It’s no secret: Some Republicans and all Democrats in the House are less than impressed with the leadership style of House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon).
A recent story in the Concord Monitor touched on the efforts of two Republicans — Rep. Susan Emerson of Rindge and Rep. Marshall “Lee” Quandt of Exeter — to lead a coup against O’Brien.
We start a new, semi-regular feature today called “They Said It.”
Our goal is to capture a sampling of legislative and state government quotes that we hope illuminate, educate, entertain and reflect the tone of the current legislative session.
Here are our Top Six of recent vintage …
UPDATE : The hearing to potentially oust Rep. Mike Brunelle, also NH Democratic Party director, scheduled for Jan. 13 has been indefinitely postponed. A special hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 27, at which legal experts will be consulted to determine the validity of the Republicans’ case against Brunelle.
The following post was originally published Tuesday, Jan. 11 …
The Executive Council hearings to determine the fate of state Banking Commissioner Peter Hildreth will go ahead as scheduled on Monday morning. A Merrimack County Superior Court judge on Wednesday rejected Hildreth’s motion to delay the proceedings (see the Union Leader Story here). Hildreth is accused of failing to act against Financial Resources Mortgage of [...]
Public campaign financing in New Hampshire will likely be off the table after yesterday’s Republican resurgence at the State House. The Citizen Funded Election Task Force is due to issue its final recommendations Nov. 15. Sen. Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth) and Rep. Jim Splaine (D-Portsmouth), two of the initiative’s most prominent supporters, won’t be around next year to push for any traction.
All five of Governor John Lynch’s vetoes were sustained yesterday in the N.H. Legislature, although pushing through the bill to repeal certain gun laws (House Bill 1161) was a narrow miss.
Meanwhile (and hardly a dry topic), the Department of Environmental Services is taking its show on the road to explain new rules for road-stream crossings at the estimated 17,000 such locations around the state.
Tomorrow is Veto Day at the State House, when the House and Senate will have chance to override or sustain Gov. John Lynch’s vetoes of five bills from the 2010 legislative session.
First up: Senate Bill 440, which would prohibit political campaigning by members of the executive branch Ethics Committee (formed in 2006) on behalf of any candidates for state or local campaigns; there would be no restriction for federal campaigning. House Bill 1490 would set up a citizen’s task force to examine state revenues and expenditures and it would expand the Banking Department’s authority to regulate financial institutions.