NH House of Representatives – No Shows

I’ve been asked on a number of occasions to run for the NH House of Representatives and have turned them down because of work responsibilities.  There was just no way to be able to keep my job AND do the job of a NH Rep correctly and fully. Plus, for full disclosure, when I ran for elective office in my hamlet, I promised the TEMW that I’d never run for higher office (and even though I tried my hardest ever this year, when I asked to be let out of my promise, the response was “the look” – yes, I was doomed from the start.

Sadly, a lot of these folks, mostly Republicans at the top of the Chart of No-Show Shame, should have been doomed as well as certainly the voters that spent their previous Votes on them got hoodwinked:

Just like elementary school, the House tracks both “excused” and “unexcused” absences. According to House Clerk Paul Smith, a legislator gets marked as “excused” as long as he or she contacts his office to register an absence that may fall into one of four standard categories: illness, illness in the family, death in the family or important business.

Entire list, sorted by Total Absences, after the jump:

(H/T: NHPR)

And in my County:

The most pernicious “reasoning” why I should have run for State Rep even if I couldn’t attend was “it will keep a Democrat out of that seat”. SO….Mr. Writer (and you know who you are), would this have been acceptable for “being united behind a Republican candidate”?  Especially given these kinds of numbers?