Republican Senators Accept Real-ID, Deceive Public

As previously reported, two "anti-Real-ID" bills were working their way through the New Hampshire legislature: HB1582 and SB399.

HB1582 was gutted by a floor amendment proposed by Sen. Barnes. The Amendment would have created a "Study Committee" to analyze Real-ID. At the time, Barnes and other Republican Senators argued that we need to step back, and get more information. The Amended bill passed.

Now, when a bill passes the House and is amended in the Senate (or vice versa), typically a "Committee of Conference" is created, with a few members from each. The committee then either hashes out the differences, resulting in a final version, or they fail to agree on a final version, and the bill dies. That's not what happened here, though.

Instead, the Republicans in the Senate voted unanimously not to even form the Committee of Conference. In other words, they don't even want to discuss the issue. There will be no Study Committee, because they don't want one formed, period. They must have known there would be no committee, even when they were arguing for the creation of one just last week!

The same process happened for SB399; it was amended in the House, and the Senate refused to even discuss the change. That bill is dead, too.

Now, I have disagreed with Democrat and Republican legislators alike plenty of times. I certainly don't go disparaging them and publicly calling for their removal from office at the first disagreement. Moreover, these Republicans showed excellent fortitude when they voted down the proposed smoking ban, HB1177. However, their behavior in this matter goes beyond the pale: they did not have the common decency to simply declare their true intentions in public. They made great show of having "second thoughts", of needing more time. They waited till they thought nobody was looking, and then their actions betrayed all they had said previously.

We have been sold up the river by these cowards. They watered down the bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House (by both Republicans and Democrats alike), so they could vote "for" a study commission. They then refused to even discuss the possiblity of having such a study. Even Gallus and Bragdon, who "bravely stood up" against their party in last week's vote, this time did not even bother with the facade. Why? Simple: they thought nobody was looking. Deception, bordering on flagrant dereliction of duty.

The Senate Republicans' allegiance is now crystal clear: it is not to us, their constituents in New Hampshire, but rather to their political masters in Washington, DC.

These cowards (I will not call any of them "men") simply need to be replaced. They have no business pretending to represent our interests in the New Hampshire State House. If you live in New Hampshire, and one of these individuals purports to represent you, please do call them and give them a piece of your mind!
Barnes, Bragdon, Clegg, Flanders, Gallus, Gatsas, Green, Johnson, Kenney, Letourneu, Martel, Morse, Odell, Roberge
(Two Republicans, Boyce, Eaton, and one Democrat, Larsen, were not present for the vote; Boyce and Eaton did vote to water down 1582)

The New Hampshire Constitution, Part the First, Article 31, reads:
The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public grievances and for making such laws as the public good may require.

I am curious: by voting to create a study committee, and then voting to not even form the committee, what "Public Good" was being pursued?

Not Dead Yet
As of this writing, New Hampshire has still not accepted the $3million "sucker money" from the Federal government. We'll be watching the Fiscal Committee closely. We'll also be working to eject the disingenouous cowards listed above.