GOVERNOR CRAIG BENSON'S DECLARATION THAT HE'LL VETO THE STATE BUDGET HAS GOTTEN ALL THE ATTENTION.
BUT OFFICIALS SAY THAT BENSON HAS ALREADY SET A MODERN RECORD FOR LETTING BILLS BECOME LAWS WITHOUT HIS SIGNATURE.
DOZENS MORE BILLS AWAIT HIS DECISION.
AS NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO'S POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT JOHN MILNE REPORTS, THE GOVERNOR'S NOT SIGNING HIS NAME ON THE DOTTED LINE IS PART OF A DELIBERATE STRATEGY.
Once the Legislature passes a bill, the New Hampshire Constitution gives a governor five days to sign or veto it. If there’s no decision, the bill becomes law without signature.
As of Tuesday morning, Governor Benson had allowed 34 bills to become law without his signature, more than any governor in recent memory. The only governor to come close was John Sununu a decade ago. And Benson still has decisions to make on dozens of bills the Legislature passed.
Chris Reid, Benson’s legal counsel, says Benson’s refusal to sign is deliberate. This is not, Reid insists, the case of a rookie governor failing to keep up with the hundreds of bills coming out of the Legislature.
“Every bill that lands on the governor’s desk is looked at and a decision is made about what to do about that bill. None of these bills have slipped through the cracks.”
Reid says the governor allows bills to become law when he objects to a philosophy expressed in the measure. For example, Benson believes that study committees amount to the legislative cop-out – a failure to make a decision. But the governor doesn’t want to pick a fight with the Legislature. Chris Reid:
“He’s a newcomer to politics, and he really does think there are things that need to be changed, in terms of efficiency of government, for example. But he also knows that he needs to work with the Legislature, and if he vetoed every bill that was a study committee, or every bill that seemed to create more red tape necessary for the job at hand, he wouldn’t get anything done here. But he wants to send a signal that we can do a better job, and I think that’s what’s behind a lot of the cases that you’re seeing here.”
Donna Sytek is a Salem Republican who served in the Legislature 23 years with two terms as speaker. She says the governor should have spelled out those principles in advance:
“I guess this is one way of making a statement. I guess it’d be a lot easier to announce, early on, that I don’t favor study committees. If you want to study it, study it, but don’t elevate it to being a law.”
The governor’s Chris Reid rejects the proposition that refusing to sign gives a governor political deniability if a law becomes unpopular. For example, one unsigned law hikes fines for parking in a handicapped zone. Benson liked helping disabled drivers but opposed such a steep fee increase, Reid said.
“I’m not sure it’s deniability, but it’s easier to explain to the public that I liked a part of the bill, and it was important for me to let it come into law, but I really didn’t want to put my signature on this other part.”
Donna Sytek says legislators had no such flexibility. They made their voting decisions before sending Benson the bills.
“I thought of how many times I sat in the Legislature and had to press either a red button or a green button, and really wished I could press the white button, which only indicates your station is on. Because you didn’t feel strongly one way or another. I think this is the governor’s way of pressing the white button.”
Benson must decide on seven more bills on Wednesday.
For NHPR News, I’m John Milne
