To The Daily Sun,
In April of 2018, Ron Blais of Barnstead wrote a letter to the Laconia Daily Sun that started as follows: “What is wrong with Belknap County?” He pointed out that the joint resolution against hate crimes and racism (HCR-13) had bipartisan sponsorship and passed the House 234 to 69. Nevertheless, only four Belknap County representatives voted for it. As Mr. Blais put it, “Belknap County now makes a name for itself as the only county in New Hampshire that voted against a resolution denouncing hate crimes.”
How are we faring two years later? Not so well. Of the representatives who voted against HCR-13, seven are current members of the delegation (Aldrich, Comtois, Howard, Lang, Silber, Sylvia, and Varney), and one (Spanos) has been elected County Commissioner. In case anyone hopes that the new crop of Republicans (and yes, out of 18 representatives in Belknap County, 18 are Republican) is an improvement, that is not the case. Dawn Johnson, a new representative from Laconia, reposted material from a neo-Nazi site (Daily Stormer, from the German Nazi paper Der Sturmer) with a vile anti-Semitic caricature. Her so-called “apology” never even mentioned the bigoted content. And how did the other representatives in the county react? Not one has called for her resignation. Most have cowered in silence, and a few have, astonishingly, defended her.
Two years after the Blais letter, what’s wrong with Belknap County? Instead of speaking out against the bigotry within its own ranks, the delegation leaders (Chair Sylvia and Vice Chair Howard) are busy fomenting some type of insurrection, playing at being Revolutionary War soldiers and embarrassing us all statewide with their antics. Perhaps their attempts to secede from either the state or the nation are an attempt to distract us from the Johnson fiasco, but all that has been accomplished so far is to add fuel to the dumpster fire that is our county delegation.
Until one or more brave souls within the delegation ranks stands up for decency and sanity, they will all be tainted by the actions of their most headline-grabbing members. All of the delegation members need to remember that they as a group chose Mr. Sylvia and Mr. Howard to lead them. They also should consider the phrase “silence is complicity.” Although I always hope for a profile in courage or two, on this one I am not holding my breath.
Ruth Larson
Alton
(1) comment
Good letter Ruth.
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