Town meeting saved!

and the town budgeting process throughout the entire state of New Hampshire in order to make Moultonborough "more secure" in the light of the possibility of SB2 coming to town.

Ten months ago Moultonborough garnered 56% and 58% of the vote respectively for the town and school district in favor of SB2 (SB2 needs 60% to pass). There were cries from the opposition of SB2 that "selectmen would resign", "budgets would fail to pass" and life as we now know it in "Moultonborough would never be the same". Let me remind you that SB2 is very simply a voting initiative that allows all of you voters out there in newspaper-land that may not be able to attend an all day session to vote on ALL town and school issues. But I digress…

HB72 would have essentially eliminated the possibility of any secret ballot vote at a town meeting for critical issues (crippling voters' rights). HB71 would have raised the amount of a potential bond issue requiring a public hearing from $100,000 to ONE MILLION DOLLARS. ONE MILLION DOLLARS with NO PUBLIC HEARING…?? (blank check). And HB114 would have virtually ELIMINATED the deliberative session of SB2 where amendments are presently encouraged (as in town meeting).

The battle for SB2 is nothing more than this: a struggle between power by intimidation vs. the power of the secret ballot. It is that simple. Power in town meetings is held by the moderator and sustained by the selectmen and the rest of the administration. Have you ever gone to a town meeting and voted against an issue you thought as critical about 9 PM and then gone home secure that you voted it down? The next morning you wake up to the news that the very issue you spent your evening to vote against, PASSED with a "motion to reconsider" at 11 pm. That, my friends, does not happen with SB2. There is a time for deliberation, a time for the voter to get information and then vote intelligently, by secret ballot.

The good folks that showed up at a moment's notice and offered testimony against the bills, offered by Representative Patten, deserve the thanks of all voters and property taxpayers in New Hampshire. These issues are not gone, however. They will be back. To the people that spoke up for the elderly, a moderator that spoke of giving a secret ballot vote if even one person requested it, the Moultonboro Citizens Alliance that spotted this covert attempt and responded, and many more, we who were not able to be there owe a huge debt of gratitude.