Recently, Executive Councilor Andu Volinsky suggested that gubernatorial vetoes should be subject to Executive Council approval. Fortunately, there is one thing that stands between Councilor Volinsky and vetoes: The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire.
This isn’t the first time Councilor Volinsky has tried to end run the Constitution. Most of you may not recognize him as the man behind the Claremont lawsuits. He convinced the Supreme Court that the word “cherish” meant pay for, even though when it was put into the Constitution, Part the First, the Bill of Rights, Article 6 required that public education be paid for exclusively by the towns. That was removed in 1968, and until that time, the State paid nothing toward local education. Yes, Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky is the man who required your property taxes to be raised statewide.
Now Councilor Volinsky wants to insert the Executive Council into the veto process – a role it has never held because it does not exist. The Executive Council is constituted by Part the Second, Form of Government, Article 60, but the powers the council are defined in Articles concerning the powers of the Governor. The Executive Council approves the following actions by the Governor:
- Call to into session, adjourn or prorogu the Legislature, Article 43 and Article 50;
- The approval of all judicial officers, the attorney general, all officers of the navy, and general and field officers of the militia, Article 46;
- Pardoning, Article 52;
- Making disbursements from the treasury, Article 56;
In what actions by the Governor does the Executive Council have no constitutional role:
- (a second one) commanding the military of the State, Article 51,
- (and you guessed it, a third one) vetoing bills and resolves (re:Articles 44 and 45 respectively).
In the Articles regarding bills and resolves the Executive Council is not mentioned at all, not once.
And so once again, in his war upon the people of New Hampshire, Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky is creating Constitutional powers out of whole cloth, just like Rumplestiltskin weaving straw into gold.
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Editor’s note: Just as with Rumplestiltskin, Volinsky is trying to weave a fairy tale. He should be told exactly that: Andru.Volinsky@nh.gov