Let’s first narrow the details of the title question “are your elected officials naughty or nice?” I will narrow the field to members of legislative bodies that are state and local. That would include 400 reps, of which most communities have 3, and 24 senators, of which everyone has just one. If you’re in a city, members of your local legislative bodies are your aldermen, not all of them necessarily being on YOUR ballot, and your selectmen if you live in a town. Londonderry, Merrimack and Bedford call them “town councilors” and it’s my understanding that all of them are on every voter’s ballot regardless of their physical address on file with the town clerk. Let’s get started.
Well known groups publish their score cards at the end of a legislative season with criteria chosen per their goals and values. That’s at the state level, but nobody can be expected to know what’s going on and is important in each and every political subdivision, so it’s up to you, the reader, to familiarize yourself with your local aldermen, selectmen or town councilors. Adam Sexton certainly isn’t going to do it for you nor would he do a good job at it. What makes this matter all the more important at the local level, if you live in a town, is that town elections and warrant articles are coming later this winter and too many people don’t bother to learn about their candidates(including those for the school board), let alone bother to vote. I have created my own cheat sheet for the legislature and will start with the upper chamber.
Coal and ashes for all 8 Dems in the senate just for doing what Dems do, which I shouldn’t have to explain further, so that leaves 16 Rs. Of senate Team Red, 12 members were part of last year’s senate and have earned a lifetime supply of coal and ashes for being enemies of 91A in varying degrees for their involvement in rubber stamping HB 1002. Freshman Tim McGough, though there’s no shortage of unkind things to say about him, voted for HB 1002 as a rep. That leaves 3 Rs that were not part of that abomination against 91A, 2 of them were in the House at the time and voted correctly in their HB 1002 roll call, but McConkey gets coal and ashes for wanting to raise the tolls. The other one is Rochefort and I have no serious complaints about him, except that he voted OTP as the HHS chair on Kevin’s telecommunications tax (SB 255), so maybe just coal or just ashes for him. Victoria Sullivan was not a member of last year’s legislature, so if you vote in District 18, you have a “nice list” senator. I will further add that she was the one who removed the Queen of Spades(Donna Soucy) from the senate and inspired this article with her Grinch score tweets. The House is not as simple because there are other bills unrelated to 91A to consider.
If one or more of your reps is a Dem, and they account for a little less than half the body, coal and ashes for them just like their senate counterparts. However, I suggest an exception for Jonah Wheeler, who has earned special consideration because he voted in favor of HB 361 and on several women’s sports, safe spaces and trans bills. I’m sure the Scaers would be pleased assist you if you want to know the HB/SB numbers of those trans issues bills. Of the Rs, there should be coal and ashes for the following reps; the enemies of 91A(about 60 of them presently in office), the sticker tax sympathizers(the NO votes on HB 649), the maskers(the NO votes on HB 361), the enemies of families(supporters of school secrecy from parents), and the Group 2 sympathizers. One might argue that the enemies of zoning could be added to this informal matrix, but I didn’t use it for the senate, so it’s up to each reader to decide whether or not the housing bill madness factor should be considered. And while thinking about local control, let’s move onto town government people.
Did your aldermen support outrageous city spending? What about voting themselves a raise? In Nashua, that’s all but 3 or 4 of them, and of that minority, Chris Thibodeau and Tyler Gouveia did not survive last month’s election. In Manchester, after their RINO mayor rocked the boat over that pickle affair, their last election shook things up, leaving only 5 good aldermen in place, an insufficient number in a body of 14. It’s unknown to me if any of those 5 have voted the wrong way on important things like budgets, spending and local homelessness issues. Voting records are available as they are public records, but let’s move on.
NH dot gov and Legiscan have resources to consult if you don’t know who your reps and senator are or their voting records. The latter has older voting records not available in the former. Your city or town web site ought to have pages identifying your aldermen, selectmen, town councilors and school board members. I mention the school board because by now, most readers know that the school budget is the greedy parasite in the room and it’s up to the local school boards to up their game in saying NO to everyone that benefits from the existence of Gov-Ed that is not a student. It’s high time that the school boards stop being NTU puppets and start being firewalls against their agenda. At this point, I will recognize Gordon Ellis, the lone dissenter among his 4 peers, 3 of them present and voting on October 22 in favor of more school spending in Epsom.
Having just recognized Gordon Ellis, I will finish with a bottom-up approach regarding his fellow local public servants. Epsom has 3 selectmen and one of them was newly elected last winter. Another one is someone I haven’t yet familiarized myself with, but the 3rd one is no stranger to the state house. It’s Ms Virginia, the gift shop manager and tour guide. She has a rich history of service to Epsom. Not only do I learn new state house trivia each time I see her, but she’s a great resource to consult for local questions. She is friendly and pleasant and just informed me that the newest selectman “did a deep dive on the NRPC,” perhaps deep enough to impress Alderman Chris Thibodeau, Rindge Selectman Larry Cleveland and Concord JBS chapter chair Megan Schmitt. I look forward to finding out what was unearthed, even though the truth isn’t always pleasant.
Moving on to the state legislature, the McGuires are on the nice list and I don’t have much negative stuff to say about Raymond Plante, the 3rd rep. He did not participate in the HB 649 roll call, which I was not happy about, but I will praise him for his willingness to have a polite conversation about it, which resulted in learning about his plausible reason for leaving early(to pick up his kids) on a day that the House session ran late. Coal and ashes for Howard Pearl and for a multitude of reasons in addition to what I said earlier about the senate. He needs to be primaried and given Jonah Wheeler’s share of the coal and ashes. He’s a farmer, as many Loudonites and other constituents already know, so I’m sure he would welcome such a gift.
Let’s wrap things up with a question. Are your local and state legislators “gift-worthy?” If the answer is yes for any of them, don’t forget to add them to your Christmas(or Hanukkah) list. Time is running out, but if you’re too lazy or late, no problem if they plan to stay in office. Donate to their next campaign(s).
