{"id":524,"date":"2019-11-20T15:02:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T20:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/?p=524"},"modified":"2019-11-20T15:02:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T20:02:16","slug":"depends-on-the-definition-of-has","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/2019\/11\/20\/depends-on-the-definition-of-has\/","title":{"rendered":"Depends on the Definition of \u201cHas\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Maxim Ledoux<\/em> <\/p>\n

In a letter last week, Rep. Edith DesMarais denied my statement that she had voted for a tax on plastic bags in the form of HB 560 when she wrote, \u201cHB 560 has nothing to do with plastic bags.\u201d How much more definitive can you get than \u201cHB 560 has nothing to do with plastic bags\u201d? Reading DesMarais\u2019s letter, I thought I must\u2019ve made a mistake. But I didn\u2019t. DesMarais is misleading you. I\u2019ll prove it.<\/p>\n

Go to https:\/\/www.legiscan.com\/NH\/text\/HB560<\/a> and read the bill. Look at the \u201cVotes\u201d tab. You\u2019ll see that DesMarais voted \u201cAye\u201d on HB 560 on March 19, 2019. Here\u2019s the title of the bill that DesMarais voted for: \u201cHB 560: an act relative to single-use carryout bags.\u201d That\u2019s an odd title for a bill that \u201chas nothing to do with plastic bags.\u201d The analysis of the bill reads, \u201cThis bill restricts the distribution of single-use carryout bags by stores and food service businesses.\u201d That\u2019s weird for a bill that \u201chas nothing to do with plastic bags.\u201d And in section II of the bill, it reads, \u201cA store or food service business may provide reusable plastic or recycled paper bags to customers for not less than 10 cents, to be retained by the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how can she claim that \u201cHB 560 has nothing to do with plastic bags,\u201d when I just quoted the text of the bill?<\/p>\n

Well, she\u2019s a politician. Remember Bill Clinton saying, \u201cIt depends on what the definition of \u2018is\u2019 is\u201d? In this case, DesMarais\u2019s denial hinges on the word \u201chas.\u201d You see, she voted for the 10-cent tax on plastic bags on March 19, when that\u2019s what was in the bill. But the bill was subsequently amended in committee, changing it completely \u2014 so that it is now about reporting on transfer stations. So, in its current form, HB 560 \u201chas\u201d nothing to do with plastic bags. What DesMarais wrote is factually accurate, even though, when she voted for it, HB 560 \u201chad\u201d everything to do with plastic bags. She must know this, since she voted for it. She is misleading you. It\u2019s the difference between \u201chas\u201d and \u201chad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take my word for. You can look this up yourself at LegisScan.com or OpenStates.org, among other websites that track bills. And definitely don\u2019t take DesMarais\u2019s word for it, because she tried to mislead you, as too many politicians do.<\/p>\n

She further muddles by writing, \u201cAs to \u2018hiding my beliefs,\u2019 I have clearly stated I would make no pledge regarding taxes.\u201d Again, she put something in quotes, but who is she quoting? Not me. I never accused her of hiding her beliefs, I said she is hiding her pro-tax voting record. I think her obfuscation on HB 560 proves my point.<\/p>\n

Maybe you agree with DesMarais that \u201cwe need to be more proactive regarding single-use plastic,\u201d as she wrote last week. If so, you may be happy with her vote for a 10-cent minimum tax on single-use plastic bags. You might still wonder, though, why she refuses to admit the truth about her pro-tax voting record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Maxim Ledoux In a letter last week, Rep. Edith DesMarais denied my statement that she had voted for a tax on plastic bags in the form of HB 560 when she wrote, \u201cHB 560 has nothing to do with plastic bags.\u201d How much more definitive can you get than \u201cHB 560 has nothing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legislation","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carrollcountyrepublicans.org\/carroll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}