November 28, 2005
NO CEILING:
The stage is set: As local players line up on either side, New Hampshire's attorney general on Wednesday will try to persuade US Supreme Court justices to reinstate a controversial abortion notification law (Jonathan Saltzman, November 28, 2005, Boston Globe)
She is best known for sending two teenage killers to prison for murdering a pair of Dartmouth College professors, but now Kelly A. Ayotte faces a challenge with much higher stakes. With the eyes of her state's political establishment on her -- not to mention partisans on both sides of the nation's abortion debate -- New Hampshire's first female attorney general will stand before the US Supreme Court on Wednesday and try to persuade justices to reinstate a controversial abortion law struck down two years ago.In doing so, the Republican lawyer is opposing her boss, Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, and aligning herself with the Bush administration as the high court gets ready to hear its first major case on the abortion front in five years.
New Hampshire political observers say it is unclear whether Ayotte, who is appointed by the governor with the approval of an executive council, has aspirations for elected office. If she does, they say, it is hard to think of a better way to raise her profile than standing before the justices this week.
''I don't see any political downside to this," said Dante Scala, associate professor in the department of politics at Saint Anselm College.
Folks periodically puzzle over how it is determined that the NH governorship is one of the weakest executive offices in the country--here's a good illustration. Note too that Governor Lynch just recently had to reappoint Ms Ayotte, who has a very bright future in at least statewide politics.
MORE:
Legislature is largest, yet not representative of NH (NORMA LOVE, 11/28/05, The Associated Press)
When Gov. John Lynch took office this year, he invited lawmakers to lunch with him in groups. It took three months to fit everyone in.Posted by Orrin Judd at November 28, 2005 8:14 AMNew Hampshire's Legislature — 24 senators and 400 representatives— is the largest state legislative body in the nation and the third largest in the English-speaking world. Only the U.S. House and the British House of Commons are bigger.
How could a 400 member house of Representatives in such a small state not be representative?
Posted by: Luciferous at November 28, 2005 2:24 PMWonder why she says the legislature is not representative of NH? After having lived there for 10 years, I would say that Lunch is not exactly representative of NH. He only got in there because his predecessor, the Cabletronic guy, was so totally clueless as to how he should run the state. My friends, lifelong republicans and state employees, thought he was the worst boss they had ever had and were for the first time in their lives voting for a democrat.
Posted by: dick at November 28, 2005 2:26 PMPIMF
Lynch, not Lunch
Sorry.
Funny that in any other state in New Egland, Lynch would be a republican.
Posted by: dick at November 28, 2005 2:27 PMNo one cares if it's representative--the pont is to dilute power.
Posted by: oj at November 28, 2005 2:32 PM