Facing divided House, Packard equalizes committees
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Jan. 3—CONCORD — Facing the smallest majority in modern history, New Hampshire House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, decided to make Democrats equal partners on nearly every policy committee over the next two years.
The most notable exception came in the House Finance Committee that will have 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
The latter move was no doubt Packard's bid to ensure that the panel could recommend a two-year state budget next spring even if negotiations over spending break down along partisan lines.
Packard also gave the House Rules Committee a 5-4 GOP majority; that body makes all recommendations regarding the operations of the House.
The House and Senate officially open their 2023 sessions on Wednesday morning.
A day later, Gov. Chris Sununu will take the oath of office and give an inaugural address as he becomes the second chief executive in modern history to have won a fourth, two-year term.
In November, voters elected 201 Republicans and 198 Democrats to represent them in the 400-person House.
Voters will fill the final seat in Rochester Ward 4 in a Feb. 21 special election. The initial race ended in a tie following a recount.
The Democrats have lost one seat with the resignation last month of Nashua Rep. Stacie Laughton following her arrest on domestic stalking charges. Local officials will likely ask the Executive Council to schedule a special election for that seat, one of three to represent Ward 4, the most Democratic precinct in the city.
Dems pushed for equality
There are 17 committees that will have 10 members of each party and two with an 8-8 partisan split.
Packard said later this week he will name the 10 members to serve on special committees to deal with child care, housing and the future of state commissions, each divided equally.
Packard and House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm have already identified their ranking members on those panels.
House Deputy Speaker Steven Smith, R-Charlestown, said it would take bipartisan cooperation to get essential business done in the House.
Hot-button issues on the left, such as gun control, and on the right, such as further restrictions on abortion and right-to-work laws, are likely to fail, he said.
Rules changes should help make sure party leaders work together as they schedule key votes on bills in committee and on the House floor, Smith said.
"This is kind of like mutually-assured destruction for both caucuses," Smith observed.
Wilhelm said he appreciated Packard agreeing to even membership.
"New Hampshire voters elected a nearly even number of Democrats and Republicans to the state House. Based on our rules, the committee membership is also nearly even," Wilhelm said.
Shurtleff ally promoted
Packard selected 11-term Peterborough Democrat Peter Leishman to chair the Finance Committee working group that deals with general government and self-financed state agencies such as banking, insurance and employment security.
Leishman, a fiscal moderate, did not support Wilhelm for House Democratic Leader but instead backed his opponent, former House Speaker Steve Shurtleff, D-Penacook.
Packard named Shurtleff to the new ceremonial post of House speaker emeritus.
Packard has named Shurtleff and four other House Democratic lawmakers to be vice chairs of policy committees.
Some leading Democrats and Sununu have criticized some of the picks Packard had made, such as returning Rep. Kenneth Weyler, R-Kingston, to head up the Finance Committee.
Weyler stepped down as chairman in October 2021 after sharing misinformation about the safety of vaccines for COVID-19.
Sununu said the controversy led some to question Weyler's competence and was disappointed Packard returned him to the job.
Weyler said he had been a victim of the "Democratic smear machine" and criticized Sununu for failing to work with him.
Former Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan of Manchester singled out the Packard choice of Deerfield Rep. James Spillane to chair the House Fish and Game and Marine Resources Committee.
The House Ethics Committee had admonished Spillane for sharing on social media a blog that Jewish groups maintained was anti-Semitic.
Spillane said he failed to do enough research on the topic until he shared that information.
The Fish and Game Department had also criticized Spillane's decision to share online that he had illegally shot a squirrel out of season.
Sullivan also criticized Packard for naming women to only 18% of the committee chair and vice chair positions even though they make up 37% of the House membership.
"With 400 members, the House of Representatives surely has some qualified, competent representatives who exhibit good judgment — including women — who could have filled these positions. Unfortunately, Speaker Packard went in another wrong direction," Sullivan wrote in a Dec. 30 Union Leader op-ed.
House GOP officials did not respond to emails seeking a response to Sullivan's remarks.
Packard did promote seven-term Rep. Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, to the third leadership post of House Speaker Pro Tem and to become the new chair of the House Ways and Means Committee that will deal with all legislation on taxes and fees.
Given he has little margin for error in GOP ranks, Packard also gave prominent roles to leaders in the conservative House Republican Alliance and the House Freedom Caucus.
Packard named Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, an officer in both groups, to a seat on the House Finance Committee. Hoell will sit in the front row of the chamber next to Rep. Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, and House Majority Floor Leader Joe Sweeney, R-Salem.
Several conservatives got new seats on House Executive Departments and Administration, Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs and the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committees.
