New Hampshire: Is liberation in sight?
When at the NH state house, testifying on a bill to repeal our Stand Your Ground law, I decided to check on our old friend described in my last blog: the plaque.
Since the 2001 adventure, that chunk of bronze has been sitting in a vault just off from the room where the Senate Finance committee meets.
I peered through the bars and I couldn’t see it. I felt some degree of worry, so I met with the facilities director and he assured me it is still there. Then I realized the wacko senator who so rabidly frothed against the plaque to honor those NH veterans of the ALB is no longer in the senate. He finally retired.
The senate clerk, an old friend, advised me to talk with the chief of staff of the senate president. Both men are Republicans, but not the ultra-right tea party sort. My email to him was about a way NH could make a little money.
That got his interest. We discussed the plaque and he said the old nutcase, a Senator Jack Barnes, was still obsessed with the plaque and I was surprised to learn he calls the chief of staff every couple of months to check on it!
The idea I offered was to have it declared Surplus Property, which he liked. He said Barnes would go berserk if it was released without him getting a heads up but the chief of staff, Jay Flanders, said he didn’t care if he did, he’d just as soon get rid of it.
Barnes would like to obtain it and throw it in a river. Really. But Flanders is going to check which committee has the authority; we both believe it is the House/Senate Historical Committee. Flanders is going to see if he can get then to quietly approve a declaration of Surplus Property, without notice. And the liberation process would begin. No doubt there would be interested parties who would pay more than the $1500 the state paid for it.
Now there are still hurdles. Flanders is very busy and urged me to get back to him in a couple of weeks. You can bet I will. Stay tuned good people!
