Editing History In the New Hampshire House - Granite Grok

Editing History In the New Hampshire House

NH History Eraser intallation in progressLast week we discovered a New Hampshire House “tradition” of which no one else appears to have been aware. The permanent record, the written history of what is said and done in the lower chamber of the Granite State’s Legislative body, is subject to random acts of review before becoming permanent. There are plenty of reasons to be bothered by this, not the least of which is that the most recent excision was based on the words being “too political.”

That’s right. We’ve got a room filled with 400 politicians–give or take–and the litmus for edits to the permanent record is whether or not something is too political?

The phrase “born and the unborn,” which alludes to bigger debates on conception and abortion, was not printed in the journal. Neither was Chamberland’s reference to “Your son.”

Such remarks are often edited, Smith said. Had a guest chaplain prayed for Planned Parenthood, Smith said he would have removed the reference too.

Member speeches the House votes to print in the permanent journal are traditionally “cleaned up,” to remove the “ums” or “ahs,” Smith said. Some members said Thursday any changes to printed remarks should be reviewed and okayed by their speaker.

Removing the “ums” or “ahs” is reasonable enough but I take umbrage at whichever ahshole thinks that political speech in a political forum is too political to be recorded. Honest defenders of political speech and transparency should agree that the editing of anything other than ums and ahs would be a tradition we should abandon immediately. That while even if this is an exceptional case the opportunity to do meaningful damage exists and should be prohibited by whatever means are necessary.

Neither political leadership, nor anyone else, should have the authority under any guise to remove or alter the context of remarks made on the floor of the NH House in open session.

One final note. I asked a former NH House Speaker about the “Tradition.” He said he’d “never heard of such a thing.”

 

 

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