Last week the Executive Council held hearings on Gov. Lynch’s latest judicial-activist nomination to the NH Supreme Court. On Tuesday I posted at GraniteGrok that the 5-0 Republican majority on the Executive Council—which has the
power of advice and consent to the governor’s judicial nominations—should refuse to confirm the nomination. Why? Because the nomee, Jim Bassett testified in response to questions by the Executive Council last week that he would uphold and abide by the infamous (and anti-constitutional) “Claremont decisions” made by past NH Supreme Court justices. In other words…
… the nominee said he would go along with what I called “the worst example of judicial overreach in New Hampshire history” in an interview HERE. The New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation also came out against the nomination, and for the same reason.
Some background: The Claremont decisions lay the groundwork for exploding the size of the state government. They mandate that the state should take over statewide fudning of public education instead of leaving it in the hands of the towns and parents, as it has been for all of our past history. Where there is “funding,” there is control (although Regressives always deny it…until they come out of the closet and say, “What a surprise! We supply the funding, therefore we have to exercise control!”)
But wait. If the state bureaucrats in Concord are going to take control of public education in New Hampshire, starting with funding, there are going to have to be some “stable” (meaning “ever-increasing”) sources of money for it. Why would that be? Because once the state takes over education funding, it faces an unending, unstoppable new phalanx of teachers’ unions and educational bureaucrats—along with parents who have either been threatened or convinced by the unions and educational bureaucrats—demanding more money, more money, MORE MONEY, MORE MORE MORE MONEY ALWAYS! The parents are convinced that “more money” is the solution to the ever-deteriorating public education system (it’s obviously not, or public schools in America would be the best in the world). But the teachers’ unions and bureaucrats know better: That money is for them to play with. The ever-increasing amounts don’t actually benefit students. How could it, since it hasn’t in the past? So the best thing for students here and nationwide would be to simply outlaw teachers unions (not to mention all other government employee unions…but that’s another story).
So…back to the Claremont decisions. Once the state has grabbed control of primary and secondary education in NH, then the drumbeat can begin: Since MORE MONEY IS NEEDED!!!, the obvious solution is to INCREASE TAXES. (Quel surprise!) And then comes the long-planned push for a state income tax or a statewide sales tax. Or better yet BOTH!
Because of the above facts, it must be made clear that the Claremont decisions will not stand. They must be reversed and abandoned, and New Hampshire’s traditionally good public schools must stay in the hands of the towns and the parents, as they have been before the NH Supreme Court made its lunge for power.
We come full circle now, to the nomination of nominal Republican Jim Bennett who fully supports the Claremont decisions. The Executive Council now has NO Democrats on it. So the vote should have been 5-0 against Mr. Bennett’s confirmation, right? It was not. The vote was 4 to 1 to confirm. Only the excellent and insightful Executive Councilor Dave Wheeler had the brains (or the backbone) to seriously question whether New Hampshire should have another judicial activist on the Supreme Court who will continue to push the Claremont education-takeover decisions.
The four bad Executive Councilors—Ray Burton, Dan St. Hilaire, Chris Sununu, and Ray Wieczorek—are either weaklings or RINO’s, or both (and remember, a “RINO” is a “Republican In Name Only” who regularly votes like a Democrat).
I don’t know what those four are so scared of. Democrats fight like hell against U.S. Supreme Court nominations by Republican Presidents all the time. Look at what the Dems did to Judge Clement Haynesworth; nominated by President Nixon, the Regressives got Justice Rehnquist instead, thankfully. Look at what the Dems did to Judge Robert Bork in DC; nominated by Pres. Bush I, they got Justice Scalia instead, thankfully. Look at what they did to Judge Clarence Thomas in DC; they got Justice Thomas whether they liked it or not, thankfully.
But our own all-Republican Executive Council in New Hampshire? Why, they’re as hapless as the spineless, clueless, cowardly Republicans in Washington, DC who brought us to the place our country is at now (by not resisting the socialist plans of the Democrats.
What’s the bottom line? Four of our five “Republican” executive councilors need to be replaced. It’s as simple as that. I hope and pray that real Republicans—with spines!—will step forward, challenge, and defeat Ray Burton, Dan St. Hilaire, Chris Sununu, and Ray Wieczorek in the resulting Republican primaries. This isn’t “yesterday’s New Hampshire,” and it isn’t “yesterday’s New Hampshire Republican Party.” We can’t keep on playing from the same old clueless RINO playbook. We need to get, and will get, ever stronger and ever more committed. Real Republcians have read the NH state Constitution, read the NH GOP platform, and know the difference between small government conservatives or libertarians versus the leftist philosophy of the Democrat Party and it’s statist leaders.
Please step forward, GOP conservatives and libertarians! Let’s keep cleaning house!