House Democrats Defy Tradition, Set Dangerous Precedent

Concord--In what can only be considered the
parliamentary version of the "Cornhusker Kickback," House Democrats
created a dangerous new precedent on Wednesday by conjuring up new motions and
using coin flips to determine the state's fiscal policy for their budget
shortfall.

House
Democrats came to an agreement with the Senate, behind closed doors and signed
an agreement which called for a coin toss in order to determine which bill the
House and Senate would work on in conference to address their fiscal
mismanagement. The chair of the House Finance Committee then offered what
can only be called a "contingent" motion on the House floor, a
motion that exists nowhere in rules or parliamentary procedure or has ever been
used in the House that anyone can recall. This motion passed on the House
floor by only 12 votes, with a dozen Democrats joining Republicans in protest
of this dangerous, precedent-setting vote.

In comments
to WMUR-TV, Speaker Norelli commented that she would welcome the Republicans
participation in the process but that all she'd seen so far was
obstruction. In response to this outrageous comment by the House Speaker,
House Republican Leader Sherm Packard ( Londonderry )
stated: "I am shocked by the comments of Terie Norelli. When
Republicans offered $200 Million in cuts to the budget last year, we were
turned away. When Republicans offered over $70 Million in cuts to the
recent budget, we were turned away. All Speaker Norelli has shown us is
that her party has gone from 'yes we can' to 'no we
won't.' They have failed to balance their budget, they have
failed to govern, and they have failed to even work with the Senate and their
own governor. The only way Republicans have been obstructionists is in
protecting the interests of the institution. So I ask, who's really
doing the obstructing in Concord ?"

In a further
slap to the face of proper procedure, Speaker Norelli refused to take up the
Ways & Means committee's revenue estimates BEFORE appointing the
conferees on the budget bill, leaving them in the dark about where the
state's revenues are actually tracking. "In my twenty years
in the New Hampshire House, I have never been more disgusted by the lack of
civility, the lack of respect for our traditions and precedent and the way the
majority runs the House rough-shot," concluded Packard.

THE AGREEMENT