Partisan Battle Boils Over In The New Hampshire House

By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH

CONCORD, NH — The long-simmering acrimony between the two parties in the House came to a boil Thursday when two Democrats were stopped by partisan votes from speeches on the House floor.

The Democrats earlier in Thursday’s session sought a reprimand against Rep. Travis Corcoran, R-Weare, for behavior unbecoming a state Representative, that House Speaker Sherman Packard referred to the Legislative Administration Committee to study and report.

At the end of the House session, Rep. Kat McGhee, D-Hollis, sought to address the removal of Rep. Wendy Thomas, D-Merrimack, from the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee chaired by Michael Vose, R-Epping. Vose claims it was "others" on the committee who went to the Speaker with complaints about Wendy Thomas.

McGhee noted she asked Vose for a few minutes at the beginning of a committee meeting to acknowledge a member who was removed from the committee, but Vose refused saying there was nothing left to be said.

At that time House Deputy Majority Leader Joseph Sweeney of Salem objected to McGhee’s continuing with her remarks.

The House voted 181-155 to prevent her from continuing with only three Republicans voting to allow McGhee to continue.

Thomas in an op-ed said she had requested to be addressed on the committee by her full name so she would not be confused with another Thomas, Douglas Thomas, R-Londonderry, who is the committee’s vice chair.

Vose honored her request at first, but later denied it and she was told she was being unreasonable and had an uncomfortable interaction with him in the hallway about her request.

She said she learned later from the House Speaker in a letter she had been removed from the committee.

Since that time, two other people have contacted InDepthNH,org and told of confrontations with Vose, attorney Arthur Cunningham of Hopkinton and a Windham man who shared a photo of himself being confronted by Vose at a hearing last year.

The Republican majority also stopped Rep. Timothy Horrigan, D-Durham, from speaking also at the end of the session sharing how he was as scared Tuesday as he was after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Washington, DC and New York City after President Trump made comments about ending the Iranian civilization. Horrigan said he feared World War III was about to start.

Rep. Kelley Potenza, R-Rochester, objected to Horrigan’s remarks and when put to a largely partisan vote, the 149-115 majority refused to have Horrigan continue.

During the session, House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson, D-Exeter, had moved to have Corcoran reprimanded for his behavior saying it was inconsistent with the high ideals required of his elected position.

Corcoran had been admonished by Sherman several weeks ago for comments he made on social media posts about two Representatives, one Jewish and the other Philippine.

After Rep. Jessica Grill, D-Manchester, promoted a bipartisan Karaoke Caucus meeting on X, Corcoran posted on X “We need a final solution for theater kids in politics,” referring to the Nazi’s plan to kill all the Jews in Germany.

The week before on social media he urged the Trump administration official behind the arrests and detentions of immigrants, Stephen Miller, to have Rep. Luz Bay, D-Dover, deported.

Corcoran is known for his racist and bigoted commentary. He also threatened a Democratic Congressional candidate who came to the defense of Attorney Andru Volinsky who proposed an income tax and statewide property tax plan to fund public education and received death threats, one from a Tweet from the Libertarian Party NH that threatened his life saying “under libertarian ethical theory, it is perfectly permissible to kill him.”

In the comments Volinsky’s friend and 1st District Congressional candidate Christian Urrutia defended Volinsky and the reply to Urrutia was “leave New Hampshire while it’s safe for you to do so.”

Simpson had earlier alluded to the remarks saying “Posting antisemitic language and references to the Holocaust is reprehensible. Rep. Corcoran’s conduct is unacceptable for anyone, and even more so for a member of the legislature. I condemn this rhetoric. I expect the Speaker to stand against it and take action to address the hate speech coming from his caucus. For far too long, Rep. Corcoran has used antisemitic and racist rhetoric without consequence. The Speaker has allowed this behavior to continue, and addressing Rep. Corcoran’s pattern of hateful comments is long overdue.”

At the time, Packard released a statement responding to Corcoran’s tweets:

“The recent rhetoric shared by Rep. Corcoran is deeply inappropriate and has no place in the New Hampshire House. Any language that invokes violence, hate, or intolerance is unacceptable by any member. Our institution is built on respect and the responsibility to serve all Granite Staters with dignity and professionalism. Conduct that undermines that mission does not reflect our values. Members of the House are expected to uphold the standards of the body and honor the trust placed in them by their constituents.”

The last time a Representative was referred to the Legislative Administration Committee for conduct, it turned into a partisan battleground with tit-for-tat allegations.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.