Reps. Rous, Day and others on House Education Committee routinely evade process to force their will on parents
CONCORD, N.H.― Citizens for Sensible Legislation strongly condemns the actions of House Education Committee Chairman Emma Rous and her band of scofflaw progressives, who are trying to evade the state’s constitutional processes and force their unpopular, authoritarian agenda on families with children.
Last year, radical-leftist Democrat Rep. Judith Day of 141 Mill Road in North Hampton introduced a bill (H.B. 367) that would have forced parents to get permission from a local government employee to keep educating their children as they see fit. This year, the same progressive lawmaker tried to resurrect the bill (H.B. 368) that would have, among other things, forced home-schooling parents to certify with a government-run school system that they are teaching a state-sanctioned curriculum. The New Hampshire Legislature recognized the extreme, authoritarian nature of these bills, and defeated both handedly—the second with a 324-34 roll call vote.
Then on January 25 of this year, Rous, a Democratic state representative who lives at 64 Adams Point Road in Durham, tried to circumvent the legislative process by sending a letter on official House Education Committee letterhead without a vote from her committee to John E. Lyons Jr., chairman of the New Hampshire Department of Education. In that letter, supported only by a minority of committee members, including Judith Day, Rous recommended that the Education Department adopt regulations that would have effectively forced the same rules defeated twice by the state Legislature.
“One of the reasons parents choose to educate their children at home is to have ultimate authority over the educational process and teaching material,” said Andrew J. Manuse, spokesman for Citizens for Sensible Legislation. “It is unconscionable that this small group of progressive lawmakers think they know better than a child’s mother and father. Perhaps even more disturbing is that these liberal Democrats felt so drunk with power that they thought they could force their will on New Hampshire families, circumventing the legislative process and even their own committee.”
Unfortunately, Rous’s rogue action late last month was not unique. This out-of-touch lawmaker so mistrusts the people of New Hampshire that she stacked the deck against a bill (H.B. 1580) that would affirm that parents have natural, fundamental rights to determine and direct the education of their children. She brought in Rep. Kimberley Casey of 109 Giles Road in East Kingston and made her chairman of the subcommittee hearing the bill, even though Casey had no prior involvement with the effort. Casey had not even been a member of the House Education Committee. At the same time, she left out Rep. Paul Ingbretson of Haverhill, the Republican sponsor of the bill.
“Rous and her far-left colleagues seem to have an agenda against the natural rights of parents and the effort of liberty-minded folks to protect those rights from the overreaching arms of government,” Manuse said. “Clearly, this government has shown that a law protecting such rights is necessary, particularly when its members so freely abuse their power.”
Rous and her co-conspirators have tried to circumvent the legislative process on another front. Last year, the Legislature defeated the so-called “bathroom bill.” Now the far-left members of the Education Committee are ironically using an anti-bullying bill (H.B. 1523) to force the same agenda into government-run schools. Not only would the bill give one class of students more protection than others, violating the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the first two articles to the state constitution, it would also force schools to teach a radical sexual agenda to young children.
“The Democrats under the direction of Rous are trying to write discrimination into our laws by giving protections to one group of citizens that other groups don't have,” Manuse said. “Not only are these legislators hypocritically shunning their own stated opposition to discrimination, they are ironically bullying the majority of New Hampshire residents who don’t want their laws.”
About Citizens for Sensible Legislation
Citizens For Sensible Legislation is a volunteer coalition of residents committed to educating the people of New Hampshire about candidates, legislation and issues that affect individual and economic liberties.
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 10:53AM 