Not everyone had time to watch hours of Veto Day livestreaming or archived videos of our legislature, so it’s important for NH dot gov’s webmaster(s) to make records available to the public in a timely, user-friendly way. Good job, House staff members! Once the whole body steamrolled Her Excellency with a 314-7 roll call in favor of HB1422, it was immediately possible to look up the reps who do NOT want wrongly convicted prisoners to have a new trial should new exculpatory evidence become available after 3 years.
“Dems gonna Dem,” is what I often say, but with overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill and only one Dem voting No (Herbert), let’s quickly look at the 6 Rs:
- Enemy of 91A and housing bill zealot Alexander
- Sticker tax sympathizer Litchfield
- Enemy of 91A Mooney(a lawyer and Ayotte fan)
- Qualey(a very intelligent and reasonable guy otherwise)
- Enemy of HB1675 Jenny Rhodes(Judiciary vice chair and Ayotte fan)
- JoKe Sweeney(the presumptive “Osborne 2.0”)
Below the House Roll Call, 314-7 link on the summary page for HB1422, it says “No Senate Roll Calls,” even though there was one, as required. The last entry item says “Notwithstanding the Governor’s Veto, Shall HB 1422 Become Law: RC 18Y-6N, Veto Overridden by necessary two-thirds vote; 08/19/2026; SJ 15.”
Keep in mind that it will be quite some time before Senate Journal (SJ 15) becomes available for viewing, even to subscribers. I wouldn’t be surprised if one must wait until after the primary, but be that as it may, as Attorney Gens would say, those 6 Senate NO votes are in the video. I’m not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV, but I’ll call the identities of those 6 Ayotte water carriers “buried in discovery.”
Let’s throw the spotlight on those 6 senators, but first I will point out that I don’t need to write my own essay on why it’s a good bill. The results in both chambers, post-veto, speak for themselves, but if you want a legal opinion, Tara Reardon (a lawyer) made a good speech, as she was the first to be recognized by Queen Sharon (who voted NO) after the acting clerk introduced the bill. Regina made a strong rebuttal after Senator Gannon (a faithful Ayotte cheerleader and water carrier) unleashed a diatribe against the bill. So who were the other 4 senators that voted NO? Would you believe that all of them are on Team Red?
Without further delay, let’s expose the first three because they are always the first 3 roll call votes. I will call them “The Three Paint Tax Stooges,” and it’s Rochefort, Lang, and McConkey. Normally I would point my finger at Tim Lang as the nucleus of toxic cancer in the Senate, and he does happen to sit in the middle, but Rochefort and Ayotte are friends. PK told me so in person last year when I ran into him in the LOB reception area the day of the Senate Education hearing for HB361. I surmise that Rochefort will do Ayotte’s bidding in situations where the consequences are low-impact.
If you’re still reading at this point, you’ve done the math, as I’ve identified 5 of the 6 senators that want to deny an innocent inmate’s pathway to freedom and vindication after the clock strikes midnight at the end of Year 3.
Who also voted against this popular, important, and reasonable bill that even Judge Lynn supports? The answer is,… (drum roll) …HOWARD PEARL, another Paint Tax Stooge and someone who has his own baggage that’s conveniently blocked from RTK inquiries because Judge Spath (muzzled jerk who presided over the executive council arrest victims’ 11/19/21 arraignment) dismissed charges against him by “Prosecutor Countway,” now a judge in our highest court. Doesn’t anyone else find it odd that Howard voted the wrong way?
