Democracy at work

Inquiring minds want to know: What the heck is in the Kool-Aid some of those candidates drink before they run for, and actually get elected to, House seats in Belknap County?

There’s not enough time or space to go thru the reams of head-scratching weirdness that has emerged from the BC Delegation over the years. Yes, years.

Just in the last few weeks came the meeting of the BC Delegation where a bunch of mask-refuseniks sat side by side with reps who actually own some common sense. They actually seemed like they were reveling in the foolish behavior. Then you have the recent Twitter post from that sweetheart-of-a-rep, GOPer Dawn Johnson, who was angry at Ga. Guv Brian Kemp for not handing over the state’s presidential electors to the losing prez, Don Trump. To show her anger, she posted a link to an image of Kemp’s head superimposed onto a crude caricature of a Black man holding a gun standing next to a caricature of a Jewish man demanding rent money.

The source of the image and anti-Kemp screed? Why nunuther than the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer. (It’s always nice to know where our elected reps get their info from, isn’t it?) The beauty part is that DJ actually issued an apology – after the outrage against her post reached the boiling point. In the apology, she included the bewildering claim that she removed the post “as it came from a source I do not agree with.”

But if it’s from a source she doesn’t agree with, why did she post it in the first place?

“For those who are just out there doing the opposite just to make some ridiculous political point, it is horribly wrong. Please use your heads. Don’t act like a bunch of children, frankly.”

– Guv Sununu comments after learning that members of the Belknap County delegation held an in-person meeting – masks optional, of course.

“Those in our caucus who refused to take precautions were responsible for Dick Hinch’s death.”

– Wolfeboro Rep William Marsh, in a tweet following that very same mask-optional meeting.

Drive-by governing

What does it mean that it took the death of Dick Hinch for at least most GOPers to wake up and smell the Covid coffee?

Sad to say, but the brazen, thoughtless, ignorant, irresponsible (just a few adjectives off the top of the head) behavior displayed by anti-mask GOPers and their fellow travelers may rear its head once again in a little while, but for now it seems the cold water of reality is starting to soak through.

But maybe not completely. Consider that Sherm Packard, the acting speaker, has announced plans to hold a drive-in first House session in Jan., at UNH. On the face of it, that is an improvement from the apparent plans to plow full steam ahead into the session and to hell with Covid.

But the reality is that the reps who are clamoring for virtual sessions are still not being listened to, even as NH flirts with a 1,000-Covid-case day.

Why is that? The answer lies in SP’s statement to the AP:

“The Democratic Party wants to go virtual and we are having trouble with that. We are just looking at safety and getting everyone together,” quoth the acting speaker.

Interesting word, “trouble.”

Considering that, while the House Brain Trust has decided to hold the drive-in session at one of the UNH parking lots, they still hadn’t worked out some details, like how the reps can even cast votes from their cars. Minor things like that.

Truth be told, they don’t even have a clue if a drive-in session can work. As SP said, “This is a concept to see if we can do it.”

Which, translated, means, “We’ll try anything to avoid letting the Dems look right on this.”

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Has anyone in the House GOP caucus apologized – or even acknowledged – the utter lack of communication in not letting House Dems know of the positive Covid cases they began racking up in the wake of that 11/20 indoor meeting in Manch?

Not for nothing, but since when does Corey Lewandowski have the expertise to sit on the Defense Business Board, a panel of industry and academic leaders who volunteer to provide independent business advice to Pentagon leadership and are appointed by top Pentagon leaders?

By all accounts, Cottage Hospital CEO Maria Ryan, who’s waving bye-bye to NH, did a primo job running the Woodsville facility. And in her other life as Trump’s personal attorney’s “gal pal” (as the NYC tabloids call her) she’s been co-hosting a NYC radio show, “Uncovering the Truth with Rudy Giuliani and Maria Ryan.” Stardom awaits.

Is the world ready for an Al Baldasaro speakership? Time will tell.