Local Control Under Attack

Our far right legislators love to talk about how much they hate big government. Big government imposes its will on the people, Big Government takes away the voice of towns, cities, and states… yesiree Bob, they hate Big Gummint…until they love it.

By the time you read this, there will have been a hearing on HB 1749, a bill that would remove the right of NH cities or towns to establish their own gun ordinances. Your town doesn’t want target shooting on town land? Your city doesn’t want guns on town property? Tough luck. The libertea gundamentalists are going to eliminate local control, and give that control to the state. That’s right - the same state they complain about all the time.

According to this bill, “the general court will have exclusive authority and jurisdiction by statute over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting, taxation, or other matters pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, and knives in this state.”

Take that, taxpayers of Anytown, NH. Your town doesn’t get to make decisions about guns, ammo, or knives, because the legislature controls your town’s decisions. You still get to pay taxes, but if you don’t want Bubba and his drunken cousin shooting targets in the park, that’s tough luck.  In fact, they’ll probably be able to shoot at the school playground too, because the bill opposes banning guns at schools, and schools are public property. Nothing goes together like small children and firearms.

It’s a bold power grab. Lead sponsor JR Hoell has never respected local control, and the bill reflects his disdain. Line I makes a point of saying that NH is not a home rule state. That NH has a long-standing (nigh on to sacred) tradition of local control is of no interest to the parade of far right activists that have signed on to this. Free State Project mover Ed Comeau of Brookfield is the only sponsor from the top half of the state, an area where folks are pretty serious about local control. There are no sponsors from Grafton or Coos County. There’s a hearing on Wednesday, and the executive session will follow the hearing. The vote will probably be scheduled for the following week. They don’t want voters to know about this until it’s a fait accompli. 

The other sponsors (from the bottom half of the state) include Representatives Al Baldasaro, John Burt, self-styled Constitutional expert Dan Itse, and James Spillane. Representative Michael Sylvia of Belmont is the other Free Stater sponsoring the bill. The founding document of the Free State Project calls for people to move to NH, take over and dismantle the state government, and then threaten secession. I trust I’m not the only one to see the humor in the would-be dismantlers of the state government, attempting to take local power away from municipalities and hand it to the state government.

They’re counting on the fact that voters aren’t paying attention, and if they hear about it at all, will interpret it as “nobody gonna tell me what I can do with my gun” and leave it at that.

The silence around this bill should concern all of us. There was endless publicity about “Constitutional Carry,” the name the out-of-state special interests came up with for eliminating the permitting process for concealed carry firearms. All the gun groups churned out continuous propaganda emails. The governor made it his very first legislative priority. To get a concealed carry license, a gun owner had to apply to the police chief in his/her town. The “Constitutional Carry” bill eliminated that step. It was the first step in eliminating local control. This latest move to disempower municipalities should come as no surprise.

It should come with rejection. This is the second attack on local control. If these radicals succeed, they’ll be further emboldened. What will be next? What will be the next erosion of local control engineered by the radical ideologues of today’s GOP? What do towns control that these folks hate? Hint: schools. I predict that will be next on their agenda.

There have been amendments proposed to the NH Constitution at different times to make NH a “home rule” state. Every time, the most vehement opposition comes from the liberty crowd. They hate big gummint, until they become the big government - and then they’ll do anything to protect and expand their power.  

For years we’ve heard that it’s the evil liberals who want big government to control every aspect of our lives. It turns out that it’s the NHGOP that wants their idea of big government to run our towns from Concord. It’s a brilliant strategy. The average Republican voter would expect this from liberals, but never from his own party.

Dear Republicans: your demise is being engineered from within. 

This was published as an op-ed in the January 12, 2018 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper 

When Freedumb Fighters Become Tyrants

HOUSE BILL 1749-FN

AN ACT relative to the state's authority to prohibit or regulate firearms and relative to the selectmen's authority to manage town property.

SPONSORS: Rep. Hoell, Merr. 23; Rep. Comeau, Carr. 5; Rep. Itse, Rock. 10; Rep. Sylvia, Belk. 6; Rep. Burt, Hills. 39; Rep. Spillane, Rock. 2; Rep. Notter, Hills. 21; Rep. Baldasaro, Rock. 5; Rep. McConnell, Ches. 12; Rep. Wallace, Rock. 33

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

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ANALYSIS

This bill revises the law on the state's authority to prohibit or regulate firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, and knives.  The bill also renders the selectmen's authority to manage town property subject to the provision of RSA 159:26.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eighteen

AN ACT relative to the state's authority to prohibit or regulate firearms and relative to the selectmen's authority to manage town property.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1  Legislative Findings and Purpose.  The general court finds that:

I.  New Hampshire is not a home rule state.

II.  Municipal ordinances and regulations regarding firearm regulation may differ from municipality to municipality which may place a citizen in danger of inadvertently violating the law.

III.  A growing number of towns and local boards are violating RSA 159:26.

IV.  The issue is a growing problem as in the last 6 months, the following events have transpired, all of which violate RSA 159:26:

(a) The board of selectmen of the town of Milford has banned target shooting on town land.

(b) The city of Lebanon school board is attempting to ban firearms in or on school property and at school events that take place on non-school property.

(c)  The Lebanon police department has pledged to enforce the illegal gun ban enacted by the Lebanon school board.

V.  It is in the best interest of the citizens of the state of New Hampshire for the resources of local units of government to be used to enforce current law and not to waste time enforcing decisions that are in clear violation of statutes.

VI.  Repealing and reenacting RSA 159:26 to clarify the intent and further, to include penalties, will prevent these violations of state law.

2  Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives; Authority of the State.  RSA 159:26 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

159:26  Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives; Authority of the State. 

I.  The general court shall have exclusive authority and jurisdiction by statute over the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing or permitting, taxation, or other matters pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, and knives in the state.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all delegations of legislative authority shall be by statute and shall explicitly state the extent and limits of the jurisdiction or authority delegated.  Except as otherwise specifically provided in statute, no ordinance, regulation, rule, or policy of an agency, political subdivision, committee, or other governmental unit of the state, or agent thereof may prohibit or regulate in any way the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing or permitting, taxation, or other matter pertaining to firearms, firearms components, ammunition, firearms supplies, or knives in the state.  

HB 1749

Local control has always been sacred in NH. Past tense. Some municipalities are enacting gun ordinances for THEIR towns that the freedumb and libertea crowd disapproves of. This bill would remove local control and hand it to the legislature. 

These people (especially Free Staters Ed Comeau and Michael Sylvia) all bray about gummint tyranny - but vote them into government and they become the tyrants. 

JR Hoell - Who Needs Local Control?

GOP Favors Local Control Except When They Don't         h/t Tuck

Harassment in the House

At the beginning of the legislative session in 2017, legislators were handed a copy of the official State House policy on sexual harassment. They were asked to read the policy, and sign a form saying they’d read it. They weren’t asked to surrender their guns, or burn a US flag. They were just asked to read the policy and sign a form saying they’d read it.

This proved to be a bridge too far for some of our doughty legislators. State Rep. John Burt brayed that it was “political correctness gone wrong.” I’ve had some experience with the kinds of things John Burt says to women. I’m not surprised he’s unwilling to sign. The same people who are refusing to sign a paper saying they’d received and read a policy are the same people who will sign any anti-tax or pro-gun pledge you put in front of them.

It will come as no surprise to learn that most of the refuseniks are men. Most of the Free Staters and Libertea types refused to sign, including the women of the Free State Project, Amanda Bouldin, the Free Stater who runs as a Democrat and votes as a Republican was quoted in an early story as saying she felt she was treated with respect. Apparently the remarks made about her nipples by fellow Representatives Josh Moore and Al Baldasaro in 2015 had slipped her mind. A more recent story reports that Bouldin has signed the form.

Representatives JR Hoell and Frank Sapareto voted against making domestic violence a specific crime in NH, and they both refused to sign the form saying they’d read the policy. There were some surprises in the category of those who signed. Free Stater Michael Sylvia, who voted against the domestic violence bill, did sign the form.  Representative Brian Stone was arrested in 2015 for violating a restraining order. The charge was dismissed. Representative Stone did not sign the form indicating he had received and read the official State House policy on sexual harassment.

The entire Libertarian Caucus of the NH House signed the form: Caleb Dyer, Joseph Stallcop, and Brandon Phinney. With grim amusement I note that Rep. Eric Schleien signed off on the policy, even before he was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor.

In Carroll County, all but one State Rep. signed the form stating they’d read the policy. Surprisingly, Free Stater Ed Comeau did sign the form. Not surprisingly, Lino Avellani did not. He was quoted in a November 17 story at WMUR as saying, “I didn’t sign it. If I’m not going to act appropriately, I shouldn’t be there.” Rep. Avellani, it’s worth noting, has a very poor attendance record.

The policy itself is toothless. All policies relating to ethics in the legislature are toothless. Senators and representatives are asked to sign conflict of interest forms, and then may go on to vote on bills that benefit their businesses or investments. It’s a charade.

There have been 10 cases of harassment reported from 2015 – 2017. One involved a male state representative who touched a woman’s leg and told off color jokes, and invaded personal space. These are toothless policies. “The member may be expelled” is hardly a threat, since no one ever is.

In 2004, a State House secretary, Dorothy Pike, sued a legislator and the House for sexual harassment. She sued the House for not protecting her from the advances of then Representative Ron Giordano. Giordano repeatedly groped her, tried to kiss her, and called her at home to threaten her. When Pike brought the issue to the attention of her boss, the complaint was never investigated. Instead they hired a security guard to follow her around, and told Giordano to stop.

The Speaker of the House at the time was Gene Chandler, who claimed they were powerless to discipline Giordano because he was an elected official, not an employee. The jury awarded Pike $175,000 in damages and $130,000 in back pay. The House was ordered to pay 55% and Giordano the balance. Speaker Chandler said that he was disappointed and would appeal the verdict. Imagine how disappointed Dorothy Pike must have been to learn that the men she worked for had so little respect for her. The House finally settled up with Ms. Pike in 2005. As of that time, Giordano hadn’t paid a dime. After the trial, Chandler filed legislation to create a sexual harassment policy aimed at covering legislators.

It looks as if Chandler will be Speaker again in 2018. The GOP caucus decided against supporting two of the candidates whom, despite multiple terms in office, are unable to correctly frame a parliamentary inquiry. One hopes he keeps his copy of the harassment policy handy. In the era of Trump, it’s likely to get a workout.

This was published as an op-ed in the December 1 edition of the Conway Daily Sun 

NH GOP: Winning over the Women!

Hot on the heels of the former NH GOP Chair referring to US Senator Jeanne Shaheen as Betty Crocker, the new NH GOP executive director, Matt Mowers, tweeted out a bunch of petty nonsense about sports. 

If his goal was to make Senator Shaheen look bad, he failed. If his goal was to make the NH GOP continue to look like the party of puerile sexists, he's succeeded quite handily! 

A stroll through some of the recent NH GOP sexist hit parade:

Peter Hansen

Jordan Ulery/Gary Hopper

Slap Hillary

Mark Warden

William Infantine

Dave Ridley

John Burt

Gary Hopper

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

Stella's Swan Song Sung Amidst GOP Fauxtrage

Oh, say it ain't so:

Scoop: Controversial State Rep. Stella Tremblay, R-Auburn, has submitted a letter of resignation from the #nhhouse #nhpolitics
— James Pindell (WMUR) (@JamesPindell) June 20, 2013

Stella Tremblay is a NH State Representative, and a member of the NH Republican Party. She's claimed since the bombings of the Boston Marathon that it was a "false flag" operation, engineered by the US government - and that the people who were injured that day were all actors.

NH GOP Chair Jennifer (tax cheat) Horn is supposed to have read Stella the riot act to get her to shut up. She was denounced by her colleagues and the NH House made a very public resolution stating that they didn't believe any such thing. There was some NH media coverage. Mostly though, the NH GOP and their media lapdogs just wanted it to go away.

Stella didn't shut up, which was reported on by NH indy media sources, and by HuffPo. Her latest outburst was covered yesterday, by me, by HuffPo - and ignored by NH tradmed.

Suddenly, today, Stella is resigning. Here's where the irony comes in. At the same time Stella is resigning because of her comments about the bombings in Boston, the NH media is attempting to cover up the violent behavior of gun thugs at an anti-violence rally, by suggesting that they were inflamed by the reading of Tamerlain Tsarnev's name. The Union Leader and WMUR are flogging that story hard.

This was a near-riot incited in part by some New Hampshire legislators. JR Hoell was there - he's the taller man with the blue shirt, keeping his distance from the bully boys.

And after doing his bit to incite the angry mob, he slithered off. Gary Hopper, another inciter, was there briefly, and slunk off. 

Rep. John Burt was another of the legislators who helped incite this near riot. 

That's Rep. Burt in the red tie. To his credit, he didn't slink off. He stayed for most of it. As the mob shouted at ministers, bellowed anti-Semitic slurs, yelled racist comments, and bellowed about women, Rep. Burt and I discussed what was going on. I told him that it was ugly - that this was the equivalent of the Phelps clan picketing a military funeral, and that this mob was way out of control. He agreed with me. 

That this story of this gun thug melee is being reported so dishonestly should enrage every thinking person. And with that in mind, I hope you'll forgive me if I remain unimpressed by the faux outrage emanating from the Party of Stella Tremblay. 

as always, admiring h/t to Tuck at Miscellany Blue