Terrie Norelli As Petty Tyrant Must Be Opposed

February 5, 2019

To:  House Members, Media

From:  Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, Hills. 15

RE:   SPEAKER’S CENSURESHIP OF HB1522

Here is the minority blurb the Speaker has chosen to censure from this week’s calendar.  She did this without any explanation whatsoever and refuses to provide one (except the usual pablum, “I uphold the committee decision”; it was actually not a committee decision but an arbitrary decision by the chair). 

Freedom of speech is not something which should be taken lightly.  Our forefathers fought too hard to get it for us for us to abandon to a petty NH despot.  Nor is free speech divisible. 

Imagine trying to tell Patrick Henry, it’s all right to say, “Give me liberty” but that line about “give me death” is a little too much. 

Or trying to tell Thomas Paine it’s all right to talk about “the times that try men’s souls” but to refer to someone as a “sunshine patriot” is too much. 

Or trying to tell Thomas Jefferson that the line “all men are created equal” is fine but it’s too much to enumerate the crimes of the king.  Speaker Norelli has gone way beyond simply censorship, editing a word or two; she has censured the entire blurb, thus leaving the six member minority with no voice whatsoever.  

As I mentioned yesterday, in the face of absolute despotism, civil disobedience is the often the only recourse.  Remember how our patriot forefathers could not beat the British in 1775 so they resorted to sniping at the redcoats enroute back from Lexington and Concord.  Civil disobedience was also an honored practice used by modern freedom fighters from Gandhi to Martin Luther.  I would never presume to put myself in the same category as those great men, but the principle is the same, one far greater than a petty despot from Durham. 

I have already begun the campaign of civil disobedience as you will note soon, but it is only the beginning.  Much more is to come as long as despotism reigns in the NH House.  I hope a few of me will grab a crate of tea and join the protest to let freedom ring once again.

House Bill 1522

Majority–12-6, ITL

Minority Report–Interim Study

 Rep. Steve Vaillancourt for the minority of Local and Regulated Revenues:  Tragic is the only word the minority can think of to describe the majority reaction to this bill which would simply clarify the right of people in cities and towns to vote on spending cap referendums.  In fact, such spending caps have already been approved in numerous cities, and this bill simply represents an attempt to forestall law suits declaring the will of the people as illegal.  Tragically, rather than addressing the basic right of people to vote to amend their charter, the majority tried to bring forward smoke and mirrors, claiming how specific proposals could be flawed.  Nothing about this bill would mandate any specific proposal; that would still be up to any given city or town.  The same city or town would have the right to repeal a spending cap in a succeeding year, so nothing in this bill would tie the hands of future generations or even of voters two years out.  Tragically again, the majority insisted that people were “too emotional” to vote on their city charter.  The minority believes this is tantamount to saying people are too stupid too decide what is best for them.  Too emotional to elect Barack Obama?  The minority thinks not.  Too emotional to elect Scott Brown?   The minority thinks not.  Tragically, it seems that only the minority of the committee has confidence in the intelligence of voters to make decisions.  This bill would also mandate an override (by a two-thirds vote) of any spending cap, but since that might be imperfect, the minority was more than willing to study the ramifications of passing this bill so that we would have a better idea of how to make it “more perfect” next time around.  To simply kill it is to shovel dirt on the graves of our founding fathers and our democratic principles and to provide another big pay day for lawyers.