I’ve done a lot of keyboard commando work in trashing our Senate, its leadership, committees, and committee leadership, and I stand by it. However, one must keep in mind that a broken clock is correct twice a day. This article is an update to my previous one, putting Senate Finance on notice because they deserve timely recognition for their timely work.
All too often, the wheels turn slowly as important bills, good or bad, make their way through each chamber, especially if Finance is involved. SB406 (making an appropriation to the city of Nashua for the purpose of purchasing the former Daniel Webster College property), was a pleasant anomaly on Tuesday, though it still needs to die in the whole senate, and a 16-8 vote is expected after Rosenwald and Watters howl at the moon for an insufferable amount of time.
Though no confirmation can be found on NH dot gov at this time, I predict that it will happen on Thursday, 1/29, because the body usually meets on Thursdays, and 1/29 is the next one in which there’s nothing already on their calendar. A 1/29 death of SB406 will also make a great (4 days) late-birthday present for Kevin, because he lives in Nashua and that bill was part of a multi-stage threat against his seat (see previous article).
All of District 12, plus the rest of red NH, should be pleased that Senate Finance did the right thing and didn’t make us wait for the next routine executive session, even though Rosenwald clearly wanted to stall the process. In her 9 minutes at the mic, she commented on “crossover time” being far enough into the future(March) in her pitch to downgrade a probably premeditated ITL to a “we’ll think about it for a while.” When I heard her say that during the livestream, my imagination ran wild with possible outcomes. Would they approve the $20M request, but put some Claremont-style strict conditions on how the DWC property would be used? Would it become state property? Would it turn into a mini omnibus bill with some good Christmas tree ornaments that curb city hall’s reckless spending and overreach? That’s a lot of money, but maybe there was more to it than meets the eye.
The mayor was the only one to speak during public comment, and I was pleased to observe that it was only for 3 minutes, unlike his 11-minute defensive diatribe on August 12 in a chamber full of aldermen and to a gallery full of people waiting to comment on the OTHER recent Chinese real estate transaction involving use of the water supply. After Senator Gray gaveled the hearing as adjourned, he announced that the Rs were going into caucus, then all present members exited before the livestream paused. Queen Sharon was absent, but Finance has a unique composition in that an absence or a rogue vote won’t create a monkey wrench for operations. Most Senate committees have 5 members, 2 of which are from the enemy camp, making them vulnerable to just one bad vote, especially like Ways & Means, because the deciding bad vote belongs to its chair, Tim Lang. Finance is different in that there are 8 members, so the 2 Dems compose only 1/4 of the body, rather than 2/5. With Sharon absent, the blue part of Finance is 2/7, leaving wiggle room for only one bad vote.
When Senate Finance adjourned for caucus after the hearing for SB406, my concern was that there could be TWO bad votes instead of just one because both Tim Lang and Howard Pearl are members and they’re really just Big Government Dems disguised as Uniparty establishment Rs. I knew there could be trouble behind closed doors, but within the hour, I was pleasantly surprised by a tweet with a statement from Regina. She essentially said that Nashua’s self-created problems are not Senate Finance’s problems and they’re not going to stick it to the rest of the state by shelling out the requested $20M.
Regina is someone I’ve criticized more than once in past articles, but yesterday’s good behavior was not the first time she’s done right by NH. During last summer’s Committee of Conference on the budget bill (HB2), she spoke out against the governor’s plan to stick the rest of the state with funding the bloated retirement packages of just 1,500 people. Quotes of that are readily available to anyone with an internet connection. She also had Queen Sharon’s back in regularly pushing back against the governor’s ridiculous demands in meetings behind closed doors.
I don’t know if it was Howard Pearl, Tim Lang, or both of them who voted correctly with Senator Gray, Dan Innis, and Regina, but the desired outcome happened, and it happened two months early. I’ll take it!
