SO, as to avoid rewriting a previous article, I will refer you to this link in case you haven’t already read it. A few others and I RSVPed to Daniel Richard and met him in Concord to sign the paperwork he prepared for his school funding-related remonstrance. Tom Murray, Nurse Terese, Dan Melvin, Deb Roux, Doris, and Holly (with a Y, not IE) gathered for the signings and socialized for a bit. Then, everyone except Deb and Terese went to the state house, where we were joined by Julius Soti, who happens to be Tom Murray’s representative.
When we arrived at the state house, there was a lot of noise in the area, and I later learned that it was a NASCAR parade, which Kelly Ayotte was ceremoniously participating in as the flag-waver. We were greeted on the front steps by Sean Paradis from the visitor center, and we went inside to regroup with others. I ran into Meagan Rose, the always fashionable EC secretary, and while we were discussing the next meeting on October 1, Kelly entered the front door with her “State Secret Service” detail. I very much wanted to straighten my elbow, extend my index finger, and exclaim, “Look, it’s Janet Mills,” because she vetoed HB 148. Still, good behavior prevailed out of respect for Meagan and other members of Daniel Richard’s group.
Meagan and I chatted some more about fall fashion, and she said she and Kevin are the opening act for October 1st’s meeting, which Wheeler selected Fulchino Vineyard as the site. Once Daniel arrived, we assembled and headed to our first stop, the House clerk’s office on the 3rd floor. The clerk was out on an errand, and the woman holding down the fort at the reception desk was ill-prepared. Daniel wanted his paperwork stamped and she said she didn’t know where the clerk kept the stamp. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that it was probably her first time receiving such a request from a member of the public at the front desk. I told the others about Laurie Ortolano’s arrest at City Hall and how the place was closed for COVID and only open by appointment. Laurie had an appointment and just wanted an abatement application for an elderly shut-in at Jensen’s stamped. The staffer was asked when the clerk was expected back, and I asked when the office closed for the day. We then left and headed for the Senate clerk next.
On our way to Queen Sharon’s office(to deliver a copy of the paperwork), we stopped at Osborne’s office, and everyone went inside except me. I saw Christopher Maidment through the ajar door and didn’t want to look at him, so I waited out in the hall with Holly as the others talked to people inside. A few minutes later, we were off to the senate VIP suites, and it was just pure serendipity that when we turned the corner in the hall, Queen Sharon was exiting her office, wearing Melanie Levesque’s favorite color, goldenrod, and accompanied by Jeb. I said “look, there she is” just to let her know I caught her with her pants down, metaphorically speaking. She politely let Daniel know she was on her way out and had to be somewhere, but spared a few minutes to talk. On a sidenote, Sharon just happens to be Daniel’s senator, but I don’t know if she knows that, and I would surmise that she doesn’t. When he presented her with her own copy of the paperwork, he asked if she had his email. Her answer was “no, but I have Julie’s and I can get it from her.” There were 7 of us in the group, so I certainly felt special when she said that, even though I was just there as an ordinary commoner in support of the remonstrance. We went downstairs to visit the Corner Office and Scanlan’s office.
The front desk reception area staffer in the Corner Office was served without anything extraordinary to report, but Scanlan was on the phone, and his staffer said he should be available in about 10-15 minutes. We waited in the hall and he appeared much sooner than that. A pleasant chat was had, and we were off to see Tammy, the senate clerk. While she was being served her copy, her House counterpart was seen out in the hall. I told Dan Melvin to follow him(not stalk him, but make sure he doesn’t leave the building). We went back to his office and completed the errand route.
During our travels through the state house, there was some discussion about LSR season, and for reasons unknown to me, the Senate has a later deadline for submitting bills than the House. It was the last day for reps, and there was some earlier discussion about getting Senator Murphy, whose whereabouts were unknown at the time, to be the sponsor, or Regina. My thoughts were, “What if they’re unavailable or uninterested?” If the request is turned down, then the opportunity to get a rep to do it will already be gone. I suggested that Julius be the sponsor, and he agreed to do it as it was a Friday afternoon and OLS was closing soon. Julius filed the CACR while the rest of us waited in the hall because we were told only members of the legislature were allowed inside. Then the staffer came out to talk to Daniel about the language as she wrote down what he wanted. We were told the LSR should appear on the NH dot gov list sometime around Wednesday, and you can click here to check on it.
Please tell your reps and/or senator to cosponsor this CACR.
