On Wednesday, Jan. 6 the Speaker of the House, Sherman Packard (R-Trump – Londonderry) was elected. His first act as Speaker was a shameful display of extreme partisanship. In his acceptance speech, he reinforced the lies his party has espoused for many years. Let me be clear, Democrats ARE NOT for taxes, they ARE for services. Why? Because we believe that to maintain a healthy democracy, we need a strong public education system, well-maintained infrastructure, quality mental and physical health services, and public safety agencies. As we all know, this takes money.

Speaker Packard also raised the old canard that Democrats want to “take away our 2nd Amendment rights”. This statement is beyond ignorant. Not only do I support the Constitution with all its amendments, have you ever considered how difficult it is to rescind an amendment? It’s only been done once in 232 years. And that was a pretty non-controversial one at that – prohibition. Fighting for sensible gun laws in the wake of children being slaughtered is pragmatic not radical. And it is NOT taking away your 2nd amendment rights.

Out the gate Speaker Packard made it clear that he plans to be highly partisan, pro-business (translation: higher property taxes). Pay attention to what he says and, more importantly, what he does. Good governance is about bringing people together to hammer out the best policy, not partisanship. Once again, Speaker Packard has demonstrated that Republicans are more interested in rhetoric and power politics than good governance.

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