The first batch of proposed new House bills for the year 2000 legislative session is out and the list includes a crackdown on road rage, a ban on hand-held cell phones in cars, penalties for ''official oppression,'' prohibiting the sale of urine for drug tests (we'll explain) and insurance coverage for periodontal disease. Ah, the virtues of a citizen legislature.
Here's a sample of some items on the table - they're still in the preparation stage so details are scant:
Road Rage: You know how it goes, says state Representative Leo Pepino, a Manchester Republican. A nasty driver cuts you off, then glares at you when you look upset, and then makes a familiar obscene gesture. Or how about the Plymouth woman who accidently cut off a driver on Interstate 93, who then allegedly followed her to the Campton post office where she claims he punched her? Pepino says six states have passed road rage bills and he wants to look into one for New Hampshire.
Cell Phones: They are a wonderful thing, says state Representative Robert Milligan, a Merrimack Republican, but driving with one hand and holding a cell phone with the other, as Milligan sees it, is an accident waiting to happen. He says he was driving his pickup truck on the highway when a man gabbing on a cell phone swerved out of his lane and forced Milligan's truck into the guard rail. He wasn't hurt, but that day, Milligan says, he filed his proposed bill that he hopes would set up a warning for first offenders who drive holding a cell phone and a fine if it happens twice.
''I think it's time folks buckle down and pay attention to what they're doing on the highway,'' said Milligan. And driver safety is very close to his heart. In 1980, Milligan's 17-year-old son, Timothy, was killed in a car crash. He wasn't wearing a seat belt.
Booze and bets: Two Democratic lawmakers say why not tax liquor and gambling winnings to make up for the $100 million shortfall in the new education funding bill? State Representative Jane Clemons, a Nashua Democrat, an income tax supporter who says she still has a headache over last year's House debates about money, wants to revive an idea to tax the take on Megabucks, Bingo, Scratch tickets and Powerball. She's proposing 5 percent on any winnings over $100.
State Representative Mary Moriarty, a Manchester Democrat, wants a $1 tax on a bottle of alcohol, 50 cents on wine and 25 cents on a six pack of beer. ''We need money desperately,'' said Moriarty, who also backs the income tax, ''[and] they have to get it from somewhere.''
Kids and court: State Representative Tim Robertson of Keene says a constituent's 17-year-old son got a citation for possession of a tobacco product (a.k.a. smoking) and then handled it all on his own in court - unbeknownst to his parents. Mom found out when she discovered a court paper in the kid's pants as she was about to put them in the wash. Robertson says parents ought to be notified in advance.
Official Oppression: There is a clique of House lawmakers who speak forcefully about proper interpretation of the state constitution -- such as who has the power to do what but state Representative Richard Marple, a Republican from Merrimack, the sponsor of this bill, is considered in a class by himself. In between rattling off legal citations and references to Black's Law Dictionary, Marple explained in an interview he wants to put some ''teeth'' in current law meant to protect citizens from unelected bureaucrats, policy makers and judges and other ''usurpers'' of the peoples' rights.
Urine and Fraud: First of all, state Representative Robert L'Heureux, a Republican from Merrimack, says he's not even sure this is a problem in New Hampshire. But, as we understand it, L'Heureux wants to prevent anybody from buying or selling clean urine samples which would be used (somehow) by a person concerned he or she might flunk a drug or alcohol screening.
There will be plenty more bills to come - the deadline is Oct. 7 on the House side and Oct. 15 for the Senate.
Blaisdell relatives mull run for his seat
The filing period opens tomorrow for Democrats and Republicans interested in running for the Senate seat that was held for 28 years by the late Senate president, Democrat Clesson ''Junie'' Blaisdell of Keene. Last week, members of the Blaisdell family were in the midst of deciding whether or not to seek the job.
Peter Blaisdell, whose stirring eulogy to his father launched him into the public eye, said at midweek that he was thinking about it. His younger brother, freshman lawmaker Michael Blaisdell, apparently had decided not to make the run. Junie Blaisdell's cousin, Bob Mallat, a former executive councilor and Mayor of Keene who is now vice president of the Board of Trustees of the University of New Hampshire, had been high on the list of potential candidates, but he decided against it.
Then there is Mallat's sister and Blaisdell cousin state Representative Margaret Lynch of Keene, a veteran of seven terms in the state Legislature, and her husband Bill Lynch, also a former mayor of Keene and former state lawmaker and county commissioner who is now county treasurer. Margaret Lynch said - again at midweek - that they were both thinking about making the run, although she was feeling very committed to her seat on the powerful House finance committee. ''I don't know if I want to give that up,'' she said, adding, ''I think my husband would be a great candidate.'' Bob Mallat concurred, saying Bill Lynch would have strong bipartisan appeal.
Junie Blaisdell's presence made Senate District 10 a Democratic stronghold for decades, but that doesn't mean there won't be a contest for his seat. Republican Jane Lane, who challenged Blaisdell in 1992, has been encouraged to run again for the seat, but she said last week she'll not take the plunge. Also said to be considering the race is small business owner Wanda McNamara of Chesterfield, a former three-term state legislator. Veteran legislator Edwin Smith, a Republican from Hinsdale, had been on the list of potential candidates but said last week he wants to stay in the House.
If a primary is needed it will be held on Nov. 2. The special election has been set for Dec. 7 and the new senator will step into Blaisdell's seat as soon as the Executive Council can meet for a swearing in, possibly Dec. 15.
Henderson resigns as majority leader
Exeter Republican Warren Henderson has resigned from his post as deputy majority leader in the House, part of the House Speaker Donna Sytek's inner circle. He says he just wants to get back ''to being my own person'' as a rank-and-file member of the legislature. Henderson, who has two children at home, also said he didn't like the long hours at the Legislature that a leadership post demands (he runs his investing business out of his house).
With his newly declared independence, Henderson said ''I'm going to vote my own way.'' But he won't say if that means that as a member of the House leadership team, he cast votes he didn't want to out of loyalty. ''This is not an issue I'm going to get into,'' he said flatly. He emphasized his departure from the top ranks should not be seen ''as a repudiation'' of Sytek.
Last week, Sytek moved up Milford Republican Keith Herman to be the new deputy majority leader. Herman, who is vice chairman of the House Commerce Committee and a former assistant majority leader, is serving his third term in the House. Henderson will remain on the House Education Committee.
Buzz on Buchanan stirs Reform Party
New Hampshire's Reform Party chairman Daron Libby says there's no doubt that the possibility that media talkmeister Pat Buchanan might seek the Reform Party's nomination is generating a whole lot of welcome attention.
''Buchanan's coming on board further legitimizes our party and certainly he brings the Buchanan brigade with him,'' Libby said last week. ''I think he's a great fit for the Reform Party,'' Libby said.
He said he talked to Buchanan more than a year ago at a book signing in Bedford and told him that if he ran on the Reform Party ticket he could carry his message all the way through the November general election - rather than risk a knockout in the early, compressed primary season.
''I think it's all good,'' Libby said about the current buzz. ''It's terrific for the Reform Party to be the topic of conversation and that one of the great things Pat Buchanan has brought to the Reform Party already.''
A reminder: the state Reform Party convention is scheduled for Saturday at the Manchester Library.
Short takes
Former US Senator Gordon Humphrey of Chichester says he will set up an exploratory committee to weigh the ''logistics,'' human and financial, of making a run at the Republican nomination for governor. Humphrey, a staunch conservative, served one term in the state Senate after he came home from Washington in 1984 and has looked at the governor's race once before ... Congressman Dick Gephardt, the Democrat from Missouri and the House minority leader, will be in New Hampshire on Nov. 20 for the state party's Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner.
As if there aren't enough polls, Vice President Al Gore has signed on longtime Democratic pollster Tubby Harrison of Boston to read the numbers for him in New Hampshire. ... Former Concord Monitor State House reporter Pam Walsh is now press secretary for Governor Jeanne Shaheen, taking over for Brian Murphy, who went back to Massachusetts to work as a consultant. ... and former U.S. News and World Report editor Jim Fallows, a journalist who is now a media critic, will be the guest speaker Oct. 12 at the annual Bownes Forum on Civil Rights.
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