Recently, in another New Hampshire local newspaper, the New Hampshire House Minority Leader – David Cote (D-Nashua) – wrote a scathing attack on Republicans.

This was odd to me, because I hadn’t heard mention of Rep. Cote for two years. I thought he had disappeared. He has not cast a vote in the House since March 2020, according to the New Hampshire State Legislature website.

Then BAM!, suddenly, he appears out of nowhere and proceeds in the newspaper op-ed to denigrate Republicans for treating women, children and families with contempt, and he has the audacity to say, “love thy neighbor” is only something Democrats understand. What nonsense.

Cote’s unfounded claims in his diatribe was purely fiction on his part. For instance, he was being disingenuous in his claim of New Hampshire Republicans “dismantling and crushing our public schools” in the Education Freedom Accounts Program (HB 1684). What he didn’t say was that the bill allows tax-paying parents the freedom to choose which school they want to teach their children. Not all parents want that. And that’s OK. If those parents wish to keep their children in public schools, nobody is denying them that right. It’s a case of, “my kid, my choice” – public schools are not going to go out of business due to this bill, as Cote states.

He goes on in his op-ed with more wild and contemptuous claims on various House bills passed in Concord, all of which he was not there to vote on himself.

Where is his credibility as the minority leader of the New Hampshire House? You pretty much don’t have a leg to stand on if you’re not in the game.

Then, he on about Republicans and their “endless conspiracy claims.” One of which I could not, in good conscience let go: About Republicans running amuck promoting President Donald Trump’s “discredited” claims about the 2020 election.

The only source of disgrace about the 2021 Republican challenge to the Electoral College vote were committed by Democrats who went shopping for liberal judges to stop the evidence of widespread voting irregularities from being introduced into courtrooms. It was liberal judges (all of them on public record) who dismissed the cases WITHOUT reviewing or introducing the evidence in their courts. The public has not seen this evidence, thanks to egregious judicial wrangling. Just because the evidence is not seen does not mean the evidence is not there.

It appears Cote has forgotten, that in the last 20 years, it has been Democrats who have objected – three times – to the electoral college certifications. First in 1969 by U.S. Rep. James O’Hara (D-Mich.). Then, in 2005 by U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), and third, in 2017, by a liberal group of Congresspeople spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

And yet, when Republicans assert their rights to challenge, Democrats go bananas. Where is the fairness? Oh right, that word doesn’t exist in Democrat values.

So, back to David Cote and his no-shows in Concord. I understand he has some medical issues, which I greatly sympathize with, and I wish him well. However, it perplexes me that his constituents in Nashua’s Ward 4 seem to tolerate the lack of representation in Concord. Or, do they not realize he’s not there?

How can a New Hampshire House Minority Leader lead in such a fashion? It seems the lack of credibility in that area doesn’t just come from the current White House.

Di Lothrop, of Nashua, is the vice chair of the Nashua Republican City Committee and a longtime conservative activist in the Granite State.