A Self-Interested Political Stunt That Doesn’t Have To Be – JP

Adam Montgomery certainly made for much water cooler talk, reaching beyond state lines as a high-profile defendant and convict. I know of nobody who disagrees that he’s a bad person deserving of punishment. With regard to philosophy, science, and spirituality, much talk can be had by experts and laypeople regarding his future, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

I’m going to cut to the chase and explain my objection to the political theater of HB 1713.

Enemy camp Rep Shurtleff, our most recent living former Speaker, got the House to suspend the rules, allowing him to file a very late-season “feel good” bill in an election year.

This bill does NOT change the outcome of the trial or the sentence awaiting the defendant, nor does it bring the victim back to life.  Let me be clear that I respect plenty of people who want Adam Montgomery to attend his sentencing, but my objection is to the process and for a variety of reasons.

Let’s start with Carol McGuire’s March 10 report, in which she said she voted against the suspension of the rules because it seemed petty and specific to one person.  “And just like that,” with a picture of Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, Granite Staters have a problem with an age-old law that allows defendants to be absent for their court dates. In my 30+ years living here and many more just outside the state line, there have been several high-profile criminal cases.  Suppose for a moment that one of those famous defendants exercised that option. Suppose it wasn’t an election year. Suppose the incumbent governor wasn’t an attention-seeking virtue signaler who’s looking to go out with a bang upon retirement.  I surmise that the regular process of how a bill becomes a law would be or have been followed the ordinary way without fanfare and special treatment.

Let’s talk about this fanfare and special treatment because HB 1713’s accomplice, um, I mean cosponsor, Terry Roy, expedited an executive session as the Criminal Justice chair on the same day as the hearing, March 20.  Terry Roy has been showing his true colors as of late, especially after collaborating with gun hater and committee member Rep Meuse on HB 1711, which the Women’s Defense League is NOT a fan of.  Just ask anyone who attended their rally last Saturday.

Terry Roy must be a prodigy of Jeb, who was the Senate HHS chair when she showed such special treatment for Jan Schmidt’s bathroom pass bill, HB 1130, in 2022.

Another part of the special treatment is the finish line.  The Damn Emperor told Adam Sexton he would sign HB 1713, but keep in mind that Adam Montgomery’s sentencing is scheduled for May, assuming nothing will delay that date.

Depending on the bill, His Excellency either quietly signs a stack of bills, followed by releasing a statement, or ceremoniously signs them individually at a table set up in front of the cameras outside a venue (such as a courthouse) and lets some passionately interested ordinary person keep the pen. My guess is that the latter will occur, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets its own very special name; “Harmony’s Law.”

Looking just short of the finish line, it’s also known that the enrollment process of bills making it through both chambers is a time variable.  The wheels or progress can turn slowly or quickly, depending on the machine operator’s excuses or zeal regarding the bill at hand.  Some bills don’t get signed(or vetoed) until later in the summer, but HB 1713 has a seemingly imposed May deadline, and it still has to visit the Senate.

My hope is that this bill dies in the House, and I’ve heard there’s a bipartisan group of critics. Again, and for the record, my opposition is to the process being used rather than the bill itself. Knowing how unstable the House is with its precarious composition, serial absences, and reputation of much after-lunch attrition, the success of HB 1713 is a wild card. If it passes the House, it’s off to the Senate Judiciary.

Does Sharon Carson like this bill?  Do the fine gentlemen attorneys like it?  It appears that criminal law is Daryl Abbas’s area of interest, given some of the comments he’s made in the Senate chamber.  If he needs some convincing to dislike it, I’ll point out that Attorney LaFrance, a frequent WMUR legal contributor, said defense attorneys usually advise their clients to appear.  And don’t forget that committee’s enemy camp: 2 unhinged nut job women.  One of them, who only recently resumed breathing fresh air full time, is an ordinary garden variety lunatic that Merrimack Police Chief Levesque probably endorses.  The other one is a dumb blonde lawyer who practices projection, gaslighting, lying, straw man arguments, and many other enemy camp toolbox tools, perhaps more than she practices law.

Remember that either one of them could dislike HB 1713 for the same reasons as House Criminal Justice Committee member Lemonade Linda HG.

If they want to be useful idiots, let them.

Whether or not HB 1713 makes its May deadline, crosses the finish line later, or dies with or without reincarnation next year, I seriously doubt that all the Concord efforts spent on it will result in improving the everyday lives of Granite Staters in the years to come.  Kitchen table issues are undoubtedly most on the minds of intelligent voters, and stuff like HB 1713 just needs to take a number and assume its proper place in line.