“The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.” —John Steinbeck
Broadsided. Make no mistake about it. Robert “Renny” Cushing is a flaming liberal. From being a founding member of the Clamshell Alliance to being an ardent advocate of anti-death penalty legislation, Cushing is an unabashed progressive, in spite of his multi-generational Granite State roots. Clearly, Cushing is a known quantity. A true believer and to be sure, willing to fall on his sword. Cushing was voted out in 1998 over the death penalty issue.
But now Cushing can add three more descriptors to the liberal democrat’s lexicon: Feckless, lawless and mendacious. HB 1264 Sponsored by Rep J.R. Hoell, would permit a nonresident from a state that does not require a license to carry a loaded pistol or revolver to carry in New Hampshire. Clearly, this is a “housekeeping” bill, seeking to address the issue of states like Arizona, Alaska, and Vermont citizens being able to carry handguns in New Hampshire. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the measure, the legislation deserved to be heard, commented on and voted on within its own merits. That will not happen now.
Immediately following public comment on this bill, the original language was stripped out of it by Cushing, Shurtleff and Andrews-Ahearn for the language in a bill (HB1589) despite the very fact that legislation was ITL’ed (voted inexpedient to legislate) last week. No notice was given that they (or he, Cushing) inteneded to amend the bill. To say it was an impromptu amendment would be a lie. Moreover, there was no notice published, nor were the public permitted to give input. This amendment was done in the bald face of current house rules.
House rule 35 (e) states,
In the second-year session, no bill or resolution shall be introduced if it is substantially similar to any legislation that was indefinitely postponed or voted inexpedient to legislate by the House in the first-year session, unless it has been approved by a majority of the House Rules Committee or a two-thirds vote of those House members present and voting, whether as a bill, an amendment, a committee of conference report or in any other manner. A request shall not be accepted to draft any bill that is the same, or essentially the same, as any bill voted inexpedient to legislate, indefinitely postponed, made the subject of a statutory study committee in the first-year session, or retained in committee for action, unless approved for drafting and introduction by a majority vote of the House Rules Committee or a two-thirds vote of those House members present and voting.
and, House rule 45 (b) states,
No amendment shall be added to any bill, resolution, joint resolution or concurrent resolution which is not germane to the subject matter of the legislative document as referred to the Committee, unless the language of the amendment has already been passed by the House in the current session or the amendment has been the subject of a duly noticed public hearing advertised in the House Calendar or, if scheduled after the calendar deadline, posted in the Clerk’s Office and outside the committee room at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. Copies of the amendment shall be available at the Sergeant-at-Arms office at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled hearing.
Oh! the hue and cry from the Democrats and some feckless Republicans about House rules when Bill O’Brien was speaker. I find it rather fascinating that a couple of lawmakers can now make an amendment that violates their own house rules.
These people suck. In their anti-second amendment pursuits, there hasn’t been an honest word out of their mouths from day one. They used sham statistics, they brought in people from outside of New Hampshire, cited crime statistics from places outside New Hamsphire, mischaracterized the very process they and their ilk advocated for in 1998, lied to the citizens and now, they are willing to break house rules to seek their objective.
House Bill 1589 had its vote and was voted Inexpedient to Legislate. In fact, a Union Leader Editorial pointed out,
“After about two hours of debate, Minority Leader Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, made a motion to kill the bill, which remained a study committee (one Democrats said was tilted against gun-control). The vote was 215-177. That means that at least 65 Democrats voted to kill the bill. We do not know exactly how many Democrats, or which ones, because there was no roll call vote on the bill. Republicans did not ask for one because they knew they would get the votes to kill it if Democrats could vote against it in secret. They were right…”
and,
“Last week dozens of House Democrats refused to vote for universal background checks, as Democratic House Speaker Terie Norelli did not press her members to support the bill and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan refused to take a position on it. The state Democratic Party did not issue a statement or press release on the vote.
What profiles in courage. They will attack Republicans who oppose universal background checks, then turn around and vote the same way as long as they know no one is looking.”
Now they flippantly make an end run around the New Hampshire Citizens, House Rules and the will of the citizens to revive HB 1589.
The content explanation is provided to give a well-rounded factual rendering…a context for the larger issue. Today in reading this entry, it should not matter if one is a gun-control advocate or a pro-second amendment advocate. There is a larger principle at stake here: The lawlessness of what was done.
Ask any legislator what it means when a bill is “ITL’ed” Most likely, that legislator will tell you the bill is dead and will not come up until a new session. Today, that is not the case. Make no mistake about it. This is corrupt.
