NH Death Penalty Optics

Michael George Haddad

The last time the State of New Hampshire executed anyone was in 1939. For the last 20 years, there has been a bill every biennium to repeal the death penalty. In 2000, a repeal bill passed both houses and was vetoed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen. 

In 2019, there is an impressive bipartisan coalition supporting HB 455, a bill that would change the death penalty in NH to life without parole. It seems likely that the bill will pass in both the House and Senate. Governor Sununu has said that he will veto it. There could well be, for the first time in 20 years, enough support for repeal to override the governor’s veto.

I’ve written about the death penalty several times over the years. We know it is expensive – more expensive than life in prison. We know it is not a deterrent. We know that people of color are more likely to be sent to death row. We know that a great many people have been wrongly convicted, spent years on death row, and then exonerated. We also know that at least one innocent person has been wrongly murdered by the state, in the name of “justice.” Above all, we know…well, not all of we, but most of we know that the death penalty is not about justice. It is about vengeance.

As the old saying goes, we kill people to show them that killing is wrong. The state should not be in the business of killing its citizens.

A big public hearing resulted in hours of testimony this week. There was testimony from murder victim’s family members. There was testimony from people who were wrongly convicted and sent to death row.  There was also testimony from former US Senator Kelly Ayotte, who breezed in to emphasize how important it is that we kill Michael Addison, the only person on death row in NH. Ayotte the NH Attorney General vigorously pursued the death penalty case against Addison, and used it as a springboard to a single term in the Senate. 

Michael Addison was charged with killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 2006. In 2006, a millionaire named John Brooks was convicted of capital murder for his role in hiring people to kill his former handyman, whom he believed had stolen from him. In New Hampshire, contract killing is a capital offense.  John Brooks was given two life sentences without parole. In 1997, Gordon E. Perry killed police officer Jeremy Charron in Epsom, NH. After pleading guilty to capital murder, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 

When repeal advocates talk about how the death penalty isn’t equally applied, this is exactly what they mean. Gordon E. Perry is white. John Brooks is rich and white. Michael Addison is black. John Brooks was convicted the same year as Addison, in the same state. Kelly Ayotte did not zealously pursue his case. Gordon Perry and Michael Addison both killed police officers. Only one is on death row. 

Our Governor has said that he will veto a repeal because he “stands with law enforcement.” Our governor stands with law enforcement when it’s convenient. Sununu’s first legislative priority after being elected to his first term was to eliminate concealed carry licenses for firearms. Law enforcement vigorously opposed that bill. Sununu didn’t listen to them, never mind stand with them. Governor Sununu is a Trump acolyte, and we know that Trump loves the death penalty. Even after the five young black men known as the Central Park Five were exonerated after falsely being convicted of the rape, assault, and attempted murder of jogger Trisha Mieli, Donald Trump continued to call for their executions.

Civilized countries don’t engage in execution. The United States is increasingly uncivilized, particularly in the area of race and religion. We don’t hear any discussion of how, exactly, the state will kill Michael Addison. The methods sanctioned by our state are hanging and lethal injection. Lethal injection drugs are no longer available. The countries that manufacture them don’t sell them to us any more, because they don’t believe in the death penalty. Will New Hampshire purchase other, questionable drugs? Or will New Hampshire rebuild the gallows that was dismantled at the state prison in 1994?

We should, perhaps, take a moment to consider this.  New Hampshire hasn’t conducted an execution since 1939. Will we bring the death penalty out of mothballs to kill a black man? Would we hang him? Tiny, white, New Hampshire proudly clings to the first in the nation presidential primary, despite rumblings from other states that we’re tiny, white, and clueless about the rest of the country. If the moral arguments against the death penalty don’t sway folks, perhaps the very real potential of losing that exalted primary status will. 

Published as an op-ed in the February 22, 2019 issue of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper 

Does Connection to Place Matter?

Scott Brown was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. His father worked at Pease AFB in Portsmouth. The first couple of years of his life he lived in NH. He grew up in Massachusetts. He went to school there, got married there, started his family there, was part of his community there – in Massachusetts.  His political career began in Massachusettts. He was elected to the US Senate there, and he lost reelection there, too.

He moved to NH this year to run for the US Senate. Beyond having a vacation home, he has no ties to our state. He’s not part of a community. He hasn’t served on local boards or committees. He hasn’t welcomed the new babies, or comforted grieving neighbors over the loss of a family member. Brown has no base of support, which is visible at every debate. Sure there are people standing around with signs – but that has nothing to do with him, and everything to do with his political party. He has never worked in NH. I’m not sure he’s ever been to town meeting. He’s never voted in a statewide election.

That’s why his support is so thin. Temple Adath Yeshurun in Manchester had a breakfast forum on Sunday morning for CD 1 candidates Carol Shea-Porter and Frank Guinta, gubernatorial candidates Maggie Hassan and Walter Havenstein, and US Senate candidates Jeanne Shaheen and Scott Brown. Shaheen’s campaign is a machine. Volunteers kept arriving, and a van held enough signs to hand out to every person in Manchester. In contrast, there were some people holding Brown totems. The Shaheen volunteers started a chant. The Brown supporters had no chant. How could they? He’s never done anything here.

Jeanne Shaheen grew up in Missouri. She moved to NH 40 years ago. She worked as a teacher in Dover. She raised a family here. She’s been a part of her community. She served 2 terms in the NH state senate, then served 3 terms as governor. In 2002 Shaheen lost her first bid for the US Senate, in part because of GOP phone jamming on elecion day. John Sununu, Jr. served one term before being ousted by Shaheen in 2008.

So, does place matter?

This is a small state. Does it matter that she may be “from away,” but she’s been part of her community and her state for 40 years? As governor, when the paper mills started to die in Berlin, she fought to keep the mills open and the workers on the job. It was a big deal,  because most NH politicians don’t pay much attention to anything that happens in the vast frozen tundra north of Concord. She is still beloved in the north country. Jeanne Shaheen is on intimate terms with NH. She knows the challenges that face NH as we kick and scream our way into the 20^th century. She knows the problems our state faces.

She’s been a public servant. NH isn’t a springboard for Shaheen’s ambition. This is where her family and friends are. This is where her life is.

Scott Brown may have lovely memories of vacations in NH. He has not been a public servant here. He hasn’t done anything for us. He doesn’t know what NH needs to move into the future. Quoting glib GOP slogans isn’t going to move our state forward – but it’s all he’s got.  NH is just a handy way station on his road to higher office. NH is not where his family and friends are. His life isn’t here – only his ambitions.

The DECIDING VOTE on Obamacare

Scott Brown asserts (not very intelligibly) that Senator Shaheen cast the DECIDING VOTE for Obamacare. He says it's true - he was there! This is, of course, the message that his friends the Kochs dba Americans for Prosperity NH are pushing. 

This is the flyer that Americans solely  for the Prosperous are canvassing in Manchester with this weekend:

OMG! It must be true! Scott Brown says he was there! Americans for Prosperity have fliers that say so! After all, Greg Moore wouldn't lie to us...would he? 

Oh dear. It seems that he would. After all, how could Jeanne Shaheen cast the deciding vote if Mary Landrieu did? That's what Americans for Prosperity is saying in Louisiana:




WaPo

Americans for Prosperity needs to get their story straight. 

But wait! If Jeanne Shaheen didn't cast the deciding vote because Mary Landrieu did, how could Bill Nelson have done it? 



American Crossroads is Karl Rove's PAC. Perhaps he and the Kochs need to get their stories straight. 

Uh oh. It was Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas who cast the deciding vote for Obamacare:




But wait - it was Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio who cast the deciding vote! 



OH NO! It wasn't Sherrod Brown - it was Al Franken!



Or at least that's what the Tea Party Patriots think. We now have 6 "deciding votes." 

But wait - there's more!  Ken Cuccinelli, the failed goobernatorial candidate from Virginia claims that Senator Mark Warner cast the tie breaking vote.

So, let's summarize. Jeanne Shaheen, Mary Landrieu, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Sherrod Brown, and Al Franken each cast the deciding vote on Obamacare, according to a variety of wingnut funders and PACS. According to Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Warner cast the tie breaking vote. Presumably all those deciders were tied, and required a tie breaker. 

Or not. What's really going on here is that Big Wingnut Money is spending lots of it to convince low information voters from targeted states that their Senator cast the deciding vote. 

Thanks SCOTUS!  

The Feisty Shaheen

Republicans - desperate to deny women access to contraception and force them to serve as involuntary incubators are attempting to turn the problems with the ACA into a new meme, "Obamacare is bad for women." They're trying to counter the (accurate) accusation of a GOP war on women. 

From the Las Vegas Sun:

Dayspring said the law's problems will help his party combat Democrats' claim that Republicans are engaged in a "war on women" on matters such as access to contraceptives. His campaign committee is targeting Hagan, Landrieu and other female Democrats with messages saying "Obamacare could hurt hundreds of thousands of women," yet these Democratic lawmakers stand by the law.

I'm thinking that this is destined to fail, given the GOP talk about abortion, rape, and violence against women. Senator Jeanne Shaheen really lets them have it:

Republicans also are making the "Obamacare"-hurts-women argument in New Hampshire, where Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen faces re-election next year. Shaheen calls the claims absurd.

The Republican Party's basic position on health care, Shaheen said, "opposes contraceptives for women and is unwilling to provide access to abortion even in cases of rape and incest."

Now, she said, Republicans want people to believe "that the great new preventive coverage that women are going to get under the new health care law is somehow not going to be good for women and families."

"It's like being called ugly by a frog," Shaheen said.

Testerman's Genteel "Requests"

A potential new candidate is testing the waters for a run against Senator Jeanne Shaheen next year. Karen Testerman, the founder of Cornerstone Policy Research -  a purveyor of far right fringe Christian values, once quoted as saying teenagers shouldn't be allowed to hold hands because it "leads to other things," is testing the waters for a Senate race. 

She announced today that if she got 5000 "requests" she would run for Senate. Naturally I stopped by her website to request that she run, since a debate with her in it would be the best thing since the invention of fleece socks. 

I found out that "request" doesn't mean what I thought it did. I thought request meant asking for something. And in this case it does. It means she's asking for 5000 DONATIONS. One can't merely sign up in support of her candidacy and say, "Go Karen!" One must first cough up some cash. 

Apparently just coming out and saying, "If I get 5000 donations, I'l run for office" was just a little too crass for Mrs. Testerman. Couching it as a "request" is so much more genteel.