Former Rep. Ross Berry (R), Liberty Alliance and Young Americans for Liberty member, resigned last week from the New Hampshire House. The day before his resignation, he was removed as Chair of the Election Law Committee. So, what happened?
Apparently, Berry plotted an elaborate ruse to have Democrat legislators elsewhere when a committee meeting was going to be held. The meeting of the Election Law Committee was to reconsider CACR 22, which was a constitutional amendment to enshrine NH’s status to hold the first presidential primary in the nation. Without the Democrats at the meeting Republicans would be assured of the majority vote.
In a nutshell, on May 9th, Speaker Packard requested of the House members they stay in their seats to attend a “Safety Briefing” about an evacuation plan for Reps. Hall in the event of an emergency. He stated it was important for everyone to attend. Everyone did, except, you guessed it, Republican members of the Election Law Committee.
According to the complaint that was filed with Speaker Packard, “When the first 4 Democrats entered LOB 306 for the meeting at 11:58:46 AM, all the Republican members were already seated and waiting for the meeting to start. The instant that 4 Democrats entered the room and before they had a chance to be seated, Chair Berry opened the executive session – immediately calling for a voice vote for reconsideration of CACR 22. The vote took 17 seconds, at which time Chair Berry recessed the executive session.”
“When the 6 remaining Democrats entered the room at noon, they were unaware that a vote had been taken prior to their arrival.”
The complaint emphasized several important issues, among them:
- Berry’s refusal to clarify procedural queries and maintain decorum;
- failure to inform the committee about the reconsideration of CACR 22 beforehand;
- the rushed timing of the votes.
According to the complaint, this was a calculated attempt to manipulate the committee’s recommendation process by holding the executive session during the Safety Briefing and lunch break, making sure the reconsideration vote took place before all Democrat members arrived.
To make matters worse, again according to the complaint, Berry admitted what he did was to retaliate against what he thought was Democrat manipulation on a previous bill, weakening bipartisanship and trust in the committee.
Shortly after the complaint was given to the Speaker, Berry was removed as committee chair, resigning from the House the next day.