Drama over N.H. House seating assignments: What goes around comes around

The latest drama between the warring factions of the Republican Party involves the House seating assignments. Lawmakers were quick to note that Bill O'Brien and his most ardent followers, who are challenging Speaker Shawn Jasper for control of the GOP caucus, are all sitting together in what one of his loyalists referred to as Murderers’ Row (a reference to the 1927 New York Yankees).

In addition to O'Brien, the rogues gallery in the third to last row of the middle section includes John Burt (R-Goffstown), Lawrence Kappler (R-Raymond), JR Hoell (R-Dunbarton), David Bates (R-Windham), Michael Brewster (R-Barnstead), Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry), Kyle Tasker (R-Nottingham), Dan Tamburello (R-Londonderry), Susan DeLemus (R-Rochester), Peter Silva (R-Nashua), Daniel Itse (R-Fremont) and Stephen Stepanek (R-Milford).

Baldasaro, for one, is unhappy that he is in the middle of the row. “[D]id Jasper stick it to a disabled Vet & make me climb over reps?” he asked on Twitter. “Speaker has no respect for disabled Veterans!” he complained. “[I]s this payback because I supported O'Brien?”

If Baldasaro’s middle row seat is payback for criticizing the speaker, it’s nothing new. In his memoir, “We Ain’t Making Sausage Here,” former Speaker Marshall Cobleigh readily admitted using the seating assignments for “rewarding my friends and remembering my enemies.”

Closer to home, Baldasaro’s complaint mirrors blatant acts of political retribution from the time when O'Brien was making the seating chart. Rep. Tim Copeland (R-Stratham), a former law enforcement officer who was injured in the line of duty, told the Portsmouth Herald he lost his aisle seat in 2012 after opposing O'Brien’s agenda:

Copeland said he was a victim of “punitive” and “petty” behavior from O’Brien this week when he was moved from an aisle seat in the House to a seat in the middle of the row. Copeland has a back injury from his time in law enforcement and he needs to get up from his seat from time to time, he said. As a result, he filled out a medical card last year and was given an aisle seat.

Copeland said he received a communication from O’Brien a few days ago, informing him that his seat was moved. Copeland said no explanation was given for the move, but he feels it was in retaliation for him voting against the party on the gun bills the House was debating.

Rep. Tony Soltani (R-Epsom), who tangled with O'Brien frequently, told a similar story to the Concord Monitor:

Between a bad fall in 2007 and a single-car accident last year, Soltani has sustained a broken pelvis and nerve damage to his left leg and thigh. He has only recently begun trying to walk without a cane, he said.

O'Brien assigned Soltani an inner seat in the last row. Soltani said [in a letter to O'Brien’s office] his “left leg can not negotiate the obstacles between the seats, and my repeated falls and bruises are a mere gift from your offices.” […]

“I trust my friends who have told me the speaker wants to see me suffer for political reasons. I readily admit that I seldom agree with the speaker, and his tactics,” Soltani said. “Political disagreement is no excuse for breaking the law.”