HB 1569 is a bill that was originally sponsored by Liberty Alliance member Robert Lynn (R-Windham). This bill is “relative to eliminating voter identification exceptions.” In other words, the goal is to make it harder for some people to vote by doing away with any identification exceptions for proving you are who you say you are. The proposed legislation takes away voter affidavits as proof of identification and repeals the procedures for affidavit ballots. How many voters would this proposed legislation block from even being able to register, let alone cast a ballot? 

There is a public hearing at the State House next Tuesday, April 23rd at 9:40am in the Legislative Office Building, room 103. If you are unable to attend in person but want to help us protect our democracy and voter's rights in New Hampshire you can email the Senate Election Law committee here to express your opposition. Or you can sign in on the bill. Takes only a moment to do.

In the words of Granny D, “Democracy is not something we have. It is something we do.”

Let’s go “do!”

In the New Hampshire House of Representatives there is a process of identifying if any particular bill will affect the state’s general or education trust funds. That process is a “fiscal note” attached to it with those bills usually going automatically to the Finance Committee after passing on the House floor on a first time vote. Members of the Finance Committee review the budgetary impacts of the proposed legislation, then decide whether to recommend the bills on those grounds. 

House Bill 1665 was one such bill that had a “fiscal note” attached to it. You see, HB 1665 would raise the income level cap for the school voucher eligibility program from (under current law) $109,500 to $156,000 for a family of four. Instead, Finance Committee Chairman Ken Weyler (Kingston, Liberty Alliance member) waived the fiscal note, stopped the bill from heading to his committee and fast-tracked it to the Senate. At the beginning of this month, the Senate voted on and passed an amended version, SB 442, raising the cap to $125,000 a year for a family of four. Naturally, the vote fell along party lines with the end result increasing the property tax burden while simultaneously taking away taxpayer money from public schools.

Now, moving along to House Bill 1212. This proposed legislation would raise the qualifying income limit for reduced-price school lunch from 185% of the federal poverty level to 350% (very close to what HB 1665 did). That raises the total household income cap from $57,720 to $109,200.

This legislation, if passed, would require the state to pay the costs of reduced-price lunches for families making 185% to 350% of the federal poverty level. The federal government reimburses schools only for students from families making up to 185% of the poverty level.

That cost would come from NH’s Education Trust Fund, which currently spends around $1 billion annually for adequacy funds to school districts and the education freedom accounts program which currently has a (roughly) $200 million surplus.

A vote was taken to “shelve” the bill and ended up in a tie 191-191. House Speaker Sherman Packard broke the tie thus leaving the bill tabled, successfully “killing” it. Their precious “education freedom account program” wouldn’t be raided for something as frivolous as feeding children from low income families. 

The pro-life party oozes compassion . . .

According to Rep. Danial Popovici-Muller (Windham, Liberty Alliance and YAL member), “School districts that are unable to collect funds owed for school meals would be best served by legislation that allows them to receive funds from the education trust fund to cover any uncollectible school meals debt. Instead, HB 1212 proposes a budget-breaking expansion of the federal lunch program, asking the New Hampshire taxpayers to pay $50 – $75 million or more a year (including hiring at least three new DOE employees) to address a hunger problem that nobody even showed exists in New Hampshire public schools.”

But in the meantime, forcing NH taxpayers to cough up $22.1 million this school year alone for families to send their children to private, religious or home schools is so much more palatable than say. . . ensuring a child from a low-income household gets a decent lunch at school. 

This November, know who your candidate is and do they represent your values? 

Jonathan Stone, a former Claremont police officer, former three term Claremont city councilor and now current New Hampshire House representative is also a member of Liberty Alliance, a conservative, right wing organization whose goals are to dismantle democracy. 

In 2006, an investigation was opened into then-officer Stone concerning alleged allegations of Stone making threatening verbal attacks against the (at the time) police chief, along with the chief’s family and fellow officers. This is according to employment records that were recently released per order of the NH Supreme Court. The records also revealed Stone constantly socializing with an underage female in addition to conversing about the bars they would frequent when she became legally of age. These personnel records were successfully kept private by Stone and his attorney for many years until last month when the state’s highest court ruled Stone’s records are not exempt from public disclosure.

Long story short, this past Monday, according to Stone’s attorney Peter DeCato, “Jon Stone’s personnel records go back 17-plus years. They are full of unproven ‘factual allegations.’ Whatever is disclosed should have a very large asterisk next to it.” DeCato went on to say, “The City of Claremont did not terminate Jon’s employment; rather, the City of Claremont found it to their advantage to enter into an agreement with Jon. As a result of that agreement, Jon resigned. The advantage to the City of Claremont is that they didn’t have to prove what is written in these records.” DeCato also noted that Stone had a negotiated agreement with the city of Claremont upon his resignation and statements made by other police officers concerning Stone’s behavior when he was on the force had never come to a decision by a judge. In exchange for his resignation and surrendering his police certification in NH, the department would purge his personnel file of the internal affairs reports. The department fulfilled its agreement, but retained copies of the reports separately in its internal affairs records.

The chairman of the NH Democratic Party, Ray Buckley, commented on Mon., “The disturbing report on State Representative Jon Stone’s dangerous and out-of-control behavior, which he tried to hide from the public for years, raises serious concerns about Stone’s position on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee and leaves no doubt that Stone is unfit to serve the people of Claremont.” 

Stone represents the towns of Acworth, wards 1,2,3 in Claremont, Croydon, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Springfield, Sunapee and Washington. He currently sits on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. Of the eight bills he sponsored so far this year, half of them have to do with guns. Among the many bills Stone has voted on, the (small) following received his “nay” vote, for example: 

  HB470 – relative to fentanyl test strips and other drug checking equipment
  HB369 – establishing a task force to provide energy relief on farms
  HB1068 – relative to establishing a blood lead level testing requirement for children entering day care and public schools
  HB1212 – relative to eligibility for free school meals
  HB1322 – relative to the state’s hourly minimum wage

The (small) following bills received Stone’s “yes” vote:
  HB1634 – relative to universal eligibility for the education freedom account program
  HB512 – exempting firearms manufactured in NH from federal laws and regulations
  HB1276 – relative to repealing the prohibition on the possession or sale of blackjacks, slung shots and metallic knuckles except by or to minors
  HB1607 – relative to expanded safe haven protections
  HB1291 – relative to accessory dwelling unit uses allowed by right
  HB1372 – relative to prohibiting torture (PHEW!)

As an aside, some of these bills were voted on more than once, the ones listed above were his final vote. The above link will take you to the state’s website.

Rep. Stone is also a businessman in Claremont, “Black Ops Guns.” In 2016, when Donald Trump was campaigning in NH, Stone gave him an inscribed AR-15 assault rifle with the inscription “1-4-5” translating to Trump being Stone’s first choice to become the nation’s 45th president. And just last June, Stone was tapped to be Trump’s Sullivan County campaign chairman, heaping praise upon Stone during a (hate) rally in Claremont last Nov. 

We’ll see where this goes. In the meantime, let’s all try to educate ourselves on the folks who want to represent us in either our local, state or federal government.

The word “genocide” is a combination of the Greek word genos for “race/people” and the Latin word cide for “killing.” It is defined as “The destruction of a nation or an ethnic group” and was created in 1944 by Raphael “Rafal” Lemkin, a Polish attorney of Jewish descent. Lemkin was also instrumental in beginning the Genocide Convention, by lobbying a newly formed United Nations to “enter into an international treaty which would formulate genocide as an international crime, providing for its prevention and punishment in time of peace and war.”  On Dec. 9, 1948, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the first of its kind, was approved by the United Nations in Paris, France. 

The Convention defines genocide as follows:
“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
  (taken from the book GENOCIDE the shameful, unspoken history of crimes against humanity in the United States.)

On Sept. 3, 2014, former Gov. Maggie Hassan signed HB 1444 into law. The month of April was now officially recognized as “Genocide awareness Month,” making New Hampshire the fourth state to do so. The bill was signed at Keene State College with faculty, Holocaust survivors, state representatives and students in attendance. The legislation emphasized the prevention of future abominations and our shared humanity while acknowledging the need to never forget the victims of genocide. The bill also promoted the need to be more compassionate and inclusive of others. 

In June, 2020 NH became the fourteenth state to enact a statute for Holocaust and genocide education when the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring Holocaust and genocide prevention education. It is now required under the state’s definition of an adequate education. In addition, a commission was set up to study “best practices” for teaching genocide education in the public schools. The new rules began in school year 2022-2023 and will continue for each consecutive school year.

This commission was comprised of (among others) a representative from Keene State College’s Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and survivors or direct descendants of survivors of the Holocaust or another genocide. 

Students in middle and high school or higher are now required to learn about the Holocaust and genocide. Before this legislation, it was up to an individual district whether to offer it or not. 

“The Holocaust is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people, it is a failure of humanity as a whole.”

Moshe Katsav

Between the years 1492 and 1900, roughly twelve million indigenous peoples were killed in the United States. In 2003, these forced removals, numerous wars, massacres and resulting deaths were aptly described and acknowledged as genocide.

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.”                                                                                          - Chief Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota

 

April is “Genocide Awareness Month”

My latest article, “Unity House” had no sooner been posted when I received an email from ACLU-NH with the following request. And it all has to do with LGBTQ rights which have been under attack in the legislature. 

On Friday, April 5, the New Hampshire Senate will vote on several bills that are just simply cruel in their attacks on LGBTQ rights. The five bills being voted on are – SB 304, SB 341, SB 375, SB 524, and SB 562. This proposed legislation would open avenues for discrimination, harassment, and segregation. Everyone, no matter who you are, deserves better than laws that would violate their rights to equal protection under the law.

Additionally, this proposed legislation attacks crucial healthcare for many transgender people, safe healthcare which has been backed by decades of research and supported by every major medical association. The ACLU-NH has been fighting MORE than 15 anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills in the State House this year alone. 

And it’s only the beginning of April!

Will you email your state senator now and tell them to support LGBTQ rights and oppose every single one of the bills?

Takes only a moment to do . . .

"The Home for Little Wanderers," a nonprofit organization established more than 200 years ago, is the oldest child welfare organization in the country. With more than 1000 clinicians, psychiatrists, social workers and teachers, they are instrumental in ensuring care and support throughout communities. They offer adoption and foster care, behavioral and clinical care, family support, independent living and residential support along with special education through, roughly, three dozen programs. This organization is based out of Boston. 

Recently, a new group home has opened up in Keene, and will be able to host up to eight LGBTQ young people between the ages of 12 and 19. This facility is also the first of its kind in New Hampshire. Sadly, NH has been experiencing a rise in discrimination and violence towards LGBTQ young people. Even our state legislature continues to regularly propose bills aiming to restrict or ban certain types of gender-affirming care for minors.

The recently established group home is 6,700 square feet with four bedrooms able to sleep two residents each. Eighteen staff members will be there around the clock, assisting residents to either prepare for living independently, moving in to foster care or reuniting with their families. 

Staff members consist of licensed clinicians providing mental health services specific to LGBTQ, planning and therapy for any future treatments and some vocational training. However, a minor would need permission from their parent or legal guardian in order to undergo any medical treatment. Staff members will also be able to assist residents who struggle with abuse and neglect issues. The expected stay for some teens could be two to three years, with some staying for only a few months. The residents will have regular chores for which an allowance is earned and learn to cook meals while living in a safe and stable home. All this is to successfully assist the resident for the day they are able to be out on their own or reunite with their family.

In 2021,The Home for Little Wanderers signed a contract with the NH Dept. of Health & Human Services. That contract covered $387,000 in initial costs for the project, the majority of it went for personnel and equipment. The contract also specifies the organization receives a daily rate of $585 for every Medicaid-enrolled resident at the facility. Unity House will also receive funding from Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) of around $480 a day for each resident staying there. 

Residents will have the opportunity to attend local schools, enabling them to take part in sports and social groups. If you would like to take an active part in making this endeavor a success contact the staff at Unity House unityhousegetinvolved@thehome.org. 

We’ll finish off Women’s History Month with these two novelists.

Eleanor Emily Hodgman Porter was born on Dec. 19, 1868, in Littleton, New Hampshire. She attended the New England Conservatory for several years, training as a singer. In 1892 she married businessman John Lyman Porter and they relocated to Massachusetts. It was there Eleanor began writing and publishing her short stories and novels. By 1901, she had turned entirely from music to writing. 

Her stories were mainly adventure, literature for children and romance fiction. She is most famous for her 1913 novel Pollyanna and the 1915 sequel Pollyanna Grows Up. 

In 1916, Pollyanna was made into a Broadway play, which starred Helen Hayes. Four years later, it became a movie (or as they were called in 1920, “motion picture”) which starred Mary Pickford and then Haley Mills in the 1960 remake. 

Porter went on to write several more novels and short stories before her death on May 21, 1920, in Cambridge, Mass.

Jodi Lynn Picoult was born on Long Island in 1966. She was five years old when she wrote her first story "The Lobster Which Misunderstood". In 1983 she graduated from Smithtown High School East. At Princeton University, Picoult studied creative writing, graduating in 1987. She married Timothy van Leer in 1989; currently residing in Hanover, NH with their three children. 

Picoult’s accomplishments include two short stories in the magazine Seventeen; she has edited textbooks and taught eighth-grade English. She has a master’s degree from Harvard University, received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Dartmouth College in 2010 and another one from University of New Haven in 2012. In 2013, Picoult was a member of the inaugural Writers Council of the National Writing Project. This organization recognizes the "universality of writing as a communicative tool and helps teachers enhance student writing." 

As an activist, in 2010, she led the 5th Annual Children's Hospital at Dartmouth Hero Half Marathon & Relay 5K Walk around Occom Pond and through the town of Hanover. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for the NH Coalition Against the Death Penalty. (As an aside, the death penalty in NH came to an end on May 30, 2019. Before that, Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed the bill, but legislators had enough votes to override the veto.) With the famous Women's March on Washington taking place not only in Washington DC, on Jan. 21, 2017, but similar marches in cities nationwide, Picoult was a keynote speaker at the New Hampshire Women's Day of Action and Unity in Concord. 

You know you’ve made it as an author when your books are targeted for banning! In March 2023, twenty of Picoult's books were taken out of the Martin County School District in Florida. They were to be reviewed for “potentially inappropriate content.” According to Picoult, the complaint came from one parent who depicted her books as "adult romance.” Picoult refuted the complaint, stating: "What [the books] do have, however, are issues like racism, abortion rights, gun control, gay rights, and other topics that encourage kids to think for themselves." Picoult has criticized Moms for Liberty who have called for the removal of her books. Her 2007 book, Nineteen Minutes, was one of 374 books being targeted for banning from school libraries in Iowa’s Urbandale Community School District during the summer of 2023. 

Yup! It’s those school vouchers again. Commissioner Edleblut’s gift that keeps on giving . . .

Currently, the Senate Finance Committee is looking at two bills which would expand the school voucher program. SB 442 expands the voucher program for anyone who has been denied a manifest hardship and SB 522 creates a whole new voucher program for pre-k in New Hampshire even though we do not have a public pre-k program in this state yet.

These new programs would be a huge expansion of a currently overbudgeted and unaudited voucher program. Please tell the Senate Finance Committee we cannot afford voucher expansion and to vote no on SB 442 and SB 522. All this takes is a simple on line signature.

On Tues., March 26, the House Education Committee will be hearing SB 374. This bill is meant to decrease the standards for becoming a teacher by permitting someone who does not have a teaching credential to work up to 30 hours a week. All students deserve teachers who understand how to best educate them, setting them up for future success in their lives. Decreasing standards does not do that, instead it could lower the educational experience for students. Please contact the House Education Committee urging them to Reject SB 374 and Respect Professional Standards for Educators.

A bit of good news, HB 1353 was recently tabled by the House. This bill would have given Edleblut subpoena power over educators. The bill did not have enough votes to pass this past week but could be taken off the table by a simple majority vote next week. Once next week is over, the bill would then require a two-thirds vote to remove from the table, effectively killing the bill. Something else to keep an eye on even while we await an audit of the school voucher program which is required by state law that the Dept. of Education is slow walking.

Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) came into existence in 2008, after the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Ron Paul. They set up nationwide chapters in high schools and college campuses, for the purpose of "advancing liberty on campus and in American electoral politics." They are active on almost 400 college and university campuses, represent thousands of students, and is the publisher of “The American Revolution” a quarterly magazine. 

YAL opposes gun legislation, such as “red flag laws” and “critical race theory” at public schools. They often attack Democratic officials on social media. 

Through YAL, the Hazlitt Coalition is an active network of nationwide state legislators with more than 300 members as of Nov. 2022. They believe in gun rights and vaccine choice, among other issues. For example, the coalition had filed about 25 bills in defense of people’s rights against COVID-19 protocols. 

Here in New Hampshire we have nearly 100 YAL members in our legislature:

State Senate – Kevin Avard, Keith Murphy

State House - Kimberly Abare, Keith Ammon, Aidan Ankarberg, Judy Aron, Cyril Aures, Glenn Bailey, Harry Bean, Michael Belcher, Lex Berezhny, Ross Berry, Steven Bogert, Richard Brown, 
Jose Cambrils, Barbara Comtois, James Connor, Travis Corcoran, Glenn Cordelli, Matthew Coulon, Leah Cushman, Ron Dunn, Jess Edwards, Keith Erf, Oliver Ford, Jason Gerhard,  Michael Granger, Jeffrey Greeson, Gerry Griffin, Tina Harley, Mike Harrington, Juliet Harvey-Bolia, JR Hoell, Dan Hynes, Thomas Kaczynski, Diane Kelley, Stephen Kennedy, James Kofalt, Catherine Kenny, Erica Layon, Alicia & Tony Lekas, John Lewicke, David Love, Tom Mannion, Nikki McCarter, Carol & Dan McGuire, Mark McLean, Kristin Noble, Jeanine Notter, Jason Osborne, Sandra Panek, Diane Pauer, Kristine Perez, Katy Peternel, Emily Phillips, Brandon Phinney, Tony Piemonte, Tom Ploszaj, Yury Polozov, Daniel Popovici-Muller, Susan Porcelli,  Lisa Post, Kelley Potenza, John Potucek, Andrew Prout, Jim Qualey,
Arlene Quaratiello, Andrew Renzullo, Laurie Sanborn, Alvin See, Matthew Santonastaso, Brian Seaworth, John Sellers, Shane Sirois, Lisa Smart, Julius Soti, James Spillane, James Summers, Jeffrey Tenczar, Paul Terry, David Testerman, Dick Thackston, Chris True, Paul Tudor, Len Turcotte, Jordan Ulery, Michael Vose, Kevin Verville, Scott Wallace, Robert Wherry, Clayton Wood and Josh Yokela 

Please note, a lot of these names also appear on the Free State Project list and the list of Liberty Alliance members. Know who you are voting for, what their beliefs are and whether those beliefs align with yours.

Last year, the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit objecting to the use of New Hampshire’s Education Trust Fund money being used to fund Education Freedom Accounts (EFA). These accounts are a large part of Education Commissioner Frank Edleblut’s long term goal of undermining public education by taking our taxpayer dollars and making them available for parents who want to send their children to private, religious or home school. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers by its president, Deb Howes. The lawsuit claimed that this money, being used for non public school education, was not only unconstitutional but illegal. 

In Nov., Edleblut and his like-minded cronies had reason to celebrate as the Merrimack County Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit. Howes gave the following statement, “The court actually said the quiet part out loud, stating that the state does not have an obligation to provide a constitutionally adequate education to children whose parents opt to provide them a private education. That stunning admission should shock the public to its core and give everyone pause about the accountability and quality of voucher schools.” 

On Monday, Mar. 18th, Edleblut made noises about state auditors, specifically NH’s Legislative Budget Assistant (LBA), who were trying to review the Education Freedom Account school choice program. The LBA is looking to audit the school voucher program that spent $24 million of our taxpayer dollars last year! The “Children's Scholarship Fund of New Hampshire” is the administer of the voucher program, and Edleblut felt the LBA should not have requested financial data that is not owned by the state. He called it a “fishing expedition.” I call it the state auditors wanting to clarify on what and where $24 million of our taxpayer dollars are going!

The LBA, which is nonpartisan, has been in existence since 1953 and carries out investigations, analyses, or research into the financial activities of New Hampshire State government entities. Whether Edleblut likes it or not, some of the state’s private and/or religious schools are benefitting from the use of our taxpayer dollars and should be held to state scrutiny.

We’ll have to watch how this little tug-of-war turns out between state transparency with (can’t be said enough) our taxpayer dollars and the ones who want to destroy public education.