Melissa Anderson: Questioning for whom representatives are really advocating

To The Daily Sun,

This letter is to address a major shift in the representation of New Hampshire citizens in the NH house and senate. The question is, do our representatives truly have NH interests at heart or those of outside interests? Several bills have been introduced to limit women's rights, to encourage the privatization of schools, and to limit the labor force representation.

For example:

SB61 - Prohibits collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join a labor union.

Federal law already makes it illegal to force someone to join a union. So why is this a *pressing* issue? Who benefits? Not us as workers.

SB130 - Allows parents to use [our] tax funds for private religious schools, homes chools, and charter schools (not to mention educational expenses as long as they don’t attend a public school). Seriously. How does this help New Hampshire residents. How will it attract young families who find that our schools are underfunded to benefit the fortunate few? Who benefits? The wealthy few and the for-profit schools. Who loses? Public schools.

New Hampshire is a wonderful state to live in and we should not be implementing laws or regulations that limit our freedoms and basic rights as tax-paying citizens. We need to encourage newcomers to our state not repel them. We do not need to mirror the mistakes of the American South with statistics of higher welfare rolls, and smaller percentages of graduating high school seniors.

Make your voice heard and keep our state from succumbing to outside interests that do not benefit NH citizens.

If you want to register your opposition to a bill, contact your representative or go to gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/remotetestimony/default.aspx.

Melissa Anderson

Meredith