Miscellany Blue - New Hampshire Politics

Match made in heaven: Cornerstone and Cruz

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:23:11 -0400

Cornerstone Action has invited Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to give the keynote address at its annual fundraising banquet this fall.

Ashley Pratte is the executive director of the arch-conservative advocacy group that is leading the fight in New Hampshire against marriage equality and a woman’s right to choose. She told CNN, “I am very impressed with his record on social issues and education.”

Cruz’s record includes describing Social Security as a ponzi scheme, claiming “Sharia law is an enormous problem” and warning that Agenda 21 is a U.N. plot to abolish golf courses. “Count me a proud wacko bird,” says Cruz.

If Cruz accepts Cornerstone’s offer to address the group, he’ll be following in the footsteps of fellow wacko birds Rick Perry, Herb Cain and Rick Santorum.

Jennifer Horn hears voices, cranks it up to 11

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:40:00 -0400

Political spinmeisters routinely offer a creative interpretation of the facts and figures. And then there’s New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn, who makes it up out of whole cloth and then cranks it up to 11.

In a strident statement today, Horn blasted Gov. Maggie Hassan for fiscal mismanagement and for saying she is taking a hands-off approach to the state budget process:

In an interview with the Portsmouth Herald, Hassan indicated that she would step back from the budget process and let the House and Senate work on the budget without her without her [sic] guidance.

Follow the link to the Herald interview and try to find where Hassan said she will “step back” and withhold “guidance.” I dare you. Here’s the part of the interview Horn was apparently referring to:

Hassan said on Friday that the House and Senate now must find a way to work together and reconcile the differences between their priorities and beliefs about how those priorities should be funded.

Hikel's Rules of Order: 'Tabling is not an action to diminish anyone's unalienable right to self defense'

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:48:14 -0400

Last month, state House Rep. John Hikel (R-Goffstown) filed a House petition and criminal complaint to have 189 fellow lawmakers removed from office and prosecuted for voting to repeal the state’s stand-your-ground law. This week, the state Senate tabled the House bill, effectively leaving stand-your-ground in place.

One of the 189 House lawmakers named in the petition and complaint, Rep. Timothy Horrigan (D-Durham), asked Hikel if the Senate action puts an end to the actions.

Hikel answered with a parable. “If I conspired to steal your car with a large group and was successful in taking it off of your property but it was returned by a friend who thought it was the right thing to do, would that exonerate me?” he wrote.

Will the five Democratic senators who voted against tabling the bill be added to the complaint? asked Horrigan.

“Let me consult Mickey, Goofy, and Donald, ” Hikel replied. 30 minutes later he responded. No, Hikel wrote, “tabling is not an action to diminish anyone’s unalienable right to self defense…”

Kelly Ayotte bobs for Apple: 'I have an iPad'

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:06:00 -0400

As a member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a former prosecutor, confronted Apple CEO Tim Cook this week after a Senate investigation revealed Apple paid less than .06% in taxes on $104 billion in income earned outside the U.S. over the past four years. Atlantic’s Rebecca Greenfield was there:

When she met Cook during a hearing break Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, greeted the iCommander in Chief saying: “So nice to meet you. I have an iPad.” Either Ayotte thought that was the most socially appropriate way to greet Cook, or she was hoping to use it as a lead into all her questions about how to use the thing.

“Few things are worse in Washington these days than appearing ‘antibusiness,’ ” noted Wall Street Journal’s Danny Yadron. “So it would make sense if some lawmakers’ Apple flattery Tuesday was aimed at covering their political bases.”

Stella Tremblay on government, God and natural rights

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:43:31 -0400

Evil must be exposed. We want to elect those who understand the limitations of government, and the fact that Government was allowed to exist by GOD to protect our universal natural rights and laws that existed way before the earth was created for His children.

— State House Rep. Stella Tremblay (R-Auburn)

N.H. Senate inaction : #BakeSalesForBridges

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:23:32 -0400

Most depressing NH Senate session I can remember.Axed road toll, tobacco tax,medicaid expansion.Poor NH.
— Lucy McVitty Weber (@LucyMcVWeber) May 23, 2013

@susanthe #BakeSalesForBridges
— Dean Barker (@deanbarker) May 23, 2013

Neo-Nazi defends Kelly Ayotte in inflammatory letter

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:46:49 -0400

The heated rhetoric surrounding Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s vote against expanding gun background checks reached a new low today in a letter to the editor of the Concord Monitor.

Pembroke’s Allison Caldwell, a self-described neo-Nazi, condemned gun safety proponents for invoking the memory of children killed in Newtown by comparing it to a dog rolling around on a dead animal:

Imagine taking a dog for a walk in the woods and coming across a long dead animal. The dog will sniff at the carcass, then excitedly start rolling around in the remains. This behavior is no doubt to mask its own scent from other animals.

What makes Ayotte’s critics keep rolling around in the killings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School? … This tactic, if continued, will have them smelling very bad politically and will give strong resolve to we who see their agenda and the need to stand up to it.

Are N.H. lawmakers the 'dunciest in the land?'

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:31:26 -0400

The Gem State has its share of “cretins and cretinesses,” writes Boise Weekly’s Bill Cope.

Case in point, he says, is the state senator “who ensured Idaho a spot on the dumbass map by authoring a bill that would have made Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s sloppy paean to the glories of not giving a crap about one another, required reading in Idaho schools.”

But Cope looks to New Hampshire and finds evidence that “Idaho’s lawmakers may not be the dunciest in the land:”

A legislator there by the name of Stella Tremblay has confirmed in her own mind, if no where else, that the Boston marathon bombing was staged by the U.S. government to deflect attention away from… well, away from what isn’t exactly clear.

Undoubtedly, it has something to do with Obama, thinks Madame Tremblay, who has a history of believing the worst about our president—from the place he was born to the Muslim Brotherhood company he keeps. However, the very fact we don’t know what the Boston incident was meant to mask is proof in itself that the deception was successful, isn’t it, as whatever it is those damn feds don’t want us to know about remains unknown to us?

New ad: Ayotte's vote makes N.H. less safe

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:42:09 -0400

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the national coalition of mayors working to reduce gun violence, began running a new television ad today targeting Sen. Kelly Ayotte.

The ad criticizes New Hampshire’s junior senator for claiming she supports background checks — but voting against the bipartisan Manchin-Toomey background check bill. “And that makes New Hampshire less safe,” warns the narrator:

In the U.S. Senate, there was a key vote for comprehensive background checks. Sen. Ayotte voted no.

Sen. Ayotte voted against a Senate proposal to require background checks. Ayotte was the only senator from New England to oppose the measure. Ayotte’s vote helped defeat a modest measure to prevent the seriously mentally ill from purchasing firearms.

Now Ayotte says she’s for strengthening background checks. But when it counted, she was a key vote to kill it. And that makes New Hampshire less safe.

Gary Patton: Senate Democrats join chorus 'moving us toward a more violent America'

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:58:00 -0400

Thursday, the state Senate will vote on House Bill 135, which would repeal New Hampshire’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law.

The bill is almost certain to be defeated. Three Democratic senators, Andrew Hosmer (D-Laconia), Bette Lasky (D-Nashua) and Jeff Woodburn (D-Dalton), have signaled their intent to join the Republican majority and vote against repeal.

Writing on Blue Hampshire, longtime party activist Gary Patton points to the weight of logic and evidence that shows “Stand Your Ground” endangers the public. A vote for “Stand Your Ground” is a vote for a more violent America, he writes:

So why should any Democratic senator vote to repeal a bill that seems destined for defeat? Because a vote against repeal not only defeats HB 135, it is a public declaration that this senator agrees with the premises underlying the Stand Your Ground law. That person adds his or her voice to a chorus which is moving us toward a more violent America.

Constituent responds to Rep. Tasker: 'I am ashamed to have you representing the people of this town'

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:43:00 -0400

Yesterday, we reported on a Facebook comment from state House Rep. Kyle Tasker (R-Nottingham) directed at gun safety proponents: ”Just the thought of guns makes them piss themselves unless its arming the police to further crush their spirit,” he wrote.

After reading Tasker’s remarks, Nottingham’s Karen Davidson fired off an email to her representative:

Dear Representative Tasker:

I live in Nottingham, and I am ashamed to have you representing the people of this town and myself.

I don’t piss myself when I think of guns. But I do shake my head in wondering how someone like you got elected, and then makes statements like this. You have insulted the same people that probably voted for you. Gun owners and non gun owners think about gun safety. Gun safety laws do not take away guns from people who already have guns, but it stops those from obtaining them, to be used against our police officers or innocent people.

If you were aware of gun safety, your gun would not have fallen out of your holster, if you actually had one, in the state house. The members of the house were lucky that the gun didn’t go out and hurt or kill those in attendance or yourself.

It also doesn’t crush my spirit when arming the police. I want them armed to go up against those with automatic weapons or worse.

You are disrespectful of those people living in Nottingham, and you certainly have proved to me, that you need to learn more about those who you represent. Maybe there is a majority here in town that want Gun Safety laws, and you are not fulfilling what your constituents want, ie Senator Kelly Ayotte. Learn to be a little more respectful of all of the people you represent.

Davidson received a curt response from Tasker, who called her message “narcissistic:”

If you don’t like what I comment on someone’s picture they post on my private non political Facebook page, I think the logical first step would be to stay off of it. I’ve never seen your Facebook page, I plan to keep it that way. I find it odd you jump to the conclusion that when I say “they” that translates to Kareb [sic] Davidson of [address redacted]. This is narcissistic.

After a couple of follow-up messages, Davidson ended the thread, saying she was frustrated by “another NH Representative who doesn’t care what he says and doesn’t mind insulting others, including people in his district, that have different views.”

“I expect my representatives to be professional, expect to take criticism from those with opposite views, and use some common sense in responding,” she said.

Retired deputy police chief rejects Ayotte's 'specious' argument against expanded gun background checks

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:37:00 -0400

Len DiSesa is a retired deputy police chief and a gun owner who “believes strongly” in the 2nd Amendment. In a letter to the editor of the Portsmouth Herald, he rejects Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s argument for voting against expanded gun background checks.

“I think Sen. Ayotte is looking to the next election and is pandering to the right wing extremist base of her party,” he writes:

Her rationale for voting against background checks defies reason, and seems to me to be very, very thin. Sure, we should all work to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. We should also work hard to keep them from driving a car or a bus, or piloting an airplane. That’s a no-brainer and a convenient smokescreen for anyone arguing against using background checks as another tool in our toolbox to protect innocent lives.

We have stronger DWI laws in effect today than we did 30 years ago. As a result, motor vehicle deaths due to drunken driving have dropped dramatically. We have not eliminated all DWI-related deaths or injuries, I doubt we could ever do that, but at least we have successfully put a dent into the problem. Using the argument of Sen. Ayotte and those who think as she does, we should have just enforced more strictly the existing DWI laws on the books, and we should not have legislated enhanced penalties because, according to that argument, if someone wants to drink and drive, they will. That is as specious an argument as is the one being used to block background checks.

More constitutional illiteracy from Rep. John Hikel

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:25:00 -0400

Former state Supreme Court Justice Chuck Douglas condemned the action. “Pulling bits and pieces out of the constitution to create criminal charges reflects gross constitutional illiteracy,” he wrote, “not an attempt at good government.”

In a Facebook comment, Hikel argues the actions are indeed lawful — despite language in the New Hampshire Constitution that states, “The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate in either House of the Legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution in any Court or place whatsoever.”

“IT DIDN’T SAY VOTE,” he writes. “If the framers wanted it to, it would have been included.”

Quote of the day: The thought of guns

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:29:19 -0400

Just the thought of guns makes them piss themselves unless its arming the police to further crush their spirit.

— State House Rep. Kyle Tasker (R-Nottingham) on proponents of gun safety legislation

Union Leader: Don't confuse me with the facts

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:53:33 -0400

In an editorial defending the vote by Sen. Kelly Ayotte against expanding background checks for gun purchasers, the Union Leader claims the “great majority” of Granite Staters support her position:

A single poll’s number showing general support for unspecified “stronger” background checks does not mean that most constituents disagree with Sen. Ayotte’s position.

A single poll? Unspecified “stronger” background checks? Really?

I count at least three surveys of New Hampshire voters this year that include very specific proposals for expanding background checks. And all show overwhelming majorities of Granite Staters support the legislation that Ayotte voted against.

New England College (January 24, 2013)

“There is a national proposal for universal gun background checks for gun sales through dealers, shows, and private individuals. Do you support the idea of universal background checks for gun purchases?”

Strongly Support: 79%
Somewhat Support: 9%

WMUR Granite State Poll (February 8, 2013)

“Please tell me if you would favor or oppose … a law which would require background checks before people — including gun dealers — could buy guns at gun shows.”

Strongly favor: 84%
Somewhat favor: 7%

Public Policy Polling (April 23, 2013)

“Would you support or oppose requiring background checks on individuals who purchase guns at gun shows?”

Support: 75%

Bill O'Brien launches congressional campaign by misreading results from landmark Medicaid study

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:31:00 -0400

In a statement released by the O’Brien for Congress campaign, former state House Speaker Bill O’Brien blasted Congresswoman Ann Kuster for not voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“If fully implemented, Obamacare will hijack and wreck not only the finances of the federal government, but also our state’s finances,” he wrote. O’Brien also took the opportunity to trash Medicaid. Obamacare “will throw millions of Americans on Medicaid,” he complained:

Medicaid relies on substantial contributions from local taxpayers, yet it doesn’t even pay for half the cost of service to its recipients. It does all of this — or, none of this rather — while failing to provide better health outcomes than being uninsured, according to a study of Medicaid expansion in Oregon.

About that Medicaid study.

O’Brien was referring to the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, a landmark, randomized study of the effect expanding public health insurance has on the health care use, health outcomes, financial strain, and well-being of low-income adults.

O’Brien cherry picked the early results to declare Medicaid a failure. Ezra Klein explains the results of the study, so far, are decidedly more encouraging:

So here’s what happened in the first two years of the Oregon Medicaid experiment: Medicaid proved itself good health insurance. The people who got Medicaid used more health care, and seem to have done so smartly — they got preventive care, they got their diabetes diagnosed and began managing it, they treated their depression, and so on. But the health care itself didn’t work as well as we hoped — at least not in terms of cutting rates of hypertension and cholesterol. …

We don’t know why hypertension and cholesterol levels were unchanged, writes Klein. “We don’t know if the results speak to the health care you get through all health insurance or just Medicaid or if they’re just an artifact of the study’s timeframe and sample size,” he explained.

Regardless, Klein notes there is “voluminous evidence that managing diabetes and treating depression and being able to go to the doctor improves health. You have to be willing to throw quite a lot of existing theory and evidence out the window to believe that stuff won’t pay off down the road.”

Where's the apology from Kelly Ayotte?

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:36:01 -0400

When Republicans mugged U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice over her initial explanation of the attack in Benghazi, Sen. Kelly Ayotte was the lead assailant. “I have to tell you with the comments she made on those Sunday shows — that was either incompetence or blatantly misleading the American people,” she told Fox News.

Now we know Rice played no role in crafting the Benghazi talking points and there was no attempt at a cover-up. Emails released this week show the talking points reflected the administration consensus at the time.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the “smear campaign against Ambassador Rice was vicious, personal, and wrong.” Ayotte should apologize, he declared. So did Arizona blogger AzBlueMeanie:

The worst purveyors of this “Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!” faux scandal have been the new Three Stooges, Sens. John McCain, his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte as “Shemp.” They have perpetrated a fraud for purely partisan political retaliation. They besmirched the reputation of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who has been vindicated by the emails released this week.

The new Three Stooges owe Susan Rice and the American people an apology. They have demonstrated their utter lack of character and judgment to serve in the U.S. Senate. If they had any honor, they would submit their resignations from the U.S. Senate for their indefensible actions.

Those zany Free Staters: State House 'performance art'

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:54:05 -0400

Susan Bruce and Ben Leubsdorf have reported on how the Senate Finance Committee got punk’d by mock testimony that has Free Stater fingerprints all over it.

The bogus testimony came from men identifying themselves as “Adam Sutler” (a character in V for Vendetta) and “Edgar Friendly” (the name of Denis Leary’s character in Demolition Man). The text of their speeches was lifted verbatim from a series of movies: The Verdict, The Contender, V for Vendetta, Tombstone, The Fountainhead and Network.

Free Stater Garret Ean, who filmed the stunt, described the mock testimony as performance art:

This year, the Senate has killed every good bill that has left the State House, from NDAA nullification to decriminalizing marijuana. I wanted to break the fourth wall of government, and show the members of this state and these hearings for what they are: political theatre.

Bad art, wrote Susan Bruce:

It wasn’t just the committee that got punk’d. It was every NH resident who took the time to drive to Concord and testify. It was every resident that loaded up a wheelchair, and packed a bag full of supplies and medications they would need to sit there for hours, while they waited to testify. It was every resident that brought a child. It was the family that brought 2 ASL interpreters for their deaf son. We know the FSP has no respect for NH government. Now we know they also have no respect for the people of this state.

Lawrence O'Donnell: The NRA helps Ayotte obscure her unpopular vote on background checks

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:16:44 -0400

The Last Word’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains the “standard Washington trick” that Sen. Kelly Ayotte is using — with an assist from the NRA — to obscure her unpopular vote against expanding gun background checks:

The National Rifle Association’s defense of Kelly Ayotte’s vote against background checks was to say she actually voted for background checks, something that the NRA opposed.

And here’s how that particular sleight of hand works. It is a standard Washington trick. After Kelly Ayotte stood on the Senate floor as part of a minority that was able to block the will of the majority of the Senate to legislate expanded background checks, she stood on the Senate floor and voted for a fake background check bill so that later she could claim, if she needed to, that she voted for some kind of background checks.

The bill that Sen. Ayotte voted for was, in effect, written by the NRA and actually would have weakened the current law on background checks and would have made it easier for people with dangerous mental illness to get guns.

So Kelly Ayotte voted for the NRA’s re-write of the bipartisan background check bill written by Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey, the one that everyone was really paying attention to, and now the NRA in its TV ad is re-writing Sen. Ayotte’s vote to sound like she voted for the Manchin-Toomey bill, the thing that New Hampshire wanted her to vote for.

Dean Barker: Rubio takes a bullet for Ayotte

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:52:00 -0400

Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s vote opposing gun safety legislation did “irreparable harm” to her chances for re-election, writes Dean Barker. In rushing to her defense, Barker adds, Sen. Marco Rubio hurt his chances with the undeclared voters who are key to wining the New Hampshire primary:

When [Ayotte] sided with the NRA and not with 91% of the state over background checks, with the resulting poll numbers and the fiasco of her town halls, she did irreparable harm to her chances. The way she is viewed now by Granite Staters has changed for the worse. Now she’s to the right of… just about every Republican peer in New England. Getting the undeclareds needed to keep her seat in the Village has now become a steep uphill climb for her. …

[Rubio] was probably advised that by helping Ayotte now, he’ll get the upper hand in support from either her (unlikely) and her network (maybe) when running for president.

But the wiser path was to steer clear of the self-inflicted damage Ayotte did to herself. Now he’s associated with propping up a position opposed by almost a totality of voters in the state.