcoming bid for higher office. It’s worth pointing out that polls showed that NH voters opposed the concealed carry statute change 3 to 1.

Imagine if our legislators were as obsessed with our failing infrastructure as they are with guns.

The other interesting vote this week was SB 113, the bill to allow two casinos in the state of NH. This is the most recent casino bill, and we all know the rationale behind the annual parade of gambling legislation. NH has a structural deficit built into our tax system. Rather than solve the problem and tax our 33,000 millionaires appropriately, we look for outside solutions. The time to bring casinos to NH was at least a decade ago, before the economy fell apart, and before the country was saturated with casinos. (Casinos that are now failing in many places.) Each new casino bill leaves NH with less revenue coming in than the previous bill. This one required a modest licensing fee for a 10-year license that a gaming outfit could sell to another gaming corporation. They would make a profit, but NH would get nothing. If the revenue demands from our legislature continue to decline, in another few years, we’ll be begging to pay a casino to come here so we can give them the entirety of the take. The legislature seems incapable of making a good deal for our state.

There was bipartisan support and opposition to the bill. The libertea crowd did some chest beating from the House floor about monopolies and free markets, and gave that as the reason for their opposition. I suspect that since Governor Hassan supports a casino, the GOP opposition had more to do with thwarting the governor than their concern for the free market.

That isn’t the real reason. The real reason is that NH conservatives don’t want the revenue. If the money came in, it could be spent. That would mean NH could spend on higher education, infrastructure, and safety net programs to help those in need. The agitprop slogan of the NH Republicans would be at risk:  “NH doesn’t have a revenue problem, NH has a spending problem!” The goal of NH conservatives is to continue to run the state in a way that maintains that bit of fiction. We have a problem generating sufficient revenue to run the state properly, and our GOP brethren want to make sure we keep it that way.

NH sure is missing out on a huge revenue opportunity by not selling guns at our highway liquor stores.

The voters of Coos County are getting a lesson in why it is that who they send to represent them in Concord matters. The budget passed by the House closes the DMV stations in Colebrook and Gorham. This would leave the Twin Mountain DMV station as the only one in the county. For some residents in the far northern reaches of Coos, this could be a four hour round trip. Ah, what fun that will be during the long winters. State Senator Jeff Woodburn was quoted in the Berlin Sun as saying, “If this budget cut holds, 72 percent of the residents of Coos County will have to drive over 30 miles for basic motor vehicle services.”

The NH legislature abandoned all pretense of concern for the north country long ago. Remember when one-term GOP Governor Craig Benson wanted to close the notches in the winter to save money? The folks of Coos are learning the hard way that sending ideologues to Concord may come back to bite them in the behind. Coos District One covers the northernmost part of the state: the towns of Pittsburg, Colebrook, Clarksville, Errol, Millsfield, Odell, Stratford, Dixville, and Columbia. District 1 is represented by John Fothergill and Lawrence Rappaport. Both voted for the House budget. Leon Rideout of District 7 represents a big chunk of Coos: Dummer, Stark, Northumberland, Milan, Lancaster, Killkenny, Dalton, Whitefield, Jefferson, Randolph, and Carroll. He voted for the House budget, too. I’m sure their constituents will thank them effusively for their good work as they take a day off to drive to Twin Mountain next February.

Elections have consequences. Who we send to Concord matters, especially to the north country.

 This was published as an op-ed in the May 1, 2015 edition of the Conway Daily Sun.  

Crossover

March 27 is Crossover Day in the NH legislature. It’s the day when the House turns over their bills to the Senate, and the Senate returns the favor. This year there was so much delay and obstructionism that there was some doubt as to whether the deadline would actually be met. The House had 2 voting session days throughout the month of March, and the Speaker threatened to add a third session day on March 27.

It is difficult to know what the obstructionist’s goal is in holding everything up. They aren’t doing the People’s business. They aren’t enacting legislation, or doing what is best for the state. They are wasting taxpayer dollars and treating their colleagues with a glaring lack of respect.  They get all caught up in the drama of it; adult sized boys, buzzing around the chamber for whispered consultations and making “secret” signals from the sidelines. These aren’t votes they can win - the goal is just to slow the process down as much as possible. As I’ve said before, this is what you get when you elect people who hate government to BE the government.

There were 13 roll call votes on the March 12 session day. Two of them concerned a mandatory headlight use bill. That bill was debated for 2 hours, even though everyone in the chamber knew it wasn’t going anywhere. The whole process did, at least, amuse the New York Times reporter I was sitting next to. A bill regulating the use of alkaline hydrolysis as a means of disposing of human remains provided a stage for Rep. Jordan Ulery to leap upon and very dramatically describe the process of alkaline hydrolysis to the few legislators who stayed in the chamber.  The same bill had been proposed last year. This wasn’t new information, but when gumming up the works is the goal, no corpse must be left un-described. No one was going to be forced to dispose of a dead person this way unless they wanted to, but the loudest believers in freedom and liberty only seem to do so when its convenient for them. If a free gun came with alkaline hydrolysis, they’d be lining up around the block to throw Granny into the chamber.

There was also a lengthy debate that same day on repealing the death penalty. To the credit of all, that was mostly an intelligent and respectful debate. Most of our Carroll County delegation voted for repeal, and the bill passed the House. By the time you read this, the Senate Judiciary Committee will have had a public hearing on the bill. NH has spent $7 million so far on the death penalty case of Michael Addison, and we’re nowhere near done. The death chamber hasn’t been built. The drugs – Europe won’t sell us the drugs any more, because we’re barbarians. We don’t know what kind of drugs we’ll be using, or how much they’ll cost. Expect the entire shebang to tally up to near $20 million. Remember that, as you drive down East Conway Road. Assuming you return from that voyage be sure to ask Representatives Chandler, Buco, and McConkey where the money’s going to come from to execute that one guy.

Speaking of warm and fuzzy, a truly significant piece of legislation was recently passed and signed into law by the governor. Medicaid expansion will ensure that many low-wage workers in the North Country will have access to health insurance. A report recently issued by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute found that Coos County is the least healthy county in NH. Carroll County wasn’t far behind. In both Coos and Carroll, 17% of the population is uninsured. In both Coos and Carroll 18% of the population engages in excessive drinking. In Coos 18% of the population is in fair or poor health. The ratio of patients to mental health providers is 932:1. There is 7.7% unemployment in Coos, and 23% child poverty. In Carroll County there is 20% child poverty, and 17% of residents have severe housing problems. In Grafton County, 15% of the population is uninsured.

The bill originated in the NH Senate, where our own Senator Jeb Bradley was a supporter. The vote in the House fell largely – but not entirely – along party lines. There were a few Republicans who voted for people over ideology. Not many, but there were a few from the North Country. One of the conservative talking points suggested that “those people” would have no incentive to work if they got “free” health care. Most of us  know how hard people work up here just to stay afloat. Affordable health care isn’t going to pay their rent or put groceries on the table. It may well make the difference between preventative care and expensive “I waited because I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor” kind of care.

Given the dire situation in the North Country, it was depressing (though unsurprising) to learn that our newly minted Executive Councilor, Joe Kenney, voted against approving Medicaid Expansion. In other words, one of his first acts in office was to vote against the best interests of nearly 50% of the population in his district. Ray Burton would not have voted that way, but then, Ray was often described as the “champion of the north country,” a sobriquet that will never be applied to Joe Kenney.

Everyone should spend a session day at the State House to witness the full spectacle. The General Court website has streaming audio on session days, which I encourage folks to listen to, but it is not the same as being there to see all of the sideline drama. I’m pleased to report that no one from the Carroll County delegation is a major player in Obstructionist Theater, but all of you really should go see your representatives in action. It might well change the way you vote in November.

NH County Health Rankings

© sbruce 2014  

Published in the 4-4-14 issue of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper