In 2022, JR tried to recruit me to primary my senator. I won’t take the readers on a scenic side trip discussing the details of my multiple reasons for declining his request, but he did stroke my ego and I agreed to hear his 30 second ad on why I should say yes because I was flattered that he thought I was “senate material.” Though I instead chose another rep run in a trashy blue district, I had a conversation with a local about it months later.
This was no ordinary local, but one who served on the school board and has run for other offices. Though residing in the most trashy senate district, this was someone who knows JR well and home schooled 6 kids all the way to ivy league acceptance and is therefore no dummy. The strategic advice I heard for primarying an incumbent senator was to choose 3 major campaign talking points in which the incumbent has been an abject disappointment.
Rep Emily Phillips is following that model in her race against Senator Gannon, who has the establishment’s blessing. I will review them in the order that I have personally selected, starting with the one that any respectable Nashua resident ought to be outraged about. Some people might think that I’m beating a dead horse by stewing over the RTK Tax, which Senator Gannon cosponsored. My apologies to any equestrians that might be among them, but HB 1002 should have suffered a fate worse than the glue factory. Instead, the Damn Emperor signed it. Senator Gannon’s “Queen Sharon Sheepledom” was on full display since that assault against transparency had its April 18 executive session in the Judiciary committee.
And if that’s not enough, I encourage all the Kelly Ayotte critics to examine the relationship between those two lawyers. In addition to endorsements, the money trails should be scrutinized, but let’s move on to the other two talking points. Senator Gannon sponsored SB 456, a student debt forgiveness bill that fortunately died in the House. Otherwise it would have transferred debt to the taxpayers, something DC swamp rats are regularly trying to make happen. NH deserves better, especially seeing that Concord should never be “little DC.”
The third reason can be broken up to multiple reasons, but there’s a hive minded common theme, and I will get into that as well the importance of the roll call. The first example is Defend the Guard, a nationwide movement happening at the state level. In NH, it was HB 229.
You can read all about its death in the senate without a roll call, but Senator Gannon could have requested one as could have any of his peers. He chose to go along to get along and my understanding was that’s from being a “Jeb Sheeple,” which is just as bad as being a Sharon Sheeple. Another example of such dereliction of duty that involved the absence of a roll call was SB 501, a very bad enemy camp bill that would license alien drivers to share our roads and usher in more voter fraud. Furthermore, it got a 5-0 blessing from Judiciary, which Senator Gannon is a member, and sailed past the whole senate in the name of consent the same way that HB 1002 did. It later made it though the House and was vetoed. Just like a broken clock being right twice a day, the Damn Emperor does the right thing once in a while.
The institution of the roll call is so important because it promotes transparency and accountability. When a bad bill makes it though either chamber, constituents deserve to have a record of whether or not their own elected officials supported or opposed it. Even if your elected is a dissenter of a bill being steamrolled though the body, if s/he requests a roll call, that dissent becomes archived and available for review before the next election. If your senator claims to have voted on the non prevailing side by way of the voice vote in a bill or amendment of great importance, you can politely point out how ineffective that was with regard to transparency. I remember a 2022 dining room discussion with Senator Giuda telling me and a bunch of fellow listeners “it’s all about being effective” and he happens to be right. As for Senator Gannon, he had an opportunity to go on record with his votes by requesting or seconding roll calls, but he didn’t. That’s particularly disappointing because a lawyer should understand and embrace that more than all the non lawyer peers.
SB 263, the enshrining of Mass Health, interestingly did get its roll call and the socialist hive mind unanimously prevailed. Peer pressure, anyone? The good news is that the House blocked that abomination sponsored by Jeb. If you look at the bill, you will see that it was left over from last year and has all kinds of activity that was presumably an attempt at life support. Thank God, it’s dead and thank God, the 1/4/24 House attendance had the right composition of participants to make that happen. Roll calls matter, and Emily plans to request them though one must keep in mind that another senator must second each request.
In review, I encourage everyone who votes in District 23 or knows someone who votes there to read my earlier article introducing her and get involved in helping make her victory happen on September 10. Please check her events page often for opportunities to meet her and don’t hesitate to donate because senate campaigns are not cheap.
