Capital Beat
Last-minute legislation co-authored by House Speaker Bill O'Brien has court officials predicting that, if passed, the state's district, probate and family courts will revert to costly, inconsistent "fiefdoms." The amendment would return control and management of the lower courts to the judges sitting in them and no longer leave it to a central office in Concord.…
May 13, 2012
Capital Beat
It's no surprise politicos are talking up U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney. And not just because they both have great hair. Romney, some say, is struggling to connect with women and could use a female on his ticket. And Ayotte, 43, has a pretty good resume. She was the state's…
April 29, 2012
Capital Beat
Bill O'Brien announced last week he is running for re-election as New Hampshire House speaker with the support of the guy many thought could unseat him. So has the lightning rod from Mont Vernon locked up a second term at the rostrum? "I don't know. I think a lot is going to have to play out there," said House Majority Whip Shawn Jasper, a nine-term Hudson Republican.…
April 22, 2012
Capital Beat
The shoe finally dropped for Rep. Steve Vaillancourt last week. Vaillancourt, an outspoken Manchester Republican, had already been a vocal critic of the House's Republican leadership when he began turning up his attacks in recent weeks on Speaker Bill O'Brien, particularly over concerns about the House redistricting bill. Vaillancourt and other Manchester Republicans opposed…
April 8, 2012
Capital Beat
Rep. Seth Cohn, a Canterbury Republican, has finally gotten a haircut (and a shave and a facial!) "Oh, my!" were Cohn's first words when he got a look at his new look Thursday. "You have dimples!" were ours. If you recall, Cohn had been growing his hair since last year when he sponsored a bill…
April 1, 2012
Now that the House is close to sending the last of its bills over to the Senate, it's tempting to start counting Senate votes. Especially on those high-profile, controversial bills dealing with contraceptive coverage and abortion. We tried, and we can tell you it's a bit early. While it may seem like the rest of the world has a laser focus on reproductive legislation, senators don't…
March 18, 2012
Capital Beat
Somewhere, at some point today, Bill O'Brien should kick up his feet and take a load off. It was quite the week for the lightning-rod House speaker. On Monday, O'Brien shot off a less-than-cordial missive to state Attorney General Michael Delaney, announcing that a review of conduct by House Republicans at a hearing last year on President Obama's ballot eligibility turned…
March 11, 2012
Capital Beat
New Hampshire is accustomed to being the center of attention early on in presidential election years, when the primary circus envelops our little state. This time, the spotlight could linger until November. Ahead of President Obama's stop here last week - his second in less than four months - NBC released a new "battleground map" showing states in various shades of…
March 4, 2012
New Hampshire is accustomed to being the center of attention early on in presidential election years, when the primary circus envelops our little state. This time, the spotlight could linger until November. Ahead of President Obama's stop here last week - his second in less than four months - NBC released a new "battleground map" showing states in various shades of red or blue depending…
March 4, 2012
If you think the female reproductive system has overshadowed the jobs-and-economy agenda of the House's Republican leadership, there's more to tell you. Last week, the House Judiciary Committee endorsed a bill that would require women getting an abortion to first be told about her fetus's brain and heart conditions and that the state of New Hampshire "urges" her to contact an adoption…
February 26, 2012
Close observers of State House happenings may have come down with a case of deja vu these past couple weeks. Passing right-to-work? Repealing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative? Haven't we been here before? "The part I don't understand . . . if it's the same bill, how can (House Speaker Bill O'Brien) bring it up again? It's been heard and responded to," Democratic congressional…
February 19, 2012
The new plan to redraw New Hampshire's five Executive Council districts could be trouble for Republican Councilor Dan St. Hilaire of Concord. The new map, which is scheduled to go before the House Wednesday, adds the Democratic havens of Portsmouth, Durham and Keene to St. Hilaire's district, while dropping some of his more conservative towns like Chichester, Epsom and Loudon. State…
February 12, 2012
Capital Beat
It may have recently found its way to your mailbox: "Important News About New Hampshire's Marriage Law," under the House of Representatives letterhead and state seal. "Very soon, the New Hampshire Legislature will vote on legislation I filed last year to restore traditional marriage in our state," writes Rep. David Bates, a Windham Republican. "If you…
February 5, 2012
Capital Beat
As the state's hospitals sue over the Legislature's decision to cut their Medicaid reimbursement by more than $250 million, the Republican leadership is trying to waive federal taxes and bend the rules to bring a for-profit, specialty cancer hospital to the state. A bill sponsored by Rep. Marilinda Garcia, a Salem Republican, would allow the Cancer Treatment Centers of America…
January 29, 2012
