Back to all
As I walked out of the post office on the beautifully clear opening days of May, a man and his trumpet serenaded grove street. The moment was the perfect introduction to May. A reminder of the small beauties that can be found in each day. A better tune is there if you’re willing to stop and listen. The town elections were held this month. Bill Taylor is leaving his position as a member of the Select Board. He has served this town extremely well during his terms on the Select Board. He was a sharp eye over some of the largest projects the town has undertaken including the incoming fire station, and the work on the main street, and 101 bridges. It is a hard job to do and he has done it well.
Since the town elections of 2021, a local publishing companies owners have taken it upon themselves to host a local parley series for each of the elections in town. Whether it be a local town election or the State elections held every two years. The Peterborough Parley series for the election this May brought together the candidates for the zoning, planning, and Select boards in town. The event is held in our historic 1833 room of our internationally recognized town library. On April 9th, 1833, the Town of Peterborough voted to create the first public library funded by tax dollars in the world. Sparking generations of an educated, civically engaged populace in the Monadnock region. We continue that spirit into the 21st century by utilizing the library to hold all encompassing conversations on the dilemmas and solutions for that which the community faces. Regardless of how difficult a conversation is, the Monadnock region has had a history of willingness to have it. As the world enters a phase of political, economic, and social tectonic shifts - it is the connections we build with our neighbors which will determine the future of our homes during these realignments.
The local League of Women voters chapter has once again begun it’s ‘listening session’ series. This time instead of being held in Peterborough, it was held in Dublin. Having a thorough conversation with six members of the House and a Senator within the strict frame of an hour is a tough endeavor; and I am not sure it was achieved. Still, good questions were asked by people clearly engaged with the legislature and what it is doing this session. Most of the questions were for the members of the majority who came. They were asked many times to explain their support for universal private, religious, and homeschooling through the Education Freedom Account program.
The State Budget had it’s public hearing in the Senate. The Senate Ways and Means committee determined revenue estimates which are approximately 400 million dollars over what the House W&M committee had. The Senate was budgeting a 15.9 billion dollar budget while the House had budgeted a 15.5 billion dollar budget. Both under the Governor’s requested 16 billion dollars.
Similarly to the House Finance committee, the Senate Finance Committee scheduled one public hearing on the budget. Holding it in the House Chamber. As I walked through the chamber every seat was full. The anteroom was stuffed to the brim with people signing up to speak, and the entire hallway of the second floor of the State House full of people waiting in line to do the same. I had asked a staff member of the Senate what she thought of the whole ordeal. She told me that in twenty years in the building she had never seen a crowd of that size.
People testified as they did in the House, to the impact of the medicaid reimbursement rate and the $200 co-pay proposed. The cuts to the funding for the developmentally disabled which will result in some of our most vulnerable citizens in need of long term care simply going without. The cuts to the university system and it’s resulting rise in tuition costs for students, and less offered in the schools themselves. Including critical health services for the students. State employees such as corrections officers in our State prison, who are already burdened, speaking to the further strain the legislature is putting on them with the proposed cuts to the corrections system. Homeowners and builders spoke about the cuts to the housing funds which have brought real results in building housing for those who need it in our State. People spoke to the fact that the only budget item which went up in funds this year was the implementation of the universal private, religious, and homeschool education. There was so much to speak about that some critical items such as the cuts to the judiciary which will result in travesties of justice from a withering court system in some of the most critical areas of our State such as the North Country.
People were being respectful, and forceful in relaying the potential devastation which could be inflicted from this budget. The impact on the developmentally disabled, our students, our citizens on the brink of or in poverty attempting to seek the care they need, the impact to reneging action on housing prices; from their personal perspective. Many of the stories were heart-wrenching tales of how these programs aided in the lives of those who needed it.
As these people were relaying their story, the Chairman of the committee Senator James Gray, was shutting people off at a strict three minute mark with his light up stop light toy. They started the hearing at one in the afternoon, with a scheduled dinner break at five. The attempt to exhaust the public by holding one public hearing was working. As the hearing went into the night people were forced to go home because they all have lives and couldn’t sit in the hearing for the entire ten hours. By eight o’clock I had to go home. I didn’t feel good about leaving but I needed to handle something back at the house. Senator Gray continued on cutting people off, gaveling them down, and as I sat there in my room having completed what I came home to do, watching the hearing continue on - I couldn’t sit still. I got back into the car and raced back down Route 9 to Concord. I made it around half past ten. Signed up to speak, and waited my turn.
There was so much to speak about in the budget, but somebody needed to call out the committee for it’s aloof and vindictive attitude towards citizens who took time out of their day to express a personal story in front of the entire State. Only to be met with scowls, and the chime of a toddler's toy.
Senator Gray gaveled me down. Telling me that this is his committee and he shall not allow me to speak to the failures I saw in the process. To his credit, he invited me back at the very end to complete my statement. In which I doubled down.
The legislature can and must do better than the budget process we saw this year. When a new majority elects a Speaker committed to raising the standards of the House, that person should be ready to hold hearings on their proposed budget throughout the State. Opening the door for everyone impacted to be heard. Getting rid of the acrimony and showing the citizenry that with the right people, service can genuinely occur.
The House Environment and Agriculture Committee displayed that mindset which we should expect from every one of our legislators this month. The Vice Chair of our committee, Barbara Comtois, was one of the few members of the majority caucus who voted against the passage of the State budget. As a result of her vote, the leadership of her caucus removed her from the position of Vice Chair of the committee. When we met this month for the first time after learning about the decision. Everyone, including Representative Barbour, who was appointed as the replacement; offered their support to Representative Comtois. Towards the end of our work that day Representative Kelley Potenza brought the issue forward and said that she stands with Barbara. The entire committee erupted in applause. It was a reminder that there are still moments where we can put aside the labels and see one another as people, who ran to serve our districts and won. All of us deserve a fair hearing and ability to participate in this role we were elected to preform. Without having to worrying about the threat of losing that which one has gained from merit due to rebellion from the party line. Representative Comtois’s story is but one of the many examples of Representatives being punished for the crime of doing the job they were elected to do. It is absolutely wrong and when the next legislature elects it’s leadership, the members at the time would do well to keep these moments in mind.
Color is back in New England. The greens, the flowers, the blue sky; life has made it’s annual grand entrance back into the lives of us lucky enough to live in this special part of the world. With so much pain, starvation, death, destruction, oppression and cynicism in our world. Us blessed to live in these pockets of the Earth which still have those moments of calm, the quiet morning where the birds first begin to sing their tune. The parades of families with their incredible art displays marching downtown. The smile of a neighbor as you both happen to get into your car at the same time. We owe it to the world to hold gratitude for the fact that we are still in so many ways blessed. Using our gratitude to fortify us in the work to maintain those blessings for generations to come.