By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CANTERBURY – Gov. Chris Sununu swore in a new Democratic state Representative Wednesday and the Executive Council authorized special elections to fill two vacancies in Coos County Districts 1 and 6 as the Democrats now press Republican leadership to explain how long they knew former House Republican Troy Merner, R-Lancaster was in violation by living and voting outside his district.
The 400-member House, which does not come back until next year, is almost equally divided between Republicans and Democrats and the special elections may hold sway as to who is in power.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, Sununu also nominated Morissa Henn of Concord as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, succeeding Lori A. Weaver of Concord who is now its commissioner.
Henn, if confirmed, will receive a salary of $151,666 with a term through Aug. 18, 2024.
Currently, she is associate commissioner and has been in that role since 2021.
Sununu is sticking with the team that worked through much of the COVID-19 pandemic to fill a number of positions which have been vacated following the announcement last year that Lori Shibinette would step down from the top spot.
SWEARING IN AND SPECIAL ELECTIONS
Democrat Hal Rafter of Nottingham was sworn in by the governor as a new state Representative in the almost equally divided House following a special election in Northwood and Nottingham in which Rafter beat Republican James Guzofski 56 percent to 44 percent.
Special elections were also set by the council Wednesday for two Coos County districts – one in the Lancaster area and the other in the Berlin area – with filing beginning on Oct. 9.
Primaries will be held Dec. 5 and the general election on Jan. 23. But if there is no primary challenge, the special election votes will be Dec. 5 in both cases.
One will be to fill one seat in the Lancaster area held by Merner, who stepped down after an Attorney General’s investigation confirmed he hasn’t lived in his House district for more than a year.
The other is for the Coos District 6 area as state Rep. William Hatch, D-Gorham, stepped down for health reasons.
Former longtime New Hampshire lawmaker Peter Hoe Burling filed a right-to-know request to find out what the House Speaker and Attorney General knew about Merner not living in the Coos County district he represented.
Burling, a Democrat, said he wants to know when they knew Merner was illegally holding his House seat for more than a year after he moved from Lancaster out of district to Carroll, 15 miles away.
In an almost equally split, 400-member body, Merner cast some key votes, including one on school vouchers.
Burling questioned why the Attorney General’s Office had a credible allegation about Merner’s move, but waited six months until the investigation was completed before notifying Speaker Packard, a Londonderry Republican in a letter Sept. 18.
Packard then asked Merner to resign immediately, which he did. Merner also resigned from the Lancaster board of selectmen where he was chairman.
“My real sense of outrage is how is it when confronted with a verifiable complaint, a state Rep is voting in a district he was not qualified to vote in,” Burling said, adding the New Hampshire Constitution is clear that Merner was required to resign when he moved out of district and not run again for that seat.
There is another special election being held in Nashua to fill the term vacated by State Rep. David Cote, D-Nashua who stepped down for health reasons. That election in Nashua’s District 4, will be Nov. 7 between Democrat Paige Beauchemin, and Republican David Narkunas.
Also this week, a third state representative, Milford’s Maria Perez has declared she is going to be an independent moving from being a Democrat.
The current count in the 400 member House is 198 Republicans, 196 Democrats, 3 Independents and 3 vacancies.
LAST ROAD SHOW OF 2023 ROLLS INTO SHAKER VILLAGE
The last of the summer “road shows” across the state for the Governor and Executive Council was held at the Canterbury Shaker Village Wednesday, the same day as Sununu leaves the country for 10 days in Kuwait, Singapore and Hawaii.
This summer, the council visited each of the five council districts with each councilor getting a chance at being host. The meetings were in Dover, Lebanon, Hampton, Manchester, and Rindge. In two weeks, they return to Council Chambers at the State House.
Sununu got to choose the last location for the on-the-road meeting and offered a commendation for the 700-acre museum which tells the story of the Shakers.
Twenty Montessori students from the Dewey School, located on the Canterbury Shaker Village grounds, welcomed the state’s counselors and the elected and appointed leaders with their “morning song.” Sununu suggested it become the council’s morning theme song.
A commendation was offered to the Canterbury Shaker Village.
Shakers were a religious community which began in England and then came to New York City, and then to Albany, N.Y.
Mother Ann Lee, came to New Hampshire to start various shaker villages.
Benjamin Winter donated his farm to the Shakers in 1782 and finally ten years later on roughly 3,000 acres the village was settled and once held 100 buildings on the property and three separate areas.
They believed in gender equity, which was unusual for the time and celibacy. There is still 700 acres of land free and open for the public to enjoy. They were called the Shakers because of their ecstatic form of dance during their religious services.
The governor noted the Shakers’ values of basic kindness, simplicity, innovation, stewardship and service to others.
SUNUNU HEADED TO KUWAIT, SINGAPORE, HAWAII OVER NEXT 10 DAYS.
The governor will be out of the country for most of the next 10 days. He was expected to travel to visit the 230 soldiers who are part of New Hampshire National Guard’s 3rd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery Regiment.
It is deployed to Central Command in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Spartan Shield. Another 50 soldiers are assigned to other locations in the Middle East. NH Adjutant Gen. David Mikolaities will accompany the governor on this visit.
Sununu will then depart Kuwait to represent New Hampshire alongside Dean Kamen at the FIRST Global Challenge 2023 in Singapore.
The governor’s office describes it as an Olympic-style robotics competition with 191 teams representing 190 nations from around the world. He previously attended the FIRST Global Challenge in 2019 in Dubai.
Sununu will then depart Singapore for Hawaii, where he will participate in an event with the Hawaii Republican Party and return Oct. 15.
MOBILITY WHEELCHAIR DONATED AND AVAILABLE AT BEAR BROOK STATE PARK
An all-terrain mobility electric wheelchair was donated to the state at Bear Brook State Park to allow for accessibility on the trails there free of charge.
The chair, valued at $19,000 was donated to the state by the America’s State Park Foundation.
Sarah Stewart, commissioner of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, said there are a lot of opportunities across New Hampshire for handicap access and she said her hope is to have a list for parents and caregivers to find where these mobility trails are located, some time in the near future.
DUMMER PROPERTY ACCEPTED FOR FISH AND GAME
OHRVs will not be allowed but hunting, fishing and recreation on 819 acres in the Town of Dummer will be allowed under an acquisition approved by the council. The deal is federally funded with help from the Glover Family who was thanked by Executive Councilor Joe Kenney of Wakefield, a Republican.
A total of $854,231 was spent.
LONDONDERRY, CORNISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GETS NEW WATER SYSTEM BECAUSE OF PFAS CONTAMINATION
Cornish Elementary School which is without potable water, is used not only by students but for town meeting and the Cornish Fair. But it will receive $200,000 to install a new drinking water supply, after the council approved funding Wednesday.
Rene Pelletier of DES said PFAS is an issue which has developed over the past few years and the state has been testing for it. When school officials found the presence of PFAS, they notified the state and were eligible for this federal funding.
Pelletier said he did not expect it to be a lengthy process to drill a new well but it will be put on a regime of sampling to make sure the potentially cancer causing material does not resurface.
Also, the council approved $2.4 million for Old Country Village of Londonderry Inc. to finance the interconnection to remediate PFAS there, using the PFAS remediation grant and loan fund.
STAFFING AT SUNUNU YOUTH MAXIM EXTENSION APPROVED AS CENSUS NUMBERS ON THE RISE
A $500,000 extension to an existing contract with Maxim Healthcare Staffing Services which provides staffing for the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester was approved.
“Where do we stand with the wind-down and closure of the facility?” asked Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, a Rye Republican.
“Our numbers are going up,” said Weaver.
While the department has been working with the legislature on a new model for a new facility and has an architect it comes at a time when they have a “high census at the facility so we need to be sure we have enough staffing,” Weaver said, to handle the population of troubled youth, which have numbered in the order of 20 or fewer residents, in the past.