Rinse, Lather, Repeat

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.

Problems, misunderstanding, and ideology. Rinse, lather, and repeat.

False Economy

Senate Bill #7 (SB7) was introduced on January 19, after the legislature was already in session, after most bills had been put forward. Apparently it was languishing in someone’s back pocket, and that someone wasn’t keen on the idea of the bill getting a lot of advance attention. It was wise to hide this nasty bit of business from the public eye for as long as possible.

Conservatives never object to military spending. Over half of the federal discretionary budget goes to the Pentagon, and much of it is wasted. No one ever says boo. The tiny little sliver of the budget that goes to food stamps, however, is a constant source of angst for Republicans. They are unable to accept the fact that trickle down economics are a failure, and that a great many working people in our state can’t afford to pay their rent, pay childcare, and put food on the table all at the same time. Accepting that would mean acknowledging that trickle down is a failure, and we’ll have none of that kind of crazy talk!

Food stamps (properly called SNAP – supplemental nutrition assistance program) are 100% funded by the federal government. The state pays for half of the administrative costs. Only food can be bought with food stamps. One cannot buy diapers, soap, toothpaste – or any non-food item. There is a work requirement. There are strict income (both gross and net) and asset guidelines, and the application process is rigorous. At least 30 states simplify the application process with what is called “expanded categorical eligibility” in order to help more people. NH doesn’t really want to help more people, so we use a limited version of this, and it applies only to families with children.

That means that low wage working families who have income over the gross income limit of 130% of the federal poverty level who have high basic living expenses (like rent and childcare) can be under the net income limit of 100% of the FPL.

SB 7 stipulates that NH cannot ask for or ever receive a waiver for the federal work requirement. There are some towns where that work requirement has been waived, where unemployment is pretty much permanent. Mostly those towns are in Coos County, but there are two in Grafton and one in Carroll County. SB 7 would take food stamps, and any remaining hope away from these folks. SB 7 would eliminate the expanded categorical eligibility. This would affect an estimated 17,000 working families in our state, families already struggling to stay afloat.

State Senator Kevin Avard of Nashua is the main sponsor of the bill, which is model legislation written by a conservative think tank from Florida. Avard is quoted by NHPR as saying that food stamps are a disincentive to work, and that this will get people back into the work force. Except that there already is a work requirement in place, and thousands of food stamp recipients are already working and still don’t earn enough.

Avard also made the astounding statement that a person could have a million dollars in a trust fund and collect food stamps.

No, Senator, this is NOT possible. This is a big, irresponsible, public lie. NH Republicans are far too practiced at telling these whoppers. When expanded Medicaid was on the horizon, State Reps. Neal Kurk and Laurie Sanborn wrote an op-ed that expressed concern that low-income yacht dwellers would take advantage of “free” health care. Has anyone ever found a low-income yacht dweller? Busloads of people from Massachusetts vote in our elections. It’s an endless stream of craven nonsense, and no one in our media ever seems to challenge it.

This bill will save NH taxpayers ZERO dollars. It will cost us plenty.  Remember, NH pays for half the administrative costs of food stamps. This bill will increase those costs. The bill will also mean that NH food pantries, already stretched to the max, will see a huge increase in need. Town welfare officers will see a budget breaking increase in residents requesting help. Town welfare officers testified against this bill for that very reason.

One might think Senator Avard would have a hard time getting cosponsors to sign on to such a loathsome bill. One would be wrong. The Senate co-sponsors are Birdsell, Guida, Reagan, Senate President Chuck Morse, and our own multimillionaire Senator Jeb Bradley. House sponsors are Representatives: Kotowski, LeBrun, Kimberly Rice, and Speaker of the House Shawn Jasper.

Between this and the gun bill, it seems Senator Bradley is afraid of a primary challenge by a hard-core ideologue, so he’s turning into one.

One wonders if the leadership of both bodies understood this bill when they signed on to it. To summarize: this legislation hurts people, hurts children, saves no money, and will in fact cost taxpayers more.

False economy – it’s the NH way. 

published as an op-ed in March 3, 2017 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper

Cheese Whiz, Wisconsin

The US economy was destroyed for many of us in 2008. Since then, the jobs being created are low wage service jobs mostly. Poverty is on the rise, as are homelessness, and hunger.

That could only mean one thing to our right wing brethren - it's time to demonize the poor!

All over the country we've seen bills filed in state legislatures, attempting to tell food stamp recipients what they can and cannot eat. (Yeah, I know that SNAP is the supplemental nutrition assistance program, which is the formal name for food stamps. Everyone still calls them food stamps.) This is all based on mythology. Once upon a time some surfer dude in California announced he was buying lobster and steak with food stamps. He singlehandedly turned lobster into the new Welfare Cadillac. Then there are the stories we all hear, from indignant tax payers who have seen "those people" with a shopping cart FULL of soda and chips. Or steaks. Or ____ fill in the blank. EVERYONE has seen "those people." They have brand new iPhones, they have expensive purses, they have ......something other than sackcloth and ashes. 

It's eerily reminiscent of testimony I've heard at the NH House on voter fraud. Dozens of people swear they've seen a busload of "people from Massachusetts" go in to a NH polling place to vote. None of them have a photo or a license plate number for the bus. None of them went inside to speak to the officer on duty or the town moderator. But they saw it! They know! Them liebruls are coming to steal our elections!  I'm not sure how they square that with the outcome of our last election.

The average taxpayer spends about $36 of their federal tax dollars to support the food stamp program for a year.

The average taxpayer contributes $3,174 to military/war spending during that same year. The Pentagon can't pass an audit. The Pentagon can't account for at least $3 trillion. The Dept. of Homeland Security has never been audited either. Waste and fraud is epic.  Fraud in the food stamp program is about 1%.

Anyone who is more pissed off about food stamps than the outrageous defense budget is not paying attention.  Anyone who is more pissed off about food stamps than the defense budget is mad about the wrong things. 

Governor LeRamPage of Maine wants to dictate food choices to Mainers who receive SNAP benefits. He wants to ensure that those moochers can't buy prepared foods. Like pickles. Or spaghetti sauce. Easier than trying to bring jobs to Maine, I guess. 

Then there's Wisconsin, where Republican Rob Brooks wants to make sure the poors aren't eating shellfish. This guy has never seen shrimp on sale, one assumes. In fact, one further assumes he's never done his own shopping. His legislation even dictates cheese consumption. In Wisconsin. From the Chippewa Herald:

Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Milton, said the bill holds more questions than answers about rationale and implementation. 
To illustrate Democrats' opposition, Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, held a platter of four Wisconsin cheeses.
All four were cheddar. One was shredded and three were in block form. Three displayed flags that said "GOP Prohibited." One flag said "GOP Approved."
The approved cheese was a block of mild cheddar. Two sharp cheddars — one shredded and one block — were not approved. One mild cheddar was not approved because it was too large, Goyke said.
"The stated goals of this bill are nutrition and fraud," said Rep. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit. "When you look at something like this cheese plate, there's no evidence of sharp cheddar fraud. People are not buying sharp cheddar in order to defraud FoodShare, and there's no nutritional difference. So if those are the stated goals, the bill is not accomplishing either."

As you might expect, there's some pushback:

A coalition of businesses and associations in the food and beverage industry are opposing the bill. A memo to lawmakers from groups including the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association, Wisconsin Agri-Business Association, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Kwik Trip, Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers and Wisconsin State Cranberry Association says the bill would harm their businesses, "dramatically increase government power" and place checkout clerks in a difficult position.

Cheese whiz, Wisconsin. This idea is no gouda. Only a muenster would pass this kind of legislation.