More on New Hampshire’s Budget Deficit (Governor Lynch Still Sucks)

 Once again when writing about Governor Lynch I have to ask, does this sound like leadership to you?

To deal with the state’s budget shortfall, the governor had proposed bonding $80 million of operating expenses. The House had quite sensibly rejected borrowing money to solve the budget mess. The governor, to whose popularity most of them owe their election and hoped for re-election, convinced some of them to reconsider, but not quite enough of them.

In regular session, he would need a two-thirds majority to overturn the earlier decision. So he came up with a clever plan. The Legislature would finish its business and have an immediate special session to consider the budget crisis. At the new session, he only needed a majority.

Republican Sen. Ted Gatsas had long ago called for a supplemental budget bill to consider and openly debate possible solutions to the budget crisis — a revenue shortfall of around $200 million. But the abuse of power session wouldn’t allow open debate, so the only thing to be considered was the governor’s borrowing scheme with a couple of non-controversial technical amendments tacked on so it could be called a budget “plan.”

No open debate, no free exchange of ideas, no hearings. Just one bill considered under a clever plan to bypass House rules.

Nothing illegal and nothing honorable. Isn’t democracy grand?

 What a guy, huh? He couldn’t get his way, even with a Democrat majority so he pulled a little fast one here. Governor Lynch basically wanted to borrow money we don’t have to balance the budget on paper. This effectively just pushes back the due date, but the bills will still come due. He charged the budget.

  He didn’t have enough support in the regular session because he was required to get a super majority vote. So as soon as the session ended the sly one, slick Johnny, called for a special session, this required only a simple majority and stifled debate. And to top it all off the doors were locked so nobody could leave for fear of there not being enough people present to conduct business. Over anxious to spend Democrats immediately passed this bill and the rest is history. New Hampshire still has a budget deficit, we just don’t have to pay for it yet.