By a vote of 223 to 108, the New Hampshire House passed HCR 19 today.  This is the latest version of our now infamous HCR 6 whose failure under the democrat majority promoted outbursts from the gallery by armed open carry supporters.

The democrats spun that as an excuse to ban all firearms from the New Hampshire State House through the facilities committee, a problem remedied earlier in this session by a an act of the House that now permits representatives to carry on the floor of the House chamber.

The bloodshed promised by the progressives should we allow concealed and or open carry throughout the chamber has yet to materialize.

But back to HCR 19.

This House Concurrent Resolution..

…affirms States’ powers based on the Constitution for the United States and the Constitution of New Hampshire.

It is a bit longer than the average New Hampshire bill but not by too much.  For those not inclined to read it,  here are a few highlights.

I. Therefore, words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument; and

II. Therefore, whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force;

…

Therefore, all acts of Congress, the orders of the Executive or orders of the Judiciary of the United States of America which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory; and

…

Therefore, all compulsory federal legislation that directs States to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires States to pass legislation or lose federal funding are prohibited; and

…

but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis), to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them;

I’m not certain if our Democrat Governor, John Lynch, despite being faced with super majorites in both Houses and five republican Executive Councilors with whom he must share power, will back such a resolution.  He has been know to misplace his spine from time to time.  So it is not entirely impossible a thought for him to simply go along for the ride.  But my money is on him sticking with his own party if for no other reason than that this is where his campaign money comes from.

That aside, this is an excellent turn of events for a state whose motto is Live Free or Die, but who for a span of four years, experimented with liberal progressives leadership in all its State governing bodies.  And it is but one of many acts which should (hopefully) turn back the legislative abuse  of that brief flirtation with democrat rule.

New Hampshire has a bill coming up that would create an open market for Health Insurance in the state.  HB 241 is an act that wold allow..

…a willing consumer and willing insurance carrier may contract on mutually agreeable terms for individual or group health insurance which is not subject to regulation by the insurance commissioner, insurance mandates, or administrative consumer protection law. Such transactions shall be subject to criminal fraud prosecution and civil lawsuits, including class action suits.

So any individual, group or businesses in the Granite State would be able to buy insurance from anyone willing to sell it to them, from anywhere, for any amount of coverage, at whatever cost they could both agree upon.

Border-less, free market, health Insurance.  Good for individuals.  Good for business.  Good for job creation.  But not everyone will love it.

Big Insurers like Anthem and Harvard Pilgrim, who I am told control 50% and 30% respectively of all in-State Health Insurance policies in New Hampshire will come out strong against it.  They are not going to want us to take our dollars anywhere else and they certainly do not want to have to change how they do business to keep what they have.

The State Insurance commissioner will be against it.  It bypasses his authority completely.

And the democrats will not care for it either, for all the obvious reasons.  But the Republicans now control super majorities in both the State House and State Senate, and all five seats in the Executive Council which shares power with our lonely Democrat governor. If the Republicans are encouraged to give this a shot we have as good an opportunity as anyone may ever have to make this into chaptered law.

Some additional commentary here

New Hampshire is turning red again.  If you ask locally, even among some democrats, the Republicans are taking back both houses of the legislature, should keep Judd Gregg’s Senate seat, and will very likely flip both House seats.  The only job they had not seen themselves taking was the Governorship but that may be changing.

In the early days of spring the National Organization for marriage (NOM) spent a little over $200K on a television ad and a web presence (and bumper stickers) based on the idea that ‘Lynch Lied.’  Long story short governor John Lynch had always said civil unions were fine, but marriage was between a man and a women.  That was until the state legislature managed to twist enough no votes into either abstentions or yeses to finally pass a gay marriage bill in the 400 seat state House of representatives.   Lynch singed it, and in so doing flip flopped on a major issue.  NOM’s ad pointed this out, as well Mr. Lynch’s balancing the budget with debt, something the governor called balanced, but with which NOM also took issue in the spot.

John Lynch and Ray Buckley, the openly gay New Hampshire Democrat party (NHDP) chairmen—and all their little helpers—rushed out to cry foul run interference, create distractions, and decry the use of out of state money and influence in local politics.  No meddling, they bayed, this is New Hampshire.  Those of us that follow this kind of thing  laughed knowing full well that under Buckley out of state money in the NHDP had ballooned since 2006—which just happened to be when Tim Gill started his national state by state agenda.

As the whine began to fade I received an email with a link to an article from The Washington Blade, a GLBT newspaper.  In it were details about a secret Gay donor conference in Chicago at which only four democrat governors had been invited.  This was Tim Gill’s Political OutGiving confab, an annual meeting of some 200 wealthy donors, each quietly donating in tandem to advance the gay agenda in whichever states the group thought had the most promise for success.  John Lynch was one of those four governors, and gave a luncheon key note speech at the conference.

On may 28^th I penned my first essay exposing both his presence and the obvious contradictions it presented to the whiny rhetoric of just a few weeks earlier, and then proceeded to do some research.  Over the next six weeks I released a number of essays identifying the beginnings of a money trail from several wealthy gay lobby donors into  the state, either directly to the party or through some other entity like Human Rights Campaign NH.  After re posting the original essay with several follow-ups, the issue finally hit the local lefty broadsheets in Concord, Keene and Laconia (all the same article–my take here)  in which the governor was lauded for his having now openly embraced the agenda of gay marriage.

Lynch’s visit is officially out of the closet.

What he did and said there have become an issue as is the matter of special interest out of state money–the latter more so because of all the squealing by the democrats.   Some groups are now filing right to know requests to ply details—and hopefully the actual speech—out of the corner office.  Whatever the outcome, one more of the sacred seals of the Lynch ‘nice guy’ personae has a few more cracks in it.  Given enough attention it could accelerate the declining popularity of the Teflon John and give an opportunity to put one of several decent GOP alternatives in charge of the state.

For those looking for more on this…

Some links to my related posts on the out of state money Here, here and here.

New Hampshire Congressman Paul Hodes–now Senate candidate Hodes–had this to say about the defeat of expanded SCHIP legisaltion back in 2007.

1) There is a huge difference between what the President values and what the American people value. To the President and his allies in Congress, $190 billion this year for the war in Iraq is a necessity, but $35 billion to provide health care to uninsured children is an extravagance.

2) President Bush may be dismally unpopular with most Americans, but he is still revered by his supporters in Congress. Today they chose to carry out his will instead of the 81% of Americanswho support SCHIP. They chose to carry out his will instead of helping uninsured children get to the doctor. If there was any question where their loyalties lie, they’ve made it clear today.

(3) The change the American people voted for last November has only partially been carried out. There are still too many in Congress who wait for the President to tell them how to vote instead of listening to their constituents. Today on the floor of the House, partisan members of Congress chose loyalty to the President over loyalty to the people. And that, although not surprising, is a tragedy.”

(Emphasis mine.)

Let’s recap with some light editing. 

“There is a huge difference between what the President values and what the American people value.”

“President Bush Obama may be dismally unpopular with most Americans, but he is still revered by his supporters in Congress. Today they chose to carry out his will instead of the [majority] of Americans [who oppose his health care plan]… If there was any question where their loyalties lie, they’ve made it clear today.”

and my favorite..

“There are still too many in Congress who wait for the President to tell them how to vote instead of listening to their constituents. Today on the floor of the House, partisan members of Congress chose loyalty to the President over loyalty to the people. And that, although not surprising, is a tragedy.”

Does it get any better than this?

I honestly can’t wait to repost this over and over after hypocrat Hodes votes for the very unpopular Health Reform rider-side car-wreconciliation, which will then allow to pass the separate wretched piece of legislation which he claims to support in verbal excess, but which he can’t even vote for.  Wheter it passes or not (I hope not) he will be voting for it.

Edited and Cross Posted from NH Insider

Up In New Hampshire the JUA money grab is back in the news.  A group is blasting NH Senate Candidate Kelly Ayotte (R), and NH Governor John Lynch (D), for trying to balance the state budget last year with $110 million from a malpractice fund created by the state but filled with money from the pockets of doctors who were forced by law to contribute to it.  The thinking goes that because the state forced them to pay in, the state has rights to the money because it (the state) created the need for the underwriting fund.

That’s like buying a big cookie jar, forcing people to put their money in it, and then insisting that money is now yours because it’s your jar. 

Current Jar steward Lynch and his ex-AG Ayotte still beleive they were wronged by the State Supreme court when it said “you can’t have the money,” which is not an unexpected reaction.  Ayotte’s office assured her Governor at the time that the state had a legal claim. 

I happen to think the governor and AG have a commitment not just to execute the laws that are written but to try and identify and protect us from the ones that are written badly, particularly when the democrat legislature is tilting at windmills to hide their abusive spending addiction.  Instead of goading the legislature along,  perhaps they could instead suggest ways to make the law work better.  But then that would require more leadership and less of a desire to hide poor management skills by robbing others to cover irresponsible governance. (NH has had a sizeable deficit and spending problem under Democrat Lynch which have required tricks and magic to cover.)

So the JUA grab was just another legisaltive mugging.  The mugger (the state) knew the money was there and decided (at midnight on the night of the budget deadline last year no less) that the JUA could part with it simply because the state suddenly needed it more.  They then wrote it into the budget. The AG looks on approvingl yand the governor–complicit in the spendathon that  required the mugging is happy with the pot of gold they have discovered.

But it is not to be.  The JUA files suit and wins a case before State Supreme Court.  

It is worth noting that while the NH Supreme court did find against the state they left a backdoor in their decision for new legislation that could change the law, presumably to allow the State House to legally rob the JUA fund.  I think it would be an encouraging sign if the legislature instead wrote a law that removed the states right to take that property instead.  It would also be encouraging to have a governor who was more interested in what was right for New Hampshire than whatever he could justify to cover his and his democrat legislatures collective backsides, but we will need to take back the legislature (likely) and the Governors office (possible) before that would happen.

While we wait, Americans for Job Security (AJS) has started a web campaign against Ayotte and Lynch to keep the matter on everyones mind.  Former NH Dem Party Chair Kathy Sullivan has filed a claim regarding AJS’s 501(c)6 status with the new NH AG in defense of Lynch, while Ayotte complains about who did what in the Conservatory with the pipe wrench.  If it matters, I beleive a former HNGOP chair is the voice of AJS, Steve DeMaura.

This is probably the first of many complications for Ayotte, who while popular with the establishment is not loved by the bulk of the NH grass roots, nor many in the tea party, nor the real conservatives, nor the pro-liberty free Staters, all of whom are very active and very noisy.  And her record as AG is littered with skeletons, so we should expect to see them all as the primary moves forward.   Will it affect her lead, maybe?  Will it help democrat Paul Hodes, not at all.  My dog could poll well against Hodes and most of the Republicans could beat him today by 10-20 points.  Unfortunately the real conservative, Ovide Lamontagne, would not.  That needs to change.  But what AJS is doing is not likley to help Ovide all that much.  It may however help Republican John Stephen, who is vying to run against Lynch for Governor.

Time will tell, and I’ll try to keep you up to date on it when I can. 

Edited and Cross Posted from NH Insider.com