Many readers might already know about HB104, aka this year’s Defend the Guard, but let’s first talk about Jeb’s possible post-retirement power. While it doesn’t prove anything, I am convinced that Jeb is Queen Sharon’s handler and will offer one observation. I was with Daniel Richard, Tom Murray, Doris, and some others as Daniel was serving notices to leadership of both chambers and their clerks late in the afternoon, near the end of LSR filing time. We were on the 3rd floor of the state house and on the way to the VIP office suite to “serve” Queen Sharon. As timing would have it, we caught her exiting her office, accompanied by Jeb!
Why would a retired millionaire be seen on the 3rd floor of the state house, as though he had nothing else to do at the moment, but to have a “boss & employee” meeting? Ponder that while I discuss today’s death of HB104, which was akin to a court’s dismissal WITH PREJUDICE as the final fate was not ITL, but INDEFINITELY POSTPONED, a maneuver in the Dem playbook that’s sometimes used in the late hours in the House in odd numbered years when Team Red has a low enough “butts in seats” attendance at the moment. Now let’s talk about HB104’s situation before the Senate met today.
You might have received some distribution emails from various activist groups, saying “contact your senator” because it was on the Consent Calendar and expected to quietly die in the chamber in the same manner that HB1002 (the RTK tax) passed through the senate chamber on 5/2/24. That’s the way leadership wants things, but there are veterans in Senate leadership. Why wouldn’t they want to defend the guard? I surmise that their first loyalty is to Jeb rather than any soldiers currently facing deployment to overseas combat. I did my part and identified 4 senators on Team Red that are not on the Finance committee, the committee that unanimously voted ITL and put the bill on the Consent Calendar. I emailed Daryl Abbas and copied the 3 others (Sullivan, Avard & Murphy) and Rep Mannion, the sponsor. Here’s what I said.
“Daryl Abbas:
Do you remember 4/9/24?
I do because it was the day you packed up and walked out the door on a STAR WITNESS at the mic.
When I complained about it, Rep. Mannion came to your defense, claiming you went to the Senate Finance Committee to speak in favor of Defend the Guard.
I recently learned that Rep. Mannion wants a Senate roll call on HB 104, aka this year’s Defend the Guard, which I support. I also know the good senator from Maine wants a roll call, but he lives in Dover, making him essentially unrepresented in both chambers. In fact, Watters was not the only NO vote in Finance. That 8-0 ITL is extra disappointing because Senator Gray is a veteran, as are Sharon and Regina. While I appreciate the good things that the committee does (notably ITLing SB 406), they’re sometimes unanimously on the wrong side of bills (SB 255, for example, last year). HB 104 is one of those situations.
Noticing that Victoria Sullivan is a cosponsor, I have already asked her to consider requesting a roll call. How about you? Why not be the one? Or be the one to 2nd it? Just because Finance rejected it, the story shouldn’t end there. Finance is only 1/3 of the body, and according to NH dot gov, the Dem vote count in the House was 43 out of 158. And furthermore, let it be known to Kevin (who’s copied and has a veteran son) that Mrs. Newman voted correctly on HB104, a very rare banner moment for everyone in Ward 2!
Please make your support for Defend the Guard more than just last year’s lip service to Finance, follow through, and rescue it from the Consent Calendar. Make the discussion happen. I will finish with a personal memory. Platoon was in the movie theaters when I was a high school senior, and I hadn’t yet seen it until my first date that spring with an ex who was in ROTC at the time. The part of that movie that saddened me most was the ending, where countless bodies of soldiers were being bulldozed into a group grave in the jungle. No graveside service or other respectable arrangements their families might have wanted. What I see happening to HB 104 is the same quiet death by Consent Calendar voice vote. Demand the discussion and the roll call because it’s a bill that deserves better. Make your peers accountable. Hey, even D’Allesandro said into Adam Sexton’s mic that this bill will keep coming back perennially.
We have a governor who’s a military wife and mother. Let’s get this bill to the finish line.
Julie
(Copying Senator Murphy, also, in case he’s interested, even though he never replies to emails.)”
The only reply I received was a reply-all from Rep Mannion, and I’m willing to let it go that he called me “Mrs” Smith, but here’s what he said.
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith!
I am more than happy to provide a full floor speech to whoever would pull this from consent. I have no belief that this stands a chance of passing, but it shouldn’t die in darkness again.
If anyone wants to discuss, my cell is:
413 231 7026.”
I should point out that Daryl Abbas is Rep Mannion’s senator, and it’s unknown if any of the 4 senators called him to discuss the bill. HB104 languished on the Consent Calendar until this morning, before the Senate convened. In her opening comments, Queen Sharon announced that Victoria Sullivan had removed the bill from Consent. I expected some discussion to be had, but once the clerk brought up the bill, Senator Gray quickly moved to indefinitely postpone (not table or ITL). Then Watters yammered in support of Senator Gray’s move. No request for a roll call, but you can hear some dissenting voice votes in the room if you click here and turn the volume up.
Was it too much to ask for two senators to request accountability by requesting and 2nding a request for a roll call? The question is why things happened the way they did. Senators on both sides of the aisle request roll calls all the darn time, and there’s sometimes a lag in time after Queen Sharon asks if the request is 2nded. For the enemy camp, there’s a multitude of examples where one member would come to the rescue of the requesting member, so s/he won’t be left hanging, though the roll call request was clearly unanticipated. Why can’t Team Red be better?
When Defend the Guard died in the Senate last term, one of the post-mortem rumors was that Jeb threatened the Senate. The body was ordered to put up and shut up. It’s my theory that Queen Sharon did Jeb’s bidding today. As the meme with the guy at the table in the blue shirt and holding a coffee cup at the table caption says, “change my mind.”
