Lawmakers returned to Concord yesterday to open the new legislative session. For the first time since the 19th century, Democrats control the House and Senate, as well as the Executive Council and the corner office. The man many say was instrumental in this changing of the guard -- Governor John Lynch -- will be inaugurated later today.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers spoke with some key lawmakers about the Governor's speech and their expectations of the coming year.
Legislative opening days and inaugural addresses are always times where the possibilities can on occasion seem fantastic…Particularly for those in the majority party……Here's Cornish State Senator Peter Burling.
"I'd most like to hear that we have found a large gold deposit worth, say, an annual return of 200 million."
Burling's joke, though, does have a point……In the coming year…..lawmakers must, among other things, balance a two year budget, a comply with a court order to define educational adequacy, and deal the possibility of slowing state revenues. To please voters, they must also make good on any number of campaign promises that come with price tags…….And as republican State Senator Bob Clegg stresses --even if lawmakers essentially tread water, the money will be tight.
"You know you look at the education funding plan -- and for the bienium I think they need 108 million dollars to follow the current plan -- and you discuss that with people and you say were going to trim that, were going to fix it, were going to do a constitional amendment. We'll who's going to say to their communities your going to get less."
Top Democrats say they understand the state's fiscal pressures, and also that Governor Lynch's record margin at the polls was, in some measure, due to his plege to veto new broad-based taxes……Mount Vernon Democrat Linda Foster is the Deputy House Speaker…..She says she expects the governor to reiterated that pledge in his inaugural address…..and to basically stick pretty close to the rehetoric voters heard on the campaign trail…..She believes that will start with a call for bipartisanship.
"That's sort of his theme song, and it's a good theme song. I expect that he will talk about keeping kids in school, some stricter environmental controls and I expect him to say we've got to work conservatively, et cetera."
But Foster adds that she hopes Lynch will say something inspiring, or even as she put it "visionary"…..Other veteran House lawmakers say they’ll be happily surprised if he also provides a few specifics…….Weare Republican Neal Kurk says he's well aware that inaugural adresseses tend to be short on those…….But he says he'd appreciate it if the Governor supplied a few.
"For example, the Governor supports a limited constitutional amendment, it would be nice to hear some of the details of that; not so specific that it gives the language that the language that might appear, but something that gives folks a sense of where this governor is going on that issue. And I would do the same thing in respect to his sense of funding for LCHIP."
If while GOP lawmakers may pine for specifics, Democrats, by and large, say inauguration day as largely a time for celebration. After that, says Senator Peter Burling, the work really begins.
"When you look right at it, it is the end of tomorrow that will be the sober and serious moment when we realize how many things we need to do."
Governor Lynch's inauguration is set to begin at 12:00. New Hampshire Public Radio will be covering the event live.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo