NH House, Senate speak out against attack

HOUSE AND SENATE leaders issued resolutions last week expressing official outrage over the World Trade Center attack.

Senate President Arthur Klemm stated on behalf of the Senate that it stands with the citizens of New York City and Washington, D.C., “in shock and sorrow over this reprehensible attack on the liberty and freedom to which civilized nations around the globe aspire.”

The resolution was sent to President George W. Bush and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

House Speaker Gene Chandler, in a declaration for the entire House, denounced “the actions of those who shamelessly took the lives of so many innocent New Hampshire residents and so many of our fellow Americans.”

He said the House “does offer its overwhelming support for the President of the United States as he does whatever it takes to bring those responsible for the devastating events of Sept. 11, 2001 to justice, whether through the United States judicial system or, if necessary, by military force.”

Ken Colburn, director of the Department of Environmental Services air resources division, was one of many stranded state employees. Other DES workers, for example were in Austin, Texas, and Detroit when air traffic was shut down. A group of DES dam engineers was stranded at a conference in Salt Lake City.

Colburn took a bus home on Wednesday from Washington with a group of nearly 20 Health and Human Services employees.

HHS commissioner Don Shumway, showing scars from many budget battles, volunteered that the chartered bus cost less than the combined value of airline tickets the group held, and was cheaper than leaving workers in hotels until the crisis eases.

Bank commissioner nominee Peter Hildreth, director of the Bureau of Securities Regulation, skipped a national meeting of securities administrators in San Francisco. Two of his co-workers, Mary Jurta and Jeff Spill, were stranded there after the meeting ended Wednesday. Hildreth said Spill hopped a cross-country bus Friday and Jurta hoped to fly home over the weekend.

Shumway’s defense of the bus costs came just minutes after the Legislative Fiscal Committee put off for a month permission for HHS to accept federal grants of $ 474,000 to boost domestic violence prevention.

The grant would have been in addition to just over $ 1 million in the budget, including $ 650,000 from state marriage license fees.

Fiscal chairman Rep. Neal Kurk said he wants to examine more closely the role the legislature should play in allocating federal grant money to agencies.

“We are taking no position on the issue of whether we want the funds. The issue is not of substance but of the process” of how federal money is appropriated, he said.

In last-minute budget wrangling over Hampton Beach parking meter fees in June, the fiscal committee lost some of its control over that process.

Kurk said he thinks the constitution gives the power to the Legislature, but “there seems to be a different interpretation among members of the fiscal committee and the department.”

The court system can start counting its money. The House Rules Committee last week gave Speaker Chandler clearance to bring in a late bill that allocates money to the district court system to develop new security procedures after a personnel cut. Lawmakers forced the changes when they cut the court security budget by $ 1.8 million. Estimates are that $ 300,000 will cover the tab.

The Rules panel also cleared a bill proposing a Berlin casino for introduction in January.

Truckers, truck dealers, environmentalists will try again this Thursday for a public hearing at DES on a proposal to adopt California standards for heavy-duty diesel engine emissions. The hearing was scheduled for Sept. 11, but was canceled. Speaker Pro Tem Robert Clegg is bringing in a bill next year that could undo anything DES does on that front by banning state departments from making rules that simply adopt other states’ standards.

In the case of diesel exhaust, a change in California will force a change in New Hampshire, he said. “It’s not a good idea to give away our sovereignty,” Clegg said.

Political veteran Christopher J. Wood has been named deputy campaign manager of Friends of Bill Cahill.

The former executive councilor, who’s ready to run for the House if John Sununu goes for the Senate, described Wood as “an institution in New Hampshire politics” who has worked on campaigns for Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes, Ray Wieczorek and Chuck Douglas.

Wood has also been state director of New England Right to Work and as deputy director of New Hampshire Citizens for a Sound Economy.

The House Judiciary subcommittee on selection and retention of judges plans hearings in early October. Those invited to speak include Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, executive councilors, Klemm, Chandler, Supreme and Superior Court justices, New Hampshire Bar Association members and the general public.

Issues to be taken up on Oct. 2, 4 and 9 include term limits; whether judges should be elected by the public, selected for nomination by a commission, or appointed under the current system; and whether any changes should be by statute or constitutional amendment.

Rep. Jack Pratt says the Supreme Court, which has to avoid conflict if it has to rule on changes to the current system, has turned down an invitation.