Executive Council Rejects Federal Funds for Rail Study

While all eyes were on the House rollback of women’s rights yesterday, the state’s Executive Council was rejecting a $3.2 million federal grant to help pay for a feasibility study for a commuter rail line between Boston and Concord.

The federal grant, which had strong bipartisan support from Gov. Lynch, Nashua officials and business leaders, would have funded most of the $3.6 million feasibility study. The remainder would have come from private donors and state-backed bonds in a previous public works budget.

Councilors Wheeler, Sununu and St. Hilaire voted against accepting the grant. Colin Van Ostern, who is running against St. Hilaire for the District Two council seat, accused the council of putting “their personal anti-government zeal ahead of a practical bipartisan solution — this time, one that would have cut commuting costs and helped economic development across the Greater Concord area.”

Former state senator Peter Burling, the past chairman of a rail transit authority that has pushed for the project, was upset by the vote. The refusal to use federal money to simply study the issue left him “breathless with incredulity,” and the funding will likely now be used by another state, he said.

“It felt like foolishness,” he said. “It felt like ignorance triumphing over inquiry.”

“The action by three executive councilors, who decided based on dogma instead of information, is an overt insult to the nonpartisan donors of the original effort,” he said.

Councilors Challenge Planned Parenthood Contract

Three Executive Councilors have taken legal action to stop access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood centers in New Hampshire. Councilors David Wheeler, Dan St. Hilaire and Ray Wieczorek joined forces with the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in an attempt to void a federal grant awarded to Planned Parenthood for family planning services.

The federal government had stepped in and awarded the grant after the Executive Council left 16,000 New Hampshire residents without access to vital health care services including cervical cancer screenings, breast exams and sexually transmitted infections.

In the legal filing, the councilors claim the federal grant is “improper, irregular, unnecessary, in contravention of the authority of the Executive Council and its duly elected members, and in disregard for the sovereignty of the State of New Hampshire.” 

“We decided to pursue this right after we found out the long arm of Washington came in to contravene the decision we made… ,” Wieczorek said. “We’ve got a constitution in this country — the 10th amendment — we have state’s rights.”

St. Hilaire said he was contacted by ADF about signing the letter. “The legal counsel contacted us and said they wanted to file a letter and asked us to sign off on it,” which he did, he said.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian legal organization founded by high-profile Religious Right leaders including D. James Kennedy and James Dobson. The ADF is known for promoting “marriage protection,” exposing the “homosexual agenda” and fighting the supposed “war on Christmas.”

St. Hilaire’s Political Calculations Behind PPNNE Vote

Did Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire sacrifice the health of 16,000 New Hampshire residents for personal political ambition? Tony Schinella reports on the political calculations behind St. Hilaire’s vote to reject the Planned Parenthood contract to provide health care services in the state. 

The political rumor mill began spinning about a St. Hilaire gubernatorial run in 2012 not long after he voted to defund Planned Parenthood in June of this year. Up until that vote, he was not considered a serious potential statewide candidate since he drew a lot of his support from liberal-to-moderate Republicans and might not survive a primary, where voters tend to be more conservative. …

Earlier this year, some conservative leaders wondered openly about the swerve to the right with the defund vote, thinking that St. Hilaire might be considering a potential bid for governor in 2012.

In an interview with the Concord Monitor, St. Hilaire confirmed he is considering a gubernatorial run.

“I’m at the stage of deciding whether I should be jumping into the race or not,” St. Hilaire said.

ICYMI: Feds Step In When Executive Council Fails to Act

When the Executive Council voted not to renew the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood to provide Title X family planning services, 16,000 New Hampshire residents were left without health care services ranging from birth control to cancer exams.

This week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services stepped in to protect the health of Granite State families by awarding a replacement grant to Planned Parenthood citing the “urgent need.”

Title X family planning services have not been provided in the areas of the state previously served by PPNNE since the contract between NHDHHS and PPNNE ended on June 30, 2011. There is an urgent need to reinstate services with an experienced provider that is familiar with the provision of Title X family planning services and applicable laws, regulations and administrative requirements, and has a history of successfully providing services in these areas of the state.

Councilor Dan St. Hilaire, one of the three councilors voting against renewing the contract, said he opposed the contract because Planned Parenthood also provides abortion services.

“Actually funding an agency that performs the actual event is something that I would object to, and I have objected to. That’s what I voted against it.”

St. Hilaire was silent on where the 16,000 men, women and teenagers would now turn for vital health care services including cervical cancer screenings, breast exams and sexually transmitted infections. Following the Executive Council’s dereliction of duty, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen stepped in and asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to consider a direct federal contract. She applauded the federal government’s action.

“Women in every part of the state deserve access to affordable reproductive health services, and Planned Parenthood is a critical provider of those services in our state,” Shaheen said. “These clinics also provide vital preventive care, such as screenings for breast and cervical cancer. In some parts of New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of these preventive services to low-income women. I am glad the federal government has stepped up to provide this new contract, so that women in every part of New Hampshire will have somewhere to turn for basic health issues.”