New Hampshire: The Real Facts

Defeat of Constitutional Amendment Opens the Door to an Income Tax
[Submitted by the office of NH Republican Leader, Michael Whalley.]

House Democrats took another step toward forcing an income tax on the citizens of New Hampshire today when they led the charge to defeat Governor Lynch’s constitutional amendment dealing with education funding. Not only did the majority party refuse to keep the lines of communication open through further debate, but they overwhelming voted to indefinitely postpone CACR 18 and, as a result, the subject matter cannot be taken up by the House for two years.

Following weeks of discussions and meetings with members of both parties, Governor Lynch’s campaign promise to bring an Education Constitutional Amendment to the people was undercut by the leadership of his own party. House Democrat leaders used the parliamentary maneuver to kill Lynch’s education initiative thus preventing any further amendments from being debated on the floor of the House.

“What is so frustrating is that a meaningful compromise and discussion was underway in this chamber when the Democrat leadership threw up their hands and walked away,” said Republican Leader Michael Whalley (r-Alton).

“By doing so, they let their true feelings show through. It is clear that they never really wanted an education constitutional amendment and they were just paying ‘lip-service’ to their governor all along. It is a sad day for the people of New Hampshire who have once again been denied the opportunity to have their say on education funding policies,” added Whalley.

An amendment offered by House Finance Chair Marjorie Smith (d-Durham) was initially turned back by an overwhelming vote of 253-108--with more democrats voting against the measure than supporting it. With another five amendments ready to be debated, the move was made to indefinitely postpone the measure (187-176), effectively killing any chance for the voters of the State to see a constitutional amendment dealing with education funding on the 2008 ballot. An attempt by Republican leadership to get the House to reconsider the move following the lunch break proved to be futile and was also defeated by the Democrat-led majority, this time by an even wider margin (209-154).

“What is ironic is that, of all the amendments that had been discussed by House Finance, the Majority amendment offered by Rep. Smith was the one that received the least amount of discussion in committee,” said Rep. Stephen Stepanek (r-Amherst) a Republican Whip and a member of the House Finance committee. “Her amendment was introduced late Thursday, just five minutes prior to the final committee vote. So, after their amendment failed miserably today, they ‘took their ball and went home’.”

“Even as attempts were being made to reach compromise on the issue, House Democrats turned their backs on their own governor as well as the people of this state,” concluded Whalley.