…and a bear and tiger and lion too… Oh my! – There’s a lot of sound and fury right now in NH GOP politics over the budget (HB2) but the facts are really pretty simple and how and why we are here is really pretty sinister. So grab a coffee and let’s unpack some of this hot mess.
First of all, HB2 is an omnibus bill. That means that it’s a roll-up of several other bills into one giant bill that is so long and so convoluted that few if any legislators actually know what’s in it or can stay awake long enough to read it.
What does Critical Race Theory (CRT) or State of Emergency (SoE) reform or the hundreds of other stand-alone bills have to do with passing a fiscally sound balanced budget? Nothing really except strong-armed political leverage. Some will argue there is a good reason for this tactic.
For instance, there are some bills the Governor has promised he will veto, such as any bill that would limit his power. Yes, you heard that right. Sununu may claim to be a Republican but he’s actually very far left of Republican values such as limited government and even the New Hampshire Republican Party platform. He has publicly stated, “I am pro-choice; I have always supported a woman’s right to choose and never opposed late-term abortions.” He has also openly supported Marxist movements such as BLM and CRT and even the “Bathroom Bill.”
So how does one force left-leaning Sununu to sign hardline Republican bills banning late-term abortion, banning CRT from our schools, and accepting SoE reform which would actually limit his abuse of emergency powers? Well, if you can game the system, you can roll these bills up into an omnibus bill with something he can’t afford to veto, such as the budget. At least that’s the story we were told.
Here’s the problem, once you start playing games with natural rights and essential freedoms, you are bound to get played. As surely as the Governor can be forced to sign what he would not, the Governor’s cronies and double agents can subvert the game and turn the tables to force the people to give up their freedoms by holding something they value hostage.
For example, “You can have abortion reform and tax cuts but you have to give up SoE reform and accept Marxist indoctrination of your children, forced vaccination, vaccine passport, etc.” The question really is who’s arm gets twisted by whom and over what.
This is where the really sinister part comes in. Surely your Senators and Representatives represent you in all this double agent stuff and if any political games must be played, they are going to play them on your behalf to twist the government’s arm to pass bills that diminish the government’s ability to abuse its power, infringe your rights and take away your essential freedoms.
What traitors would turn the tables?
What liars would claim to represent you while actually working against you? What imposters would play you by twisting your arm to give them more power and accept the very wrongs you elected them to right?
House Bill 417 amends the Emergency Powers Act (RSA 4:45). It does three important things.
1. It automatically terminates any SoE called by the governor after 30 days.
2. It makes the governor’s Emergency Orders subject to oversight and approval by the legislature and
3. It requires a majority vote of the House and Senate to renew any SoE after it automatically terminates.
HB 417 passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 328 to 41 and went to the Senate. The Senate rejected the bill and submitted their own do-nothing amends to RSA 4:45 from Committee, Senator Carter, and Senator Soucy.
These were rejected by the House which requested it be sent to the Committee of Conference. If that sounds like Orwellian Doublespeak, it’s because it is. The Senate appointed the bill to Senators Giuda, Carson, and Prentiss.
Bob Giuda reportedly paid lip service to the House version of HB417 however later confessed that he took Chris Sununu’s dictate that he would veto any bill that limited his power, so instead of fighting for the bill proposed a bizarre amendment that cited Article 31 and 32 of the Constitution regarding the Legislatures constitutional obligation to hear Remonstrances.
It was voted down by both House and Senate Committee members who were confused by the amendment, which they considered irrelevant to the Emergency Powers Act. Senator Giuda provided no explanation or argument for his amendment or HB417.
The committee came up with a weakened amendment which required a vote to reinstate or terminate an SoE after 90 days and then Chuck Morse and Jeb Bradley applied the coup d’grace to any vestige of HB417 by craftily switching the language from “automatically terminating and requiring a vote of both houses to continue” to “automatically continuing and requiring a majority vote of both houses to terminate.”
In the end, what started in the House to limit SoE powers and add oversight to prevent abuse was perverted by the Senate to expand emergency powers and allow for even greater abuse with no more meaningful oversight than we had before. Not only did they do this but then they added it to the Omnibus bill to cram it down the people’s throat unless we want the blood of unborn babies on our hands (Giuda’s own words) and to explain to taxpayers why we killed their tax cuts.
Oh, it doesn’t stop there.
No, the GOP has pulled out all the stops to push HB2 and attack anyone that opposes it. The propaganda push has been overwhelming and dire and irrational, the messaging so coordinated and so out of character for many Senators and Representatives that it is clearly the work of engineers and an architect.
This may all sound very complicated and convoluted but the truth of the matter is really very simple. Bob Giuda is said to have given lip service to HB417 and could have championed it and fought for it regardless of whether or not Sununu would veto it. If it had made its way to Sununu’s desk, then Sununu would have to face the political backlash for refusing to sign it. He would have to explain his veto of a rational bipartisan bill to limit SoE powers and add common sense oversight to prevent abuse of these martial law powers by future governors.
Instead, Bob decided not to support the bill or fight for it. He told the House it was DOA. If Bob and the Senate really believed Sununu would veto HB417, it would have made sense then to put it in the omnibus bill to try to force Sununu to sign it but they did not.
Instead, the Senate, not Sununu, killed HB417 and replaced every single aspect of it.
Instead of limiting SoE powers, they expanded them! Instead of limiting the potential for abuse by this and future governors, they increased it both legislatively and politically.
Instead of using the omnibus to force the governor to relinquish some power, they used the omnibus to force the people to relinquish more power and essential freedom.
Now the Governor, Senators, RINO’s in the House, and of course, the corrupt NH GOP is pulling out all the stops and trying every trick in the book to force Constitutionals House Republicans to accept a budget that expands SoE powers and rejects legislative oversight, that allows Marxist CTR theory power over our citizens, that does nothing to protect us from medical tyranny.
They are treating them with everything they can muster if they don’t toe the crony line and vote for the budget.
So what’s the big deal really? So what if the budget fails?
The sky will not fall if we actually hold our government accountable to the constitution. Babies will not die if we refuse to sign the enabling act and the Democrats will not hijack the budget if we refuse Marxist indoctrination… that is unless the RINO Republicans carrying water for Sununu throw the people under the bus and give abortion reform and tax reform and all other Republican wins to Democrats to punish the dissenters and attempt to blame them for the losses.
If the budget fails, one way or another, the legislators will be forced to go back to the table this Summer to work out the sticking points.
Bob Giuda told several in a meeting that ruining his Sumer vacations would create a lot of ill will from him and other legislators. He warned that any representatives who vote against the budget will never get reelected. Our distinguished legislators obviously do not appreciate having their summer plans canceled, just like the rest of us had our holidays and vacations and trips and business canceled because of their inaction.
Are Senior Senators and Representatives really suggesting that the NH GOP is so petty and has so much disregard for the people’s essential freedoms that they will either punish the people with bad legislation or punish their Representatives for good representation? This is really simple. All the sound and fury, hyperbole, bluffs, threats, and outright lies are simply to force bad legislation on the people rather than force good legislation on the king.
The Senate, the House, and the GOP have a clear choice! Who do they represent? Who do they fight for and who do they fight against? It’s clear some have chosen to represent Sununu rather than the Constitution; Sununu rather than the Republican platform and even Sununu rather than the people that elected them! Remember their names!
Wes Chapmon
Chairman Pro Tem
New Hampshire Constitutional Republican
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