We’re being attacked by Republicans from every which way. Americans see the President out there fighting for the middle class, but they’ve got the Koch Brothers’ Super PAC hollerin’ in one ear and Karl Rove’s Super PAC squawkin’ in the other. We’ve gotta go on offense, talk about how the middle class is in a struggle for its very existence, and hold these wingnut Republicans in Congress accountable.
— James Carville, in a DCCC fundraising email
State Rep. Laurence Rappaport has been named one of the ten worst anti-immigrant local politicians in America by Immigrants’ List, a political action committee dedicated to meaningful immigration reform.
In selecting Rappaport for its second annual Local Hall of Shame, the group said his “political rap sheet reads like a laundry list of conspiracy theories.”
“Rappaport’s fringe views … go against everything this country is about,” said Immigrants’ List Board Member Ted Ruthizer. “He says you shouldn’t be an American citizen if even one of your parents doesn’t have citizenship…. He’s not just wasting New Hampshire’s time and tax dollars, he’s harming the state’s reputation for sensible, moderate leadership.”
The Colebrook Republican made the national news last year, when he joined a complaint filed by Birther Queen Orly Taitz to keep President Obama off the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot.
Rappaport is also a member of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), an organization working to end the 14th Amendment’s promise of birthright citizenship and organizing legislative attacks on immigrants in states around the country.
Today, the New Hampshire House met to vote on Committee of Conference reports for about 40 bills. Kevin Landrigan was there to tweet the results. Rep. Chris Serlin summed up the day: “Boring work.”
[View the story “N.H. House Session (May 30, 2012)” on Storify]
N.H. House Session (May 30, 2012)
Storified by William Tucker · Wed, May 30 2012 18:32:11
#NHHouse is in session today to receive #NHSenate messages on about 40 bills.Jeffrey St. Cyr
NH House reads letter of resignation from Maj. Leader D.J. Bettencourt; “inexcusable lapse in judgement,” he writes. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House now debating whether to accept Senate changes on fetal homicide bill (HB 217). #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
Rep. Steve Shurtleff, D-Concord, calls pending fetal homicide bill “too draconian.” #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House votes to make cold case unit law permanent subject to financing (HB 138); headed to Gov. John Lynch’s desk. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House agrees to Senate-passed, watered-down bill to give lawmakers more notice on state education rules. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House passes to Gov. Lynch bill naming Miss NH the honorary “ambassador” of the state (HCR 35). #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House turnout is below quorum; two-thirds vote to pass anything; no prob so far. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House passes landowner liability bill (HB 1551), on its way to gov’s desk. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
On voice vote, NH House passes ban on late-term abortions (HB 1679); on its way to gov’s desk. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#HCR31, resolution commending pregnancy care centers, has passed on a pision vote in the NH House, 176-130. No way to ID the 130. In…Cornerstone
Looks like a second, identical education tax credit bill heading to Gov. John Lynch with “serious concerns” about it. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH House session wraps up, back next Wed. at 9 a.m. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
The House today concurred with the Senate’s amended version of House Bill 1297. The bill prohibits New Hampshire from creating a state-run health care exchange, where consumers could compare and purchase insurance plans.
GOP/Free Stater Rep. Andrew Manuse, prime sponsor of the bill, confessed to USA Today that he had “help” from out-of-state organizations including the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank founded by Charles Koch, and the infamous corporate advocacy group, ALEC.
New Hampshire’s House passed a bill by Republican Rep. Andrew Manuse that would prohibit lawmakers from creating laws to enact exchanges. He said Cato and ALEC helped him draft his proposal. “Not setting up an exchange is the best way we can work toward making the law be amended or repealed,” Manuse said.
Cheryl Smith, who works with states to help them create exchanges, calls that a wrongheaded idea. “States need to set up legislation to protect themselves,” she warned.
“I’m a conservative and a Republican, but I still would not be willing to bet the farm on” the idea that the law will fail if states don’t create exchanges, Smith said. “When you work at a think-tank, it’s really easy to come up with these really high-risk plans.”
And to find willing lawmakers to do your bidding, she might have added. HB 1297 now heads to Gov. Lynch for his approval.
One of the unanswered questions surrounding the Bettencourt scandal — and House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s assertion that he only learned of Bettencourt’s impending resignation the day it occurred — is how the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation web site came to identify Bettencourt as executive director days before the scandal broke.
Now we know. D.J. did it! That’s right, in an interview with the Concord Monitor, NHLRF chairman Tim Condon claims Bettencourt created the web page himself and added it to the site. Then, as his world was crumbling around him, he likely deleted it. Really.
Condon said Bettencourt was put in charge of updating the website, to which Bettencourt added a page describing himself as the executive director who “received his juris doctorate from the University of New Hampshire School of Law in 2012.”
On Monday, the board convened a conference call with Bettencourt to inform him he would not become the board’s executive director, Condon said. Bettencourt’s page has been removed from the group’s website, which Condon said was likely Bettencourt’s doing.
For the record, board member Robert Hull is identified as the site’s webmaster. A May 23, 2012 screen shot of the now deleted page follows below the fold.
“They’ve lied and they’ve lied and they’ve lied.” GOP state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt reiterates a point first made in the devastating Portsmouth Herald editorial. The personal lies that led to the downfall of former House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt cannot be separated from the public lies that Bettencourt and O’Brien have been foisting on this state for the last two years.
In a sense, DJ’s lies in his personal life don’t trouble me nearly as much as the constant stream of lies he told from the House floor which I have pointed out in my blog.
D.J. had begun to feel he was above the laws which apply to normal people. … The more I think of it, the more I see personal and public lies intersecting….DJ obviously came to believe (perhaps not even consciously, and that would be the real tragedy) that he’d been getting away with so many lies on the House floor, that he’d been able pull to wool over the eyes of members of his super majority so often, that he would be able to get away with personal lies as well.
I’m no psychiatrist but that would tend to explain him recklessly going for broke with such a stupid lie, stupid being defined as one in which you are certain to get caught. It seems that those who take comfort in lying at will never think about getting caught, so it becomes second nature to them.
Today’s Portsmouth Herald recounts an editorial board meeting last week with House Speaker Bill O’Brien and disgraced former Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt. The lies they heard that day presaged Bettencourt’s fall, they write. “And we expect that O’Brien will be tumbling after him.”
Our overall impression was that [Bettencourt] and Speaker O’Brien told the Herald editorial board a lot of half truths and that both simply refused to take responsibility for leading the House’s turn to the ideological right wing of the GOP.
Given his combination of youth, debt and an inability to tell the truth, it is not surprising that Bettencourt has fallen hard after just a short time in power. And we expect that O’Brien will be tumbling after him following this November’s general election. People who exercise dictatorial authority can quickly rise to power, but their falls are as inevitable as they are spectacular.
They’ve lied and they’ve lied and they’ve lied, and now Bettencourt has fallen. Because when you tell enough lies, inevitably, you get caught.
In a statement issued today, The New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation announced it “decided to cancel the contemplated relationship with former State Representative D.J. Bettencourt that had been under consideration for the past several months.”
The NHLRF, a non-profit advocacy group founded by House Speaker Bill O’Brien, claims the disgraced former House Majority Leader was only “being considered” for the executive director position with the organization.
There was no such equivocation by Bettencourt in the first resignation statement he issued before his academic misconduct was made public:
“It is also critical that I am able to focus my full attention on my role as executive director of the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation,” Bettencourt said. “This cannot happen while there is the potential for conflict with my role as a member of the House.”
Nor was there any such equivocation on the NHLRF web site:
The focus of the Bettencourt scandal is now turning to House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s role in the attempt to let Bettencourt quietly resign without disclosing his academic misconduct.
In an editorial, the Concord Monitor posed five questions that it says the Speaker must answer “if he has any hope of regaining order in the House, let alone the respect of the legislators who put him in charge.”
- Was Bettencourt’s pending job at the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation, a nonprofit legal advocacy group founded by O’Brien, arranged before O’Brien learned of Bettencourt’s lies — or after the fact?
- It appears that O’Brien heard Giuda explain Bettencourt’s fraud and was nonetheless willing to go along with the ruse that Bettencourt was leaving to take a job with the foundation. Was this an attempt to shield legislators and voters from the truth?
- Why didn’t O’Brien demand an immediate resignation from Bettencourt?
- And when O’Brien heard Bettencourt’s initial public explanation, was he troubled? If Giuda hadn’t blown the whistle, would Bettencourt have avoided public scrutiny?
- Will the legal foundation continue to employ Bettencourt?
OK, we already know the answer to the last one:
The New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation (NHLRF) has decided to cancel the contemplated relationship with former State Representative D.J. Bettencourt that had been under consideration for the past several months.
The NHLRF statement raises more questions than it answers. It claims that the Board was only “considering” Bettencourt for a position with the group. Why then was he listed on the NHLRF web site as the Executive Director?
AP caught up with Bob Clegg, former state Senate majority leader and speaker pro tem of the House, to get his take on the D.J. Bettencourt scandal and its impact on the House. Clegg warned that House Speaker Bill O’Brien “could come under pressure in the days ahead.”
[Clegg] said people are going to ask if O’Brien was covering up for Bettencourt and how Bettencourt came to land a job at the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation, which lists O’Brien as its vice chairman on its website.
“I believe the speaker was trying to help the kid out of a bad situation, but a lot of people are going to ask if that was the right thing to do,” said Clegg, a Republican from Hudson. “Are the coming days going to be tough on Speaker O’Brien? You bet.”
Writing in the Portsmouth Herald, Joey Cresta quotes “politicians from both sides of the aisle” who call the scandal surrounding House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt’s sudden resignation ”the latest crack in the crumbling facade of the GOP in the Granite State.”
GOP Rep. Brian Murphy claims the scandal will not have a negative impact on Republican fortunes in November. The record of legislation passed by the GOP majority, he says, should “speak louder and longer” to voters than Bettencourt’s resignation.
In an online comment, former Rep. Jim Splaine agrees:
Interesting observation. Because yes, he’s right — the legislation that the Republicans tried to push during the past two years should speak loud — it is that legislation, such as trying to repeal marriage equality, pushing so-called right-to-work laws, destroying public education and our college system, removing important environmental and consumer and employee regulations over businesses and corporations, cutting help to cities and towns, having a war on women’s equality, eliminating the minimum wage — THAT is why Republicans in the legislature should be replaced.
“Some people have a personality defect; when they say something, they believe it to be true. He actually seems to believe the lies.”
— GOP state Rep. Brandon Giuda, on disgraced House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt
Friday night, state House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt announced he would resign from the House and not seek re-election. “It is time for me to move on to the next exciting phase of my life,” he wrote. Bettencourt cited his upcoming marriage and a new position with the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation as the reason for his sudden resignation. It wasn’t the truth.
A state representative from Chichester said House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt falsified reports of a law school internship and did not tell the truth Friday about why he decided to resign from the House.
“He made it just sound like it was a career transfer,” [state Rep. Brandon Giuda] said. “I’m not going to let a 20-year-old, lying young man impugn my credibility.”
Giuda said that he had agreed to provide Bettencourt with an intern position earlier this year after Bettencourt told him that he would not have enough credits to graduate from law school without it.
But Bettencourt only showed up at the office for a single day, said Giuda. “I assumed he went to the school and said ‘I didn’t do the internship.’” Then Giuda learned that Bettencourt had submitted reports describing 165 hours of legal work over an 11 week period.
“They talk about court hearings that never happened,” Giuda said. “They’re very, very detailed, and they’re scary because they took him quite a while to write them… . When I saw the level of detail, I said, ‘Something’s wrong with this kid.’ ” Giuda said he called a meeting with O’Brien and Bettencourt on Friday, where he demanded Bettencourt resign citing “personal problems” and go to the law school and make a complete confession.
When Bettencourt failed to publicly acknowledge the real reason for his resignation, Giuda went public.
Update: James Pindell reports that Bettencourt has resigned, effective immediately. In a written statement, Bettencourt acknowledged his academic misconduct:
It is true that I misrepresented work as work I performed for Attorney Giuda. I take full responsibility for my conduct; I apologize to my family, friends, colleagues and above all my constituents.
When the guy who takes the lead in expressing outrage at Concord Monitor cartoonist Mike Marland’s rather questionable cartoon — depicting House Speaker Bill O’Brien with a Hitler moustache — is the same guy who called the bishop of the Manchester Roman Catholic Diocese a “pedophile pimp” … well, the outrage seems a little outrageous, doesn’t it?
— Jeff Feingold, New Hampshire Business Review editor, on state House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt
Questions for the Weekend
Honestly, why did James Pindell remove the Picture of the Week from today’s Political Standing column?
Picture Of The Week
Here is what appears to be the lovely new home of State Senator Andy Sanborn and his wife State Representative Laurie Sanborn. That’s Andy’s BMW in the driveway with his Senate plate District number 7 parked in District 9. I took this picture on April 20. When did he move in before that?
GOP state Rep. Al Baldasaro is well known for his outrageous, right-wing antics.
He was one of the House lawmakers in the thick of the near-riot that followed the failed ”birther” challenge heard by the Ballot Law Commission. He applauded the booing of a gay soldier during a Republican presidential debate and then confessed it was the “shower thing.” His wife said he lied when he testified about the “mental torture” he experienced over her abortion.
So I guess it’s not terribly surprising that he would be attending a John Birch Society event — or that he would be proudly blasting that information out to the world!
Attending the John Birch Society Luncheon in North Reading, Ma
— Al Baldasaro (@Al_Baldasaro)
In an act of shameless self promotion, GOP state Rep. Jenn Coffey has issued a press release announcing her nomination to Blade Magazine’s Cutlery Hall of Fame and highlighting her achievements for the cutlery industry.
As a member of the New Hampshire House of Representative, Jenn spearheaded groundbreaking knife rights legislation propelling New Hampshire to preeminence as the nation’s leading pro-knife state and setting the example for other states to follow. The nomination acknowledges Representative Coffey’s steadfast defense of knife rights and her tireless industry advocacy.
In 2010, New Hampshire enacted Coffey’s Knife Rights Bill, which removed restrictions on switchblades, dirks, daggers and stilettos. Though she was not ultimately selected to enter the Cutlery Hall, Coffey says she “is profoundly honored for even being considered for such a singular distinction.”
As the end of the legislative session looms, the state Senate yesterday acted on 75 bills — before lunch. The chamber was addressing bills that had been previously approved by the Senate and then amended by the House.
The Senators could take one of three actions: they could concur with the amended version (after which the bill would then be sent to the Governor for his signature), they could non-concur (which would kill the bill), or they could agree to a Committee of Conference to work out a compromise with the House.
The Senate killed bills that would have established a 24-hour waiting period for abortions (SB 295), allowed towns to refuse to accept refugees (SB 155) and eliminated the the state university system’s chancellor’s office (HB 1692).
Senators approved, and sent to the Governor, legislation creating a school voucher program (SB 372) and a system to monitor prescription drug use (SB 286).
Committees of Conference will be formed to negotiate with the House over medical marijuana (SB 409), photo identification for voting (SB 289), medical malpractice reform (SB 406) and a religious exemption for contraception insurance coverage (SB 356).
[View the story “N.H. Senate Acts on 75 Bills Before Lunch” on Storify]
N.H. Senate Acts on 75 Bills Before Lunch
Storified by William Tucker · Thu, May 24 2012 15:16:09
NH State Senate kills corporate rewrite bill (SB 205); House had turned it into a study. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH Senate quickly kills mini-Xmas tree bill (SB 399) that includes ban on taxing internet data; issue will resurface. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate non-concurs w #NHHouse on SB378, snow removal & decertifying bargaining units. Bragdon, tongue in cheek, calls it “wonderful bill” The Lobby NH
#NHSenate will concur w/ #NHHouse on SB175, protecting commercial use of a person’s identity, JD Salinger-inspired legislation The Lobby NH
#NHSenate concurs w/ #NHHouse to pass pro- #NHbiz LLC rewrite bill, SB203 The Lobby NH
RT @Klandrigan: #NHSenate kills 14 #NHHouse bills loaded up with non-germane amendments; the final battle is joined The Lobby NH
#NHSenate non-concurs w/ #NHHouse on SB295, maintaining R&D Tax Credit for #NHbiz AND 24-hr waiting period for abortion The Lobby NH
NH Senate votes, 15-5, to endorse House-passed private school education tax credit (SB 372); now goes to Gov. John Lynch. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate concurs w/ #NHHouse on passing SB286, est. a prescription drug program. The Lobby NH
#NHSenate concurs w/ #NHHouse on SB288, passing health info through health information organization The Lobby NH
As expected, NH Senate again kills a bill requiring a 24-hour waiting period before a woman’s abortion. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate non-concurs w/ #NHHouse on SB295, maintaining R&D Tax Credit for #NHbiz AND 24-hr waiting period for abortion The Lobby NH
State Senate votes, 11-9, to create conference committee over LGC reform. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate votes for cmte of conference on SB229, changing #NH retirement system to Defined Contribution plan The Lobby NH
#NHSenate debating forming committee of conference for SB409, legalization of marijuana in #NH The Lobby NH
SB289, presenting photo ID for voting, gets committee of conference on voice vote in #NHSenate The Lobby NH
Thus far, NH Senate has sprinted through 60 bills in 90 minutes. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
USNH off the hook; Senate kills bill to cut chancellor’s office or require yearly report. (HB 1692). #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
NH Senate goes to conf. committee on medical malpractice reform bill (SB 406); House loaded it with Senate-killed ideas. #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate votes 14-6 for formation of a cmte of conference on SB356, which has non-germain religious exemption for contraception amndmt The Lobby NH
Senate GOP leaders vow to block any effort to ultimately pass contraception exemption; they want original bill (SB 356). #Klandrigan Kevin Landrigan
#NHSenate rips thru 75 bills before lunch, rejects House’s 24-hour abortion waiting period. Now giving each other end-of-session shoutouts. Matthew Spolar
GOP gubernatorial candidate Ovide Lamontagne, addressing a rally against same-sex marriage:
“If Gov. Lynch prevents a return to traditional marriage, you can count on me to aggressively work to make this happen once I’m governor.” (03/25/2012)
Lamontagne, speaking to high school students:
“I am a social conservative, and I believe in traditional marriage, but I’m not running to deal with that issue.” (05/22/2012)
h/t: NHDP
Keep in mind that virtually all so-called “liberal” politicians, and “liberal” journalists are, at their root and in their hearts, whether they know it or not, either thinly veiled fascists or Marxists for whom ends justifies means.
— GOP State House Rep. Paul Mirski, Chairman of House Legislative Administration Committee and Special Committee on Redistricting.
