birch paper

komen's link to romney, nhgop

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:22:00 -0500

Much has been made of Senior Vice President Karen Handel’s possible role in the Susan G. Komen foundation’s political decision to increase breast cancer rates among women. Handel was a failed gubernatorial candidate in Georgia committed to defunding Planned Parenthood. Like Kelly Ayotte, she was endorsed by Sarah Palin.

Another Komen notable of interest to Granite Staters is Julie Teer (.pdf). Ms. Teer is Komen’s Vice President of Development.

Political observers in New Hampshire will remember that Teer was Mitt Romney’s national finance director in the 2008 cycle, and was his political director and press secretary while he was governor.

Teer was also executive director in New Hampshire for Bush-Cheney 2004.

Before that she was John E. Sununu’s communications director.

For my part, I encourage anyone in New Hampshire outraged by what Teer’s employer did to give directly to Planned Parenthood, and to direct any fund that would have gone to Komen to instead go to more local, worthy sources, such as the Prouty, which goes towards research and care at DHMC’s world class Norris Cotton Cancer Center.

I have been a proud Prouty supporter and participant for over ten years. If they had done what Komen did, I’d be devastated.

new bill abolishes sobriety checkpoints

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:01:14 -0500

Free Stater Rep. Seth Cohn, who portrayed himself as a Republican to the voters of my district, Merrimack-06, has a new bill. It would abolish the sobriety checkpoints that catch drunk drivers.

Last year our state suffered the fewest highway fatalities in 51 years. Considering the difference in population between then and now, that is quite an achievement.

Rep. Cohn’s bill empowers drunk drivers and threatens the safety of our family and friends.

It is exhibit A of why you need to begin talking to everyone in your community now about recruiting candidates, voting these reckless individuals out, and bringing common sense back to Concord.

lip service

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:10:02 -0500

Frank Guinta in New Hampshire:

Guinta reads to St. Patrick School students
…After reading the book “House Mouse, Senate Mouse,” students in Nancy Rollins’ first grade class barraged Guinta with questions ranging from, ‘What is your favorite color?’ to “What do you like about your job?’

Frank Guinta in Washington:

Reach Out and Read - a national, nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy by providing books to children and advice to parents during doctors’ visits - was one of several programs which had its federal funding eliminated when the U.S. House of Representatives approved some $4 billion in spending cuts on Wednesday.
…Boulter said the group was devastated when it arrived in Washington Wednesday and learned of the House vote. It made their visits with the various U.S. representatives and senators even more crucial, Boulter said, adding that, on Thursday, she visited with staffers for the offices of senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH). She did not have time to visit with a staff-member of U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH).

She said she pleaded with staffers to have their bosses advocate the restoration of the funding; adding that, while the staffers for senators Shaheen and Ayotte seemed receptive, the staffer for U.S. Rep. Guinta did not.

I love it when public servants reach out to children.

Hate it when they vote against childrens’ interests.

"completely intolerant"

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:35:38 -0500

From Rep. Frank Sapareto’s new bill:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person, including a business owner or employee thereof, shall be required to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges to an individual if the request is related to the solemnization, celebration, or promotion of a marriage and providing such services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges would be a violation of the person’s conscience or religious faith.

This bill gives Granite Staters the legal right to discriminate against others.

For example, if the wedding caterer’s “conscience” opposes interracial marriages, he can legally refuse to do business with an interracial couple.

And this, which (spoiler alert) is not parody:

(Rep. Sapareto) said he’s been called a bigot for raising the issue. “They’re completely intolerant,” Sapareto said of opponents.

ALEC and its granite marionette

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:11:19 -0500

New Hampshire House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt (print only UL):

“The [health care compact] bill was absolutely not written by ALEC,” Bettencourt said. “It is a classic tactic of the Democrats to demonize every piece of legislation that they don’t like as the product of an ‘out of state group’ to avoid a substantive discussion on the real issues facing New Hampshire. It’s a completely dishonest fallacy that they continue to use to distract from the fact that they have no solutions other than a bigger government and higher taxes. The Democrats should produce some evidence of their claim.”

He’s right. ALEC had nothing to do with writing it. Just promoting and distributing it to right-wing state legislative puppets:

Alexandria, Va. (Nov. 30, 2011) - The Health Care Compact Alliance today announced the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation’s largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators,has adopted the Health Care Compact as model legislation. This move will make the Health Care Compact vision and language widely available to nearly 2,000 state legislators across the country,

An arbitrary section of Bettencourt’s bill:

State Control. Each member state, within its state, may suspend by legislation the operation of all federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding health care that are inconsistent with the laws and regulations adopted by the member state pursuant to this compact. Federal and state laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding health care shall remain in effect unless a member state expressly suspends them pursuant to its authority under this compact.

An arbitrary section of model legislation adopted by ALEC (.pdf):

State Control. Each member state, within its state, may suspend by legislation the operation of all federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding health care that are inconsistent with the laws and regulations adopted by the Member State pursuant to this Compact. Federal and state laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding Health Care shall remain in effect unless a Member State expressly suspends them pursuant to its authority under this Compact.

Check more similarities for yourself.

To be fair to the Majority Leader, he did change some capital letters to lower case.

bettencourt endorses tucker

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:46:41 -0500

New Hampshire House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt in 2012 on Deputy House Speaker Pam Tucker’s bid for RNC Committeewoman:

“As deputy majority leader, Pam has the experience necessary to promote our Republican principles,” said Bettencourt, R-Salem. “She has been a uniting influence in the House and is effective in bringing all different outlooks to the table. Pam is well-respected by her colleagues and would make an excellent national committeewoman.”

New Hampshire House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt in 2011 on Rep. Mike Brunelle, then Executive Director of NHDP:

After the vote, Greazzo, House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt of Salem and Rep. Paul Mirski, the House majority policy adviser from Enfield, said Brunelle acted improperly under a clause in the New Hampshire Constitution that prohibits lawmakers from taking fees or acting as an advocate for a cause before the Legislature.
They said Brunelle filed legislation that benefited his position. For example, Bettencourt said, Brunelle filed legislation to increase the minimum wage, which relates to the Democratic Party platform. Other bills Brunelle sponsored include limiting the expense payments made to legislators, supporting federal earmarks for public safety and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and establishing a job creation tax credit for small businesses.

and:

Bettencourt said the new Legislature will be different.
“I don’t know how things have been run in the past, but I can tell you this is how we’re going to be run,” Bettencourt said. “The Constitution is going to be followed. Ethics are going to be followed with a zero-tolerance policy.”

Bettencourt added, “Unlike other representatives, a direct line can be made between (Brunelle’s) behavior filing legislation to his position in that organization.”

All Granite Staters should demand to know what legislation Deputy Speaker Tucker has filed to benefit her candidacy for a position at the RNC and how it relates to the Republican Party platform.

All those who cherish the rule of law should likewise demand that Majority Leader Bettencourt follow the constitution and the ethics of the New Hampshire House.

primary justice

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:53:13 -0500

Remember when Florida broke all the rules and bumped up their primary, causing New Hampshire to have to consider a December date, which no one wanted and which everyone worked like crazy not to happen?

Everyone, of course, except Mitt Romney, who did nothing, because it was in his interest to have New Hampshire and Florida go quickly so he could dispatch with this nomination unpleasantness and get on with the general election.

Actually, that’s not fair. He did do something. He worked to make the situation even worse by pushing Nevada to bump up earlier in response to Florida:

But Romney’s people were pushing for us to move into January so that he could get some momentum and have a rising tide going into Florida.”

In other news, Romney is now neck and neck in Florida with Professor Gingrich in one poll, and behind by a lot.

Bill Gardner 1, Mitt Romney 0.

poll: shea-porter, guinta tied at 41%

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:33:51 -0500

My how the worm has turned:

New Hampshire’s U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta is deadlocked in a potential rematch with the candidate he ousted in 2010, while U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass has a narrow lead in a rematch, according to new polling data from Watchdog.org

In New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, Republican Guinta and Democrat Carol Shea-Porter each garner 41 percent support from likely voters. Guinta, a former Mayor of Manchester, defeated Shea-Porter 54-42 percent in 2010.

Needless to say these are better numbers than were seen for all of the 2010 cycle. One big caveat - this is a Pulse Opinion Research poll, “an independent public opinion research firm that used automated polling methodology and procedures licensed from Rasmussen Reports LLC.” Yes…Rasmussen.

Still it’s from 500 likely voters, and the MoE is +/-4.5%.

In the same poll, Annie Kuster trails the BassMaster 39-35.

If this poll is anywhere near accurate, it confirms my hunch that the first district will be more competitive than conventional wisdom says, and the second will be a bit harder to flip than everyone assumes.

Guinta can’t hide from his campaign of illegal push polls, mystery money, advocating the elimination of Social Security, and wrapping himself up in Tea. Career Villager Bass, on the other hand, is one of the DC’s best chameleons. He always knows which way the wind blows.

nh republicans dishonor constitution

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:50:24 -0500

So today the Republican supermajority House voted to enshrine the prohibition of raising revenue through income into New Hampshire’s state constitution.

I have a bridge I’d like to sell to anyone who doesn’t think this is an obvious, partisan, Get-Out-The-Vote move.

“You mean if I go out and vote for it and vote for the folks who put it there I won’t get taxed?” is what Bill O’Brien’s gang presumes the average voter will think. (He’s wrong, of course; voters aren’t as dumb as he thinks they are. They aren’t dumb at all.)

The other trick will be to lie and claim that the sensible people who voted against this support taxing your income. I’m guessing it’ll be a mailer, or a robo-call, or both.

Leave that aside for a moment, step back and look at the bigger picture.

House Republicans, led by Bill O’Brien and D.J. Bettencourt, have so little respect for our state’s constitution that they would forever change it, and would forever bind New Hampshire’s options for sustaining herself in the future, for the sake of winning some votes next November.

o'keefe goons impersonated living voter

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:00:49 -0500

I actually got wind of this yesterday, but held back until the victim of the crime contacted the Attorney General.

TPM has the scoop:

Robert William Beaulieu is 23-years-old, lives in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is a registered Democrat. He’s also very much not dead.
But you wouldn’t have known that if you watched the lastest undercover sting video from James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, which featured a man with an Irish accent attempting to obtain a ballot on behalf of a Robert Beaulieu who lives on Cassandra Lane.

Presumably the O’Keefe goon screwed up his attempt to impersonate a different, recently deceased Beaulieu.

The crime victim’s reaction:

“Yeah, he butchered our name,” Robert W. Beaulieu told TPM, adding that the fact that someone using his name was able to obtain a ballot doesn’t change his opposition to a photo ID law.
“I’ve heard Republicans try to spin it their way, but I don’t see [voter impersonation fraud] as a big problem at all,” Beaulieu told TPM, but said that the poll watcher in the video shouldn’t have helped the individual impersonating him out with his address.

James O’Keefe and his band of Project Moranitans spent $50,000 disenfranchising this young Granite Stater.

I’d very much like to know when they’ll be arrested.

don't let the criminals define the crime

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:07:45 -0500

The homunculi who spent $50,000 trolling the obituaries of recently deceased New Hampshire veterans would like you to think that what they did was some noble expose highlighting the need for a voter ID bill. House Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt is only too happy to piggyback these cretins and echo their rhetoric.

That’s dishonest.

The Republicans who were behind the push for a voter ID bill were quite clear about their intention from the beginning.

House Speaker Bill O’Brien:

Turning to the issue of voter fraud prevention, O’Brien said his party will “tighten up the definition of a New Hampshire resident.”

He said that Plymouth, a college town, experiences 900 same-day voter registrations.

“They are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience,” he said.

House Rep and voter ID bill sponsor Gregory Sorg, on college voters:

“transient inmates … with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce.”

At the time I wrote:

…at least this way we don’t have to pretend that this effort has anything to do with “voter fraud” or some of the other flimsy rationales thrown out in support of suppressing the youth vote.

It’s obvious this has partisan politics at its root - young people allegedly vote more liberally. Therefore, reduce the number of liberal voters. Election advantage: Republicans.

But take a look again at those two statements from O’Brien and Sorg. The upshot is that the votes young people cast are of lesser value than their own because young people of voting age, in their eyes, are ignorant, inexperienced, and guided only by feelings.

That is what prejudice looks like.

No one would tolerate such an open admission from public servants had it been made about women, for example. Or people of color.

With luck, James O’Keefe and his lackeys will go to jail for what they did to the good people of New Hampshire.

But that will still be a gross miscarriage of justice if we in New Hampshire allow him to falsely direct the conversation on our voting laws.

sophisticated vote fraud

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:43:05 -0500

Last night, during the Huntsman “Ticket to Ride” speech:

Today, reality, as it sometimes does, outdid sarcasm:

If you’re not familiar with Americans Elect, you should be. There a (anti-NH-Primary) organization funded by anonymous hedge fund millions, and seem to want to get around that pesky democracy and elections thing by pretending they’re into democracy and elections.

Much more here on the who and the what. It’s not pretty.

nhgop 2012 jobs plan

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:55:25 -0500

Welcome to 2012. ”Several members” of the New Hampshire House will begin the second year of the biennium by focusing on the nation’s most pressing concern - the ineligibility of B. Hussein Obama to run for office.

On January 3, 2012, several members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives will hold a press conference with the primary purpose of informing New Hampshire citizens and registered voters that Barack Hussein Obama may not be eligible to serve as president and therefore should not have his name appear on the 2012 presidential ballot.

No word yet on whether Team Romney will be there to show their support.

Finally, note that Ron Paul endorser Rep. Carol Vita, one of the pioneers of this important, job-creating legislative work, is married to fellow Ron Paul endorser and State Representative Lucien Vita, himself behind the groundbreaking push to mandate the Magna Carta’s origin in all future bills.

DEVELOPING: Thanks to my training in Latin, I have uncovered that B. Hussein Obama’s name, birth certificate (long or short form), and Social Security number are not found anywhere in the Magna Carta. All concerned citizens of America should be alarmed by this fact.

a PAC too far

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:53:36 -0500

So this happened:

Also last week, Standing Up of New Hampshire Families announced the formation of a political action committee (PAC) to support Republican candidates who support the current law and oppose repeal. The PAC is called New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality.
Sean Owen, CEO of wëdu and Printer’s Square in Manchester, is the PAC chairman. The group hopes to raise at least $100,000 to support individual candidates and make independent expenditures in key races.

Look, I get the strategy that with a GOP supermajority in Concord you have to highlight Republican support for marriage equality. It’s annoying as heck, given how that historic civil right in New Hampshire is largely the achievement of Democrats, but I understand the strategy and I endorse it. I don’t care who gets credit for it so long as the law remains on the books.

But this PAC is a bridge too far.

It is altogether likely that this will create situations where a current GOP incumbent is getting help against a Democratic challenger who was ousted in 2010 and who courageously voted for marriage in the first place.

Never mind the fact that if the NHGOP retain their majority in House and Senate, and we lose the governor’s seat, the nightmare we have been experiencing for the past year - and must yet experience for one more - will look like child’s play. Not to mention: that scenario will absolutely mean the end of marriage equality.

ron paul vs. freedom (to marry)

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:54:24 -0500

Richanne Petrigno has a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

She has one in part because she chose to forgo her treatment for her own brain tumor while she was pregnant. She chose life at the risk of her own.

Now it’s time to take care of herself before her tumor gets any worse. One problem:

Without insurance coverage, Richanne hasn’t seen a doctor since August. She has plans to go for a consultation next month, but in the meantime, her symptoms have continued to worsen.

How could this be? Richanne’s wife (here in New Hampshire, thanks to a coalition of Democrats, some Yankee Republicans, and genuine libertarians) you’re free to marry the one you love, regardless of gender) is fully employed by a company that offers benefits. Oh:

Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, however, Laura’s employer, a multi-state technology company, is not required to offer coverage to same-sex spouses.

This is a tragic example of the kind of damage to freedom and family that phony libertarians like Ron Paul can do.

Ron Paul wants to be president. The route to the presidency begins in Iowa. Last February:

Congressman Ron Paul issued the following statement in response to Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that the Obama Administration will cease to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against legal challenges.
“The Defense of Marriage Act was enacted in 1996 to stop Big Government in Washington from re-defining marriage and forcing its definition on the States. Like the majority of Iowans, I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and must be protected.

“I supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which used Congress’ constitutional authority to define what other states have to recognize under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, to ensure that no state would be forced to recognize a same sex marriage license issued in another state. I have also cosponsored the Marriage Protection Act, which would remove challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act from the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

“The people of Iowa overwhelmingly supported, both houses of the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed into law the Iowa Defense Of Marriage Act in 1998. Iowans then valiantly recalled three activist Judges who spurned the will of the people by over-turning the state’s law.

“Today’s announcement that the Obama Administration will abandon its obligation to enforce DOMA is truly disappointing and shows a profound lack of respect for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. President Obama has just unconstitutionally said that Iowa should have to allow San Francisco and New York City decide its marriage laws. That position is unacceptable.

“The Administration’s dereliction throws the door wide open for special interests to abuse Federal power and attempt to force Iowa to recognize non-traditional marriage. Upcoming battles are looming just over the horizon.

“I will stand with the people of Iowa, against Unconstitutional federal power grabs, and will fight to protect each state’s right not to be forced to recognize a same sex marriage against the will of its people. If I were a member of the Iowa legislature, I would do all I could to oppose any attempt by rogue judges to impose a new definition of marriage on the people of my state.”

Note especially the homophobia baiting of “San Francisco” and “New York City.”

Ron Paul wants to be president. So what if he tramples on an actual person’s freedom to marry and access to health care to get to the White House?

please vote next november

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:28:57 -0500

I don’t typically blog about things connected to my day job (I teach), but this (referenced earlier here by Mike H.) cannot go unnoticed:

To state Rep. Jerry Bergevin, the horrors of the Columbine school shooting and the atrocities of Nazi Germany are linked by the theory of evolution, and that’s all the evidence he needs to see that New Hampshire’s children shouldn’t be taught that it’s correct.
…”I want the full portrait of evolution and the people who came up with the ideas to be presented. It’s a worldview and it’s godless. Atheism has been tried in various societies, and they’ve been pretty criminal domestically and internationally. The Soviet Union, Cuba, the Nazis, China today: they don’t respect human rights,” he said.

“As a general court we should be concerned with criminal ideas like this and how we are teaching it… . Columbine, remember that? They were believers in evolution. That’s evidence right there,” he said.

No comment, other than a reminder that next November there’s an election.

#fitn mythbusters

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:07:43 -0500

So UNH, paired, as they are on occasion, with the Boston Globe, put out the eleventy hundreth NH-Primary poll of the GOP presidential aspirant circus. Snooze.

Until you dig into it and see that someone made an excellent decision to ask interesting questions of the poll respondents.

Let’s start with the deficit-busting Bush tax cuts:

Leaving aside #PolitifactLogic, Charlie Bass and Frank Guinta voted to do away with Medicare. How do New Hampshire Primary voters feel about the program?

Interestingly, there is no majority support as well for raising the Medicare eligibility age.

What about Social Security? Frank Guinta doesn’t want his kids to know what that is.

No majority support for raising the Social Security eligibility age, either.

I could add another fancy chart about Medicaid, but you get the picture.

Wouldn’t it be awfully nice if the Econo-Technocratic Elites and the Very Serious Village Know-It-Alls and the Republicans Who Want To Be Your President actually had a clue as to what folks in New Hampshire, home to the First-in-the-Nation Primary, want out of their government?

well, get out then, mr. speaker

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:57:22 -0500

As predicted by, um, everyone, New Hampshire’s public colleges are raising their tuition in response to the dramatic budget cuts willfully enacted by the Bill O’Brien led legislature. This is awful news for New Hampshire’s college students, who already have the highest level of student loan debt in the nation:

“Paying for college has always produced anxiety for families and students, but now students are asking, is the degree worth the debt?” said Payne, the foundation’s vice president of college planning. “That’s what they’ve started to have to ask themselves.”

Educational attainment is emphatically the best protection against the current economic crisis. As more students drop out because of money rather than achievement, their employment prospects become dimmer.

House Speaker Bill O’Brien justified the 48% funding cut this way:

“Not only does throwing more and more taxpayer money at funding college education cause more problems than it solves, it inaccurately signals that college attendance is the only route for success in life,”

This foul, repellent statement is not new; but reading it again tonight I am struck by something.

It is the legislature’s job, along with the other two branches of government, to keep the state running. It is the public servant’s express obligation to fund things that require public funding.

If Speaker O’Brien has no interest in funding public college, or public infrastructure, or CHINS, or a host of other things he has indicated he’s sour on, well, then, he should resign.

No surgeon who doesn’t want to operate on patients would last a day; no teacher who hates children.

If you can’t handle the job requirements, Mr. Speaker, get out.

2 tweets, worth 1000 words

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:33:06 -0500

VOTE. THEM. OUT.

bob garon, #fitn hero

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:33:05 -0500

This is such a perfect combination of New Hampshire Primary presidential politics and local issues and stupid stereotypes and phony candidates, I could cry tears of joy. Meet Granite Stater and Vietnam vet Bob Garon:

Romney told Garon, who was chowing down on his everyday staple of scrambled eggs and shaved ham at the restaurant Chez Vachon, that he supports a repeal of the same-sex marriage law, prompting an emotional exchange.
…”It’s good to know how you feel, that you do not believe everyone is entitled to their constitutional rights,” the 63-year-old New Hampshire resident responded.

And this is just brilliant:

Afterward, Mr. Garon, who legally married another man in June, said Mr. Romney was not getting his vote.
“He told me that I’m not entitled to Constitutional rights,” he said. “I think a man and a woman and a man and a man should be treated equal.”

…”He is not going to make it,” he said. “Because you can’t trust him. I just saw it in his eyes. I judge a man by his eyes.”

So, does he agree with Mr. Romney on any issue?

“I kind of liked his health care plan in Massachusetts,” Mr. Garon said.

Get this man to Concord for the repeal bills!

Video here.

UPDATE: Just gets better and better:

Reporters asked Garon to explain why he had questioned Romney so intently.
“Because I’m gay, all right?” Garon said. “And I happen to love a man just like you probably love your wife. Alright? And I think that he or she or whatever are entitled to the same rights that I have. I fought for my country, I did my thing, and I think that my spouse should be entitled to the same entitlements as if I was married to a woman. What the hell is the difference?”

In one fell swoop Romney committed a huge fail while simultaneously hurting the marriage repeal effort here in NH. The more regular folks in NH who hear about this exchange, the better the chances that patriotic Granite Stater like Garon can keep their rights.

This could be the most remembered moment of the primary.