Transparency in Government ought to be the model that EVERYONE can agree. That ordinary citizens know what the “Process” is by which Government (Legislature, Executive, and Judicial branches) operates, AND understand WHY those processes exists as they do. After all, Government should be FOR us and not for Government itself.
As you all know, I believe, more and more, that Government has ben in the process of turning to its own interests and not those whom elected them. And bureaucrats are supposed to serve via open government outlooks.
So, why is NH House Speaker Sherm Packard in the wrong? This:
…House Republican leaders decided last week it was time to revise its rules that had clipped some of the majority’s powers because the House had been so closely divided over the past two years.
Voters increased GOP ranks by more than 20 seats and House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, and Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney, R-Salem, spoke often about “tradition” as they persuaded colleagues to return rulemaking powers to them.
These include:
• Executive sessions: Then-House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm persuaded Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, to require that executive sessions be posted in advance so the public would know when key votes are being taken. This change allows committee chairs to call them at any time and in any order after hearings are held…
Petty, in my opinion. Last session, the “conditions” turned into a leverage point for then Democrat Minority Leader Wilhelm to “get” that concession out of Speaker Packard. Frankly, as a citizen, it shouldn’t have ever been a concession at all – it should always have been standard and inviolate standard.
Yes, it is about “The Power” in how to get things done – and when. It was very obvious that vote counting, both for Committee Executive Sessions (when a committee votes on its recommendation on whether a bill should pass or not) and during the House Sessions (when a bill is voted up, down, or tabled), was really important. However…
Shouldn’t citizens have the ability to have input to those voting processes, especially at the Committee level above and beyond the hearings? If nothing else, to be able to “count voting noses, absent noses, and “present” noses” for themselves?
Last night, the Eldest made yet another play for TMEW and I to move up to be closer to him and his family as the birthday candle counts are going upward to the point of being a fire hazard. That’s up by the Canadian border. Right now, sans any Foster Children in our home, I want to start going to more of hearing and Executive Sessions. Boy, I’d be pissed if some Chair’s “whim”, after a 3 hour drive down, decided that the appointed day was moved.
Sticking with the “scheduling of Sessions” a measure of time stability to be able to participate, even if silently (a VERY hard thing for me to do, dontcha know?) for citizens coming from all over the State.
Or isn’t that a priority for the Republicans now? After all, if “making the needle” move their way at the Committee levels, isn’t the larger majorities in committee sufficiently satisfactory to make that happen?
(H/T: Union Leader)
