NH House Archives - Page 31 of 32

GrokTV Special Interview: Rep. John Hikel for NH Senate – Question 10 – Contrast yourself with the incumbent, Senator Lou D’Allesandro?

September 26, 2018May 14, 2012 Skip

And the last question in our series of spotlighting John Hikel – If current NH State Senator Lou D’Allesandro is your opponent in the General election, how would you contrast yourself with him? Previous Questions: Question 1– Has it been everything you thought in the House? glad you put the time in? Best part of … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Rep. John Hikel for NH Senate – Question 9 – A Primary? And then who in the General election?

September 26, 2018May 13, 2012 Skip

Next to last question in this series with John Hikel who has decided to forgo a relatively safe seat in the NH House to “move up” to the NH Senate. As with most politicians, he is facing an election and in his case, two. Here, he talks about the probably Primary he will have to … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Rep. John Hikel for NH Senate – Question 8 – Created in the House but what happened in the Senate?

September 26, 2018May 12, 2012 Skip

One of the very puzzling (and often, very frustating) things that has happened this session between the NH House and the NH Senate is the amount of bills passed by overwhelmingly by the supermajority of Republican in the House getting tabled or voted down by the supermajority of Republicans in the NH Senate. GraniteGrok asked … Read more

Spec Bowers – Silly Editorial About O’Brien

August 29, 2025April 8, 2012 Spec Bowers

The Concord Monitor’s April 5 editorial about House Speaker Bill O’Brien is one of the sillier ones of the last year and a half. It reminds me of the old legal adage, “When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither is … Read more

Who Wants Partial Birth Abortion?

September 26, 2018March 15, 2012 Steve MacDonald

The New Hampshire House voted to ban partial birth abortion today (HB 1679). For those unfamiliar, Partial birth abortion is exactly what the term infers. The baby is partially born before its abortionist-induced termination. What this actually is, is abortion at birth, and if it was done without consent, even liberals would call it murder. But for the left, and more than a few very confused people on the near-right, the thinking here is that the child is not yet a person, a definition which is irrelevant if that same child is wanted by the mother, and an execution when preformed by the government on any other “person” against their will. Something future babies may yet have to contend with.

Surviving birth is no longer, necessarily, the last opportunity for an abortion. A pair of Oxford “ethicists,” who clearly would not object to partial birth abortion, recently arrived at the conclusion that infants are not people either.

Emerson’s Boo-Hoo Towel Bill Goes Down in Flames

September 26, 2018February 24, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Consider it settled. Debating at the grown-ups table, at least for the remainder of the 2012 session of the New Hampshire House, will not be misconstrued as “bullying.” HB 1533, an Act to turn heated State House debate you disagree with into a crime punishable with up to a $2500.00 fine, was killed 224-78. (That’s right cry-babies, I said Killed!)

While the biggest goof with the Boo-Hoo Towel bill should have been Rep. Susan Emerson (:-( – Rindge) using the legislative process to get even after “somewun hurt her feewings,” there are two greater embarrassments that I believe must take precedence.

Where the Heck is My Damn Lobbyist? (HB 1342)

May 20, 2022February 21, 2012 Steve MacDonald

New Hampshire HB 1342 would prohibit towns and cities from using your tax dollars to hire a lobbyist to send to Concord. This seems like a pretty good idea to me. But not to the Committee which rejected it 12-2 sending it to the House floor as Inexpedient to Legislate. (It gets voted on tomorrow.) … Read more

HB 1711 Where’s The Fire?

September 26, 2018January 31, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Campfires still need permits - HB 1711 would not require them If you want to rub two sticks together around here, you have to go get a burn permit. So I leave my house in a 4000 pound (ish) SUV, drive 5 miles to the nearest Fire Station, and then hand the Fire-Fighter my ID. (If I was just doing something as unimportant as, say voting, they could just check my name off a list.)

He fills out a form, hands it to me, and reminds me not to burn before 5pm. I get back in my SUV, drive home and, at the appointed time, burn. There are very few variables to this formula, and almost any fire requires a permit. But unless you lose control of it, no one ever stops by to check on you, even if you use the permit to start the fire.

HB 1711 makes the bold assertion that some camp and cook fires, that you start on your property, should be permissible without all the four-play. And yet for some reason, it appears to have come out of committee as inexpedient to legislate? Why?

So When Will Democrats Start Calling Me A Free Stater?

September 26, 2018January 24, 2012 Steve MacDonald

Free State - Seeking Liberty not left wing narratives All Democrats have narratives. New Hampshire Democrats are no different. The typical left wing narrative is designed to brain wash you by using the media to repeat the latest chest-beating tantrum, using sound bites, puff pieces, editorials, and press releases, to create a long term perception disguised as truth. Did I mention that New Hampshire Democrats are no different?

There is a new narrative in New Hampshire. This narrative infers that, despite the Democrats own treacherous policy record they are still a better gamble than those other people who are just plain scary. Really scary. Extremists. Those… Free Staters.

I DID talk to Annmarie Timmins at the Concord Monitor about RINOs, Julie Brown, and the Internet

September 26, 2018January 22, 2012 Skip

A loyal reader alerted me to this in the Concord Monitor this morning – Annmarie Timmins runs a column similar to Distao’s (Union Leader) – concerning the RINO of the Week / Year series that Rick runs (heh!). She had called me about the bumper stickers and more specifically, about the license plate. What she wrote (I have added pertinent links):

“Republican vs. “Republican“

Rep. David Kidder of New London is letting bygones be bygones.

Despite recently losing GraniteGrok.com’s coveted 2011 RINO (Republican In Name Only) of the Year award to Rep. Julie Brown of Rochester, the two were chatting happily at a legislative hearing last week.

Kidder, a Realtor serving his fourth term, was in the running along with 15 other representatives who don’t always vote along party lines.

“It was, well, disappointing,” Kidder said Thursday. But Kidder knew he had no chance once the conservatives in his party got a look at the bumper stickers on Brown’s car.

“Tea Parties are for Little Girls and Their Imaginary Friends,” says one. The other pictures a dog with the words, “I want free health care too.” GraniteGrok.com posted a snapshot of Brown’s bumper, legislative license plate included, on its website.

You bet I did!

New Hampshire Wire Tap Laws and the Wheedling Legislature

September 26, 2018December 30, 2011 Rick Olson

“All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse.” —John Quincy Adams

Yesterday, a Union Leader Editorial featured commentary about the flaws of New Hampshire’s Wire Tapping and Eavesdropping laws currently in place. The commentary came on the heels of the Supreme Court upholding the Conviction of the now-deceased and infamous Kristin (McDonald) Ruggiero, an evil shrew who sought to use the courts as a cudgel and see her ex-husband locked away, ruined and broken.

The nexus of Kristin’s appeal asserted that the lower court incorrectly admitted photographic evidence of her committing her crime. The problem for Kristin was evidence established she placed the calls from California to South Carolina, jurisdictions that lack the criminally enabling restrictions codified in New Hampshire statutes. Summarily, she lost her appeal. Following notification by her lawyer, Mark Sisti, the grim reaper came for a visit shortly thereafter.

RINO OF THE WEEK REPORT

June 9, 2018September 23, 2011 Rick Olson

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“Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.” ~Barry Goldwater

THE RINO OF THE WEEK is two-term House Representative Timothy D. Copeland. Representative Copeland not only has a RINO voting record, but openly embodies pro-Union positions. Copeland not only voted against right to work, But resigned his House whip position when the speaker reshuffled the leadership based on RINOism. Representative Copeland has voted consistently against two core liberty issues: Legislation pertaining to self-defense and firearms and voted against the passage of HB 474, commonly known as the “Right-to-Work Bill. Like that of his RINO Counterparts, Representative Copeland is also an enthusiastic advocate of police-statism is ranked by the New Hampshire House Republican Alliance with a score of 67%.

Voted against HB 125 a law that would support the right of the Granite State to regulate firearms within its sovereign borders as a state;

How Did Your NH House Republican Rank In 2011?

September 26, 2018July 11, 2011 Steve MacDonald

NHHRA Banner

The New Hampshire House Republican Alliance has released its July 2011 score card for the entire first session of the Republican House majority. NHHRA Score Card PDF file.

I’ve culled my reps from the list (Hills 19) below. I’ve also generated a list of the Republican bottom feeders for 2011. These are what we would call RINOs, moderate democrats who could never survive the bullying from the left, or might never get elected if they admitted that they have little or no interest in supporting the Republican party platform.

They are folks who are incapable of finding the 80/20 rule, or to be more precise the 70/30 rule, and in one instance (Ken Gould) we have a (r)epublican who only voted against the party 70% of the time.

The NHCP (formerly the NHDP) will call this a purity list, which is amusing when you consider how they treat their moderates, but let me assure you that it is no such thing. It is more like an intervention. Many of these troubled souls are in denial. Trapped in Republican leaning districts they are pretending to be something they are not. I’m just helping them (and their constituents) to accept that they may be democrats, actual independent moderates, or just missing the boat often enough to get lumped in with people who have little or no interest in the goals of the party.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s time to come out of the closet and stop pretending. To embrace your "independent" or democrat roots, and run as what you are instead of pretending to be something you are not.

Here is the Hills 19 list first (Merrimack). For the list of bottom feeders, just follow the jump.

Last name	First name	County	Dist	% of Bills voted	HRRA Score
Peterson	Lynette	Hillsborough	19	93%	99%
Notter	Jeanine	Hillsborough	19	97%	98%
Barry	Richard	Hillsborough	19	98%	94%
Hinch	Richard	Hillsborough	19	100%	92%
Pellegrino	Tony	Hillsborough	19	95%	90%
Christensen	Chris	Hillsborough	19	82%	86%
Stroud	Kathleen	Hillsborough	19	89%	83%
Thomas	Joe	Hillsborough	19	92%	83%

Spoiled Brat Unions Don’t Want Parity – Again.

September 26, 2018March 24, 2011 Steve MacDonald

The measure states–if I understand it correctly–that if the union contract expires and has not been renewed, and no new contract is yet negotiated, those employees become at-will workers who can be treated (wait for it) like everyone else.

Teachers Get Help From Republicans

September 26, 2018March 24, 2011 Steve MacDonald

A bill (HB 375) is being debated in New Hampshire that, if passed, would protect teachers from civil or criminal penalties when they use physical force in the classroom. The bill is designed to protect teachers who feel helpless against aggressive students because they are afraid of being sued by parents.

Roll Call-palooza – Another Democrat Taxpayer Swindle

September 26, 2018March 23, 2011 Steve MacDonald

New Hampshire Democrats, who benefit from taxpayer money laundered through public employee union dues into their campaign, are spending taxpayer dollars in the legislature to make sure they have sound bites and talking points to give to their union buddies to ensure the Aztec gold continues to flow moving forward.

Smoking Weed With Dignity

September 26, 2018March 1, 2011 Steve MacDonald

Chuck Weed is back again to take another shot at the death with dignity bill. This year it is called HB531 and according to this morning’s paper it is about to die without much dignity. I think we can call that smoking Weed. (Sorry medical marijuana advocates, this is not a story about pot.)

Norelli Tries To Feed You The Blue Pill (again)

September 26, 2018February 6, 2011 Steve MacDonald

Democrats latest rallying cry is that we can’t cut the state budget if it means downshifting costs on the towns. But they didn’t seem to care too much about all the downshifting when they were doing it.

But that is what you get when you let left wing clowns run your state. Larsen/Norelli/Suckley Investment Advisers Inc, the Fat Cat Executives of the Tax and Spend Democrat Party of New Hampshire, gave the state government a one billion dollar bonus ($1,000,000,000.00) on the backs of the towns and the taxpayers during a job shedding, wage declining recession.

And we are now to believe this concerns them? The only thing that concerns the Democrats is if and how they can blame someone else for their destruction, and find a way back into power so that the lefts only solution to a billion dollar deficit can be enacted as swiftly as possible.

What’s Good For The Goose..

September 26, 2018December 5, 2010 Steve MacDonald

Tom Fahey quotes our confused friend Harrell Kirstein, Spokesperchild of the New Hampshire democrat party in regard to Bill O’Brien’s choices for leadership positions in the NH House. (I have to call Harrell the Spokesperchild from now on. Spokesperson has the word ‘son’ in it and we know how sensitive Harrell’s spleen is.)

Elephant Innards

September 26, 2018November 23, 2010 Steve MacDonald

Any migration of Republicans away from a vote for “Speaker O’Brien” might say more about Gene Chandler than it does Bill. It might mean that Gene was either insincere in his request for unity–and I am on the record both commending him and taking him at his word for that stance–or it demonstrates his inability to control even those who would have chosen him as their House Speaker.