HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERS REFUSE TO HOLD LEGISLATORS ACCOUNTABLE FOR HATE SPEECH AND HARASSMENT

December 16, 2020 - Today, the House Rules Committee voted not to allow a late-filing bill request submitted by House Democratic Leader and Rules Committee member, Representative Renny Cushing, to clarify and expand that hate speech, bullying, and all other forms of harassment are not appropriate conduct for elected officials. Co-sponsor of the request, Representative Charlotte Dilorenzo, (D-Newmarket), released the following statement:

“It is simply disturbing that Republican leadership chose not to allow the drafting of legislation that would hold elected officials accountable for hate speech. Words matter and votes matter. This vote today by Republican leadership is a clear and deeply disappointing denial that Rep. Dawn Johnson, in publicly sharing anti-Semitic cartoons, engaged in harmful behavior.”

“It is particularly outrageous that while thousands of Granite Staters celebrate the sacred Jewish holiday Hannukah, Republicans would double down on bolstering this act of hate speech and any future acts by New Hampshire’s legislators.”

DEMOCRATIC LEADER DENOUNCES ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS, FILES BILL TO ENHANCE LEGISLATIVE ETHICS VIOLATIO

December 15, 2020 - Following news that newly elected Representative Dawn Johnson (R-Laconia) had shared a post from a neo-Nazi website, Democratic Leader Representative Renny Cushing, (D-Hampton), released the following statement about his plan to introduce a bill to update the Legislative Ethics Guidelines:

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a sitting Representative of the New Hampshire House has shared anti-Semitic and hateful beliefs and posts on social media. Our job is to protect all citizens of this state, and I condemn the comments made by Representative Johnson and all hateful and anti-Semitic comments.”

“Tomorrow, members of our caucus and I will be introducing a request to the House Rules Committee for late filing of legislation, amending the Legislative Ethics Committee Statutes to clarify and expand that hate speech, bullying, and all other forms of harassment are not appropriate conduct for elected officials. This change would also mean that such conduct would be subject to the same formal complaint process and range of sanctions as other ethics violations. This request is based upon the urgent and compelling need for the legislature to address hate speech by its members, and I hope the Rules Committee will grant this request.”

Republicans Vote to Increase Property Taxes, Reduce Funding for Public Schools

December 11, 2020. CONCORD - Today, during a meeting of the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, House and Senate Republicans voted to accept an unsustainable federal grant intended to double the number of charter schools across New Hampshire, thereby creating a $17 million gap in funding for the traditional public school system.

After the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester), Senator Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester), and Representative Peter Leishman (D- Peterborough) issued these statements:

“Supporting our existing charter schools and their students is, and always has been, a bipartisan priority,” stated Senate Democratic Leader Donna Soucy (D-Manchester). “This grant does not support existing charter school students or operations and leaves New Hampshire property tax payers responsible for filling a $17 million gap in state funding. Our efforts should be focused on helping our existing public schools and public charter schools who have been significantly impacted by the financial and administrative burden of COVID-19, not increasing taxes for our homeowners, renters, and small businesses during a period of mass financial instability.”

Senator Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester) added, “The overhead costs to our school districts have only increased over the past year as they do everything in their power to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and keep our kids in the classroom. With declining enrollments across the state, it is imperative that we invest more in our existing public schools, not create more schools that will be left underfinanced. This is counterproductive in addressing declining enrollments and the failure to properly fund public education will mean a downshift of costs to property tax payers. This is a fiscally irresponsible expansion grant that could cost New Hampshire taxpayers millions and jeopardize the health and vitality of our current public schools and public charter schools.”

“This grant was initially rejected by the Fiscal Committee in December of 2019 because it would have threatened the financial stability of our traditional public schools and public charter schools. Many of our existing charter schools were struggling financially before the pandemic and are only hurting more now,” added Representative Peter Leishman (D-Peterborough). “I had hoped that the Commissioner of Education would be able to request a modification of the grant to strengthen and support our existing public charter schools, not to create new ones and exacerbate the financial strains being felt on our current education system. This grant will only downshift costs to local property tax payers, something that no one can afford as we are all doing our best to keep our heads above water.”