Josh Rogers

Jim Bassett is well-known and well-liked in the New Hampshire Bar. But his nomination drew criticism from some conservatives. They didn’t like that Bassett supported the Brady gun law on as a GOP congressional candidate in 1994. They also don’t like that Bassett said he accepted the Claremont education funding rulings as precedent during his confirmation hearing. Most councilors dismissed these concerns, and prior to the confirmation vote, District 2’s Dan St. Hillare predicted  Bassett would be a great addition to the court.

“He is a strict constitutionalist. He is an intellectual, so he looks at what the constitution on says and derives his opinions from what these documents say.”

New Hampshire House lawmakers try and fail to revive a bill to ban late-term abortions.

The house first passed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in March. But that bill was quickly pushed aside by the senate. House lawmakers revived the proposal Thursday, tacking it on to bill related to health screening tests for newborns. Yet the narrowness  of the margin – it was adopted by just 4 votes -- prompted a quick change of heart. Lawmakers like Jennifer Coffey, a republican from Andover, told colleagues the abortion language put the newborn testing proposal at risk.

"The underlying issue is too important you don’t want to let that go."

The flurry of activity continues at the New Hampshire statehouse.

It's the time of year when the statehouse gets hectic - and, occasionally, foul-tempered.

New Hampshire’s highest court has ruled that privileged information divulged at a public meeting is only susceptible to the state’s right to know law if it was first disclosed in the presence of a private citizen.  

The ruling is the latest byproduct of the long legal battle between the Professional firefighters association and the Local Government Center-- or LGC. At issue in this case, were the minutes from a series of Local Government Center board meetings.

Exempting broadband and wireless internet connections from the state’s communication tax remains a priority for republican leaders, but the House voted 247-93 to kill the repeal. A big reason way is because the senate-crafted proposal also undid House leaders’ plan to place $16 million in the state’s rainy day fund. Steve Stepanek is chairman of House ways and means.

"The prime purpose of this bill was to put money into the rainy day fund. The senate has no intention of putting any of this money into the rainy day fund."

After the house vote, Senate President Peter Bragdon says he remains optimistic the repeal will happen. But he added it will be largely up to the house.

If history holds, Mitt Romney is still months away from announcing a vice presidential running mate on the Republican ticket. But he continues to make appearances with those who could be on the so-called short list.

Or in Romney's case, it may still be a rather long list.

On Monday, Romney campaigned with freshman Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the 43-year-old former state attorney general, in her home state of New Hampshire.

Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire is the latest politician to appear on the campaign trail with presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. That's fueled speculation that Ayotte is being considered as a running mate.

Congressman Charlie Bass's is denying the allegation by the  New Hampshire attorney general's that his campaign violated the state's push polling law.

The attorney general says Charlie Bass’s campaign deliberately avoided identifying itself as being behind a 2010 poll that included negative information about Democrat Ann McLane Kuster. The AG’s suit against the Bass campaign cites 400 calls. Under state law, each one of those calls could trigger a $1000 fine. But Congressman Bass says he doesn’t expect his committee will end up paying up.

“I think a close reading of the law will show that the campaign did not conduct a push poll and that this was a poll that was essentially the same as any other poll that might have been run by any other campaign.”

It's been a busy week at the statehouse, with high profile votes on issues ranging from redistricting and abortion, to medical marijuana, gambling and school building aid.

NHPR's Josh Rogers has been following the action. He recaps the latest with All Things Considered host Brady Carlson.

The NH house has voted to require women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion. 

The so-called women’s right to know bill had to be pared back to win final house passage. Penalties for doctors were stripped, as was the  requirements that abortion providers give women seeking an abortion specific information about abortion risks, including a contested claim linking aborts to breast cancer.  According to the final amendments lead author Republican Tammy Simmons of Manchester, limiting the proposal to a simple 24 waiting period is a common sense compromise.

No bill authorizing slot machines or casinos has ever passed the N.H. house, but this plan, which would use the revenue -- projected at 290 million dollars -- to lower business taxes, is seen as having a shot. House ways and means chairman Steve Stepanek (r-Amherst) says N.H. must act.

“The game plan has changed because Massachusetts has expanded gambling passed. And Maine is pushing their expanded gambling. We have got to respond.”

The 211-116 margin was a victory for gay rights advocates. It was also a shock to social conservatives, who thought a 3 to 1 GOP majority combined with a party platform that defines marriage as a between a man and women, would secure the bill’s passage. 

Deep into a debate that lasted 2 hours and included 10 separate votes, Kingston Republican David Welch stated what by then was plain: gay marriage is topic that divides House Republicans.

“This is an issue that is confusing, sets one section of the House against the other and it will do the same thing out in our communities.”

 The discord in the chamber was all Republican. Only one Democrat supported the repeal. And none took part in the often emotional floor debate.

 A member of the New Hampshire House's criminal justice committee dropped a pistol on the floor of the legislative office building at a hearing on a controversial bill dealing with abortion.

Kyle Tasker, a Northwood Republican, dropped the loaded gun, one of two .45 caliber pistols he wears in shoulder holsters, as he took his seat in a crowded hearing room.

“I just gave blood and I might not have latched it quite properly. All I could think of was, it was bound to happen one of these days, I come here too often for that not to have happened.”

About two-dozen members of the pro-gay marriage group Standing Up For New Hampshire Families held a news conference to urged the defeat of the bill slated for a vote in the House Wednesday. State Rep. Mike Ball, chairman of the Manchester Republican Committee, compared the repeal effort to a segregation law, and added he can’t back his party platform’s opposition to gay marriage.

"The Republican platform is wrong on that issue. That’s the bottom line. Much as I’d like to say we are a hundred percent right, on this one we are not right. This is a civil liberties issue."