Greetings, committee members. While I haven’t read all 149 pages of the budget heading your way, I know some who have. This email could easily get very long, but I will try to keep it short and focus on my biggest grievances against the House for passing it.
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I will start with the nearly 20% increase in spending. That is NOT the NH way to do things! We already see this kind of fiscal irresponsibility here in the city of Nashua and in Washington, neither of which government bodies I have any representation in. That goes for the House also! I can always count on Mr. and Mrs. Newman to vote in a manner that’s repugnant to my values, but such is life. Since my senator, who I voted for, is not on this committee, it is up to YOU to restore sanity to this bill before he votes on it.
I am sure you will hear from others about what Jim Kofalt calls “Christmas tree ornaments” in this omnibus bill, but I will narrow my concerns down to two items for this email, the first one being the augmentation of the state police force.
On 10/13/21, His Excellency weaponized the state police against his peaceful critics at an Executive Council meeting. Since two of you were not in the senate at the time, I want to point out that nobody in the previous senate condemned that in the public square. I personally watched this “police state” in action from a front-row seat right next to the husband of arrest victim number 8. Since that arrestee lives in New Ipswich, I brought this atrocity to the attention of my own senator, and he said the senate had to stay in its lane and that I should take the matter up with Wheeler, which I tried to do.
While this bill is not necessarily the SENATE’s opportunity to be involved with state police reform, the least you (Finance Committee and the whole Senate) can do is stop the expansion. Please cut it out of the bill. It is Easter right now as I type this, and the next person who gets arrested for saying the word AMEN could be someone near and dear to YOU!
The other item I want to address is State of Emergency reform. Two years ago, the House put some good language into HB 2 that the Senate had watered down. Naturally furious that the ball was dropped on the one window of opportunity to tie His Excellency’s hands in the form of an omnibus bill, I complained to my senator in a text, and he kindly called me right away, which I appreciated. However, he seemed more focused on the senate’s accomplishments, several of which I do agree with him on (EFAs, banning CRT), but abuse of the State of Emergency must be curbed. Sorry to sound like Hillary, but to keep NH worthy of being called the “Live Free or Die state,” the Corner Office MUST be restrained by any means necessary, no matter who occupies it in the future.
Unless NH dot gov is wrong, the Senate Finance Committee has seven members, and I have selected your four to send this appeal *”James.Gray@leg.state.nh.us” <James.Gray@leg.state.nh.us>, <Daniel.Innis@leg.state.nh.us>, <Regina.Birdsell@leg.state.nh.us>,<Howard.Pearl@leg.state.nh.us>). As presumably intelligent people, you all know that the two notorious lovers of spending are going to try to pork up the budget even more, and the man with the gavel is sadly likely to go along with it. I won’t bore you with citing many items of evidence of their reputations, but suffice it to say that I see this committee as a four vs. three at best.
And on a final note, I was angry and saddened by the loss of Gary Daniels, a good man worthy of his seat, his committee assignments, and his leadership position. Please honor his service to Granite Staters by rehabilitating the budget to something that would meet his standards. And by that, I also mean that no strings should be attached to any incoming federal money, as he and Senator Giuda had voted NO on 11/19/21.
Thank you for your consideration, and let it be known that I am not alone in pointing out that you are being watched.