“Local” in slogan only

OK, year after year after year after year, we’re told that certain elected representatives don’t just value but worship the idea of “local control.”

But so often — whether it’s in actually paying the state’s fair share in school aid, retirement system contributions, road and bridge funding, rooms and meals tax sharing, etc. — it’s all talk and very, very little action.

Submitted for your consideration, a recent exchange on the House floor over HB 1221, which cut the BPT rate from 7.6 percent to 7.5 percent — but it was passed with the support of lawmakers who insisted that they’d vote to cut the rate only if the state anted up some dough to help towns and cities pay for public employee retirement costs. (Which the state used to do every year, only to renege and rescind that commitment in 2010, under the guidance of then-guv John Lynch.)

Surprisingly, it wasn’t a particularly easy sell to some GOPer reps. As Patrick Abrami of Stratham opined before a vote on the bill, “most Republicans don’t like the idea” of coughing up money to the localities.

Why? you may ask. “How do we know that cities and towns are going to put it to tax reduction? Is it a matter of faith or what?” whined Abrami.

So much for faith in local government.

No trespassing

Wow, that sure was a signal to former Dem Exec Councilor Mike Cryans to butt out of the District 2 Exec Council race against current Dem Councilor Cinde Warmington.

After word that Hanover resident MC was challenging Concordian CW after the newly redistricted Exec Council maps were released and his town was removed from Dist 1 (which MC represented from 2018-20), the entire Dem congressional delegation — Shaheen, Hassan, Kuster and Pappas — lined up behind CW.

It was an unprecedented full-court defense of CW’s seat.

“I know for sure I am not going to knock on doors, not going to make phone calls or do anything to promote them. Many people told me, ‘We are not working for the party.’”

– Advocate Eva Castillo reflecting the anger of Latinos in NH over Maggie Hassan and Chris Pappas’ support of a Covid-era policy that prevents migrants from entering the U.S.

Wanted: listening skills

The reason New Hampshire’s 400-member House of Reps is so large is because it means we have “truly” representative democracy. The idea, that all of us have had beaten into our heads ad infinitum, is that every NH citizen has access to and the ear of their own personal rep. Which means, ideally, that the 400-member House of Reps truly does know what’s on the mind of their constituents.

So what’s on the mind of said constituents these days? No. 1 is inflation, of course. But if you spend even one minute listening to folks “out there” you will know that No. 1 is housing, the price and availability of it, along with homelessness — not the concern of society’s role in dealing with the issue, but from a very personal perspective. As in there are thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Granite Staters living in fear right now that they, too, will be among the homeless, through no fault of their own except that there isn’t enough housing for everyone in NH.

What doesn’t keep them up at night is worrying about critical race theory, so-called “election integrity,” byzantine arguments against mask and vax mandates, how to eliminate women’s rights to an abortion, or allowing people to carry guns in schools.

But this “truly” representative body and its leadership chose, in the light of day, to neuter what was an honest, bipartisan (in the Senate at least) attempt to address the housing crisis — one that gets worse every day.

What is it that the 400-member House of Reps and their leadership not get about the housing crisis? Are they just not listening to constituents, simply ignoring them or are they living in a fantasy-filled echo chamber where critical race theory, “election integrity” and the rest really are essential to day-to-day lives?

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Another example of why regular peeps don’t believe politicians: During his trip to NH, former veep Mike Pence — after being confronted with a news report that his ex-boss (the loser in the 2020 election) had expressed support that his second-in-command be hanged (yes, hanged — you read that right) for not supporting efforts to overturn said election MP — robotically replied, “Well, I don’t know anything about that. I do know we did our job that day under the Constitution and the laws of the United States.” That’s all he could say?

Add GOP US senator wannabe Kevin Smith to the list of NH pols — GOPer and Dem — who think the most pressing issue facing Granite Staters is what’s happening at the Mexico border 2,400 miles away.

Wow, that Andrew Manuse, one of the selfstyled leaders of Rebuild NH — which started out as an anti-mask mandate cohort but has since become big on “parental rights” and such — sure is a piece of work, isn’t he?