Transcripts For WMUR Closeup 20160221

Good morning. M josh mcelveen. She has been flirting with the idea for a while, but now pam tucker will try to win a seat in congress and she is making that announcement right here on closeup. I am kind of stealing your thunder. But outage you reach the decision . Rep. Tucker i have been out talking to people, was there a place for me in the primary. And yes, there is. People viewed me, we are looking at the direction our country is going and 65 of americans think we are headed in the wrong direction. We need to change that. And what we need are people willing to take those tough decisions and tough vote and that is why i am looking at this. Legislature for seven years. This is my fourth term, final term, and i think it is time we take what i have done here and move it up on the d. C. Level. I truly believe that. Josh when you make this decision, you have to have people talking to you you want to win if you are running, and now it looks like the top of and a lot of republicans thinking about running our saying come are saying, maybe this is not the best situation to jump into this thing. Did that matter at all . Everything whether you are republican or democrat. What we saw in New Hampshire with donald trump thing at the top of the ticket, people are looking for someone outside of washington, people who are not part of that establishment crew. I fit the bill. I outside the establishment i have a proven record of voting republican and doing what i say i am going to do, and i think that s really important to people. A lot of times, people go to washington and people say don t drink the water. When it comes to actually voting, they change and they start to go off the flow. I got to do what is right for my kids in the future. Look at my kids. When i got out of college, i did not have that much debt. I had a job out of school. I did not have to live in my parents basement. My oldest is 18. She is looking at that. The Job Opportunities for kids in their 20 s right now, it s very different. We need to change that. That means getting government out of the way and getting rid josh that number keeps getting bigger. The biggest knock on congress right now is they can get anything done. It is the least Effective Congress in the history of washington. At any rate, you know what the knock is a review come from a background, with the state house, deputy House Speaker l o brien, he certainly was criticized for not being very compromising on certain things. And that may be a knock on these things. The background may show that it is not very complemented. Rep. Tucker he is principled and i am principled, but you have to work with each other. That is why i am different from any other candidate that is kind to run. I have been up at the state house. When you look at the number of vast majority, you look at the consent calendar. We agree that this is a good bill or this is a bad bill. Yes, there will be differences between republicans and democrats. Josh and moderate republicans and conservative republicans. Even up in concord with 400 of us, you have to Work Together to make things pass, and i can take with those who want to make this your principles. I truly believe we all want what is best for this country. We need to find that round where we can Work Together. Josh the definition of republican falls under many categories these days. How to describe what kind of republican are you . Conservative libertarian republican. I believe in individual rights, the importance of privacy as well. But i am very fiscally conservative, if you will. I don t think we should be spending money we don t have. We should be balancing the budget and concord and ndc the same way we do at home. Josh is that talking about the nation s house in order . Rep. Tucker that is the big the one thing driving everyone, the cost of government. The government. Whether it is an efficient mode t. But we have to start somewhere. You cannot continue to spend if we can do it here in concord, i know we can do it ndc josh you are running against a incumbent who is announced he is working for the election he is dealing with his debacle, term it. Would you be running if he was not facing that . Rep. Tucker i think it is important that we put up a candidate for the seat that can beat carol sheaporter. I believe i am the one. Josh are you concerned about the issues that tail him, the incumbent . He has been washington for a while. I know you do not want to throw any mud on anybody and characters going to come up in this race. Rep. Tucker it is going to come up. We need someone to get in the seat and be in that seat for a couple terms, and if i was to be probably get reelected twice. I think for terms are plenty for me at the state house. We do not need people up there forever and ever, but we need consistency. Josh do you think you should have resigned his seat when kelly ayotte and others said he was damaged goods . Rep. Tucker that s a personal decision that he needs to make. Josh ok, we will see what happens why are you a better choice . Rep. Tucker i have a record. Anyone can say that they are republican. Anyone can say they or democrat, even if they are a socialist. It is those who have a track record. I have always voted for fiscal discipline. If i get to d. C. , which i think i will vote that way. I m not going to change my spots. Josh we are just about out of time, but i think it is important. This is a snapshot, a microscopic him and microcosm of what everybody thinks is wrong with washington, and that is the replacement of Antonin Scalia a. The Republican Leadership, senator mcconnell this will be decided by the senate, i understand, in congress, but it stand. Do you think it is a good idea to wait on this or should we go through the process . Rep. Tucker i stand with senator ayotte. Let the next president make the decision. Josh but he is the president. You can t make the last year of a presidency knowledge void. Rep. Tucker there have been Supreme Court positions vacant josh so just let it go . Ok, what is your message going to be . Rep. Tucker we are watching the website www. Pamfornh. Com. Josh i appreciate you coming on the video to on the show to announce this. Hope we people will be watching very we will be back with another state rep, Jack Flanagan, considering a run of josh welcome back to closeup. , everyone. Like our last guest, representative Jack Flanagan considering a run. How close are you . Rep. Flanagan pretty close. I think i will have a decision in the next couple weeks. I have been going to different gop groups. This Congressional District does all the way to canada, but we will wait until it starts getting a little warmer. But it has been very positive and i actually heard from some josh right now it basically would be you, unless someone else jumps into this thing and a lot of people inc. , it s a democratic think if a democratic district. It s very tough. How do you do it . Rep. Flanagan i think it s on the ground. Meeting people, getting to know them. I have been in the legislature for two terms. I have been a selectmen. I have worked in the private sector. Once they get to know me and compare positions i have a very simple philosophy. One, is it constitutional . Two does it make sense, and three, do we have unintended consequences. If you look at washington, d. C. , they are missing the boat on number two. Leader under the House Speaker shawn jasper. What if you done . Rep. Flanagan we have done a lot of things. In december 2014, we set goals remember the caucus we had. And we talked about getting done what we wanted to get done. We got a balanced budget incentives for business. We made it more enticing for businesses to come to the state. We did a lot of good things. We did a lot of testing for our kids for common core testing. And when the president a month later said it s a good idea, which is what we did, and safety from at the high school level. We increased funding for drug abuse. So, yeah, we did a lot of things josh heroin is a major issue. We say heroin, but it s an opioid crisis. You authored a bill. M not sure where that stands right now. There are a couple of other ones just like it, which would create a registry, focus on the it s an interesting philosophy. Questions. What you think that is the right approach . The Scarlet Letter approach . Rep. Flanagan it is one part of the process. We have to educate our kids. And there s the Law Enforcement piece, which you remember, the cocaine issue and we reduced that amount, too. My bill, i do not believe it passed out of committee, but there are couple of other bills. If you are arrested for selling heroin, it public already. Factor. Legislation, the Death Penalty in New Hampshire, standards that have to be met, crimes that have to be committed. Obviously there is something on a lot of people s minds and that is terrorism. Rep. Flanagan a former Supreme Court judge, chuck douglas, approached me. He was a former congressman, too. We talked about it. Another a lot of issues about a death in ot, but when it comes to terrorist attacks, there s not much doubt for how people feel about it. He drafted the legislation and i think it will be heard on friday. Penalty and let the jurors decide if the punishment fits the crime. Fits the crime . Still, there are other crimes out there. You know, doesn t fit the Death Penalty. Rep. Flanagan i think New Hampshire has always been specific on crime. The killing of a police officer, breaking and entering, committing a crime in the home, and now this one. I think it is sort of the New Hampshire way. You want to be sustained. And if you do this crime, this is the level of panoply you may or may not incur. It goes through the legislative process, and it does innovate that and to be honest with you, in messages as they did not have this legislation and it went to criminal court. Josh i got deeper into that rep. Flanagan inside baseball. Josh it is sunday, but now we are taking on wednesday. I m all confused. Let me ask you what i asked representative tucker a minute ago. The Supreme Court justice, a lot of tension. Bubblegum leaders want to wait until there is a new from Republican Leaders want to wait until there is a new president. What do you think . Rep. Flanagan can i say yes and no . Posted usually the president has a right to nominate and constitutionally the senate has a right to approve or disapprove. Josh does it send the right message to say, we won t do anything, we won t even try until there is a new president . Rep. Flanagan i don t have a position on this right now, josh. It doesn t come to the house. It is managed in the senate, you know josh sure, but as a rep. Flanagan philosophically Justice Alito no, josh scalia. Rep. Flanagan Justice Scalia was a strict constitutionalist. That s great for me as a legislator. When you start interpreting the constitution josh now this is deeper than i m meant to get. But you will let us know when you do make your decision right here on the show, right question mark i m negligible due to it. One quick question. Donald trump. A lot of people wanted to see how things were shaking up of the primary and the thinking was, donald trump, maybe that is not a good pathway from republicans. Maybe people are rethinking it. Are you . Rep. Flanagan i supported governor k6. I came out early. I supported him in june. Voters will vote the way they i think with mr. Trump, he is saying things that people are thinking. I do not think the same way he does. What a block of people but a block of people say that he is the one saying what they re thinking. If he is the votegetter, he is the votegetter, just like if it is mrs. Clinton or senator sanders. The other thing though is we cannot tell people one way or another how to vote. Josh leave it to the voters, right . Rep. Flanagan that s how we do it. And i m glad that my guy finish second in New Hampshire. Can i put in a plug flanaganfornh. Com is the website. If you have any questions or inquiries. Josh or you want to donate. Rep. Flanagan or donate. Press the red button. Josh welcome back. This week, and intense political battle started after the passing of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia appear. In public and saying this is an election year, no one should be nominated, the president saying it is his duty to nominate someone. Let started. Guest i was, to be honest. Whether you agreed with his philosophy or not, he applied it pretty consistently and i felt badly that we could not give him talking about what would happen. And i think the country should m not sure that s going to happen. Josh he was on the bench for a very long time. What kind of legacy do you think he will have . Justice broderick Justice Khalil was an originalist, as he describes it Justice Scalia was originalist, as he describes it. He was always trying to think of framers. He was at the center. He was a dissenter. Times a very sharp pen. I did not always agree with his opinions, josh, but i always respected him. I had occasion to spend a little time with him. He was a very gracious man. I really liked him personally and i to be honest. Josh and people looking at his time on the bench, his life overtook everything. A lot of people were put off by it that might be a mild term. How will things change when it comes to the Supreme Court and the political world from the time he was nominated . Which was unanimously, by the way. Justice broderick Justice Scalia confirmed unanimously by the United States senate. Today, if the democrats controlled the senate, it might not get out of the hearing. But president obama has an obligation to nominate someone. That means you hold a hearing. You may vote know what the hearing level. The senate may vote no. But at least you let the process work. Those who say the president should not be nominated, the constitution, ironically, Justice Khalil would say, i think, says the president gets to nominate if there is a vacancy. It does not say if it is in his first term, if he is exceptionally popular it is his job. It is the job of the senate to consider the nominee. Josh obviously you the Supreme Court hears very few cases compared to the number they apply. What if somebody finally gets there, something that they have built their life around and it is a 44 vote. The Supreme Court of the united s 100 cases. Level. In one year, there were 25 of opinions. Those cases likely would have been 44. At the end of a long, expensive process to have your case heard, after spending all of that time and money, and they say we are 44, we really can help you, s beneficial to the country regardless of your political party. Josh is there anything that can be done . Is this just the world we live in now . Justice broderick sadly, i think it is now. I m a lifelong democrat. If george bush s summer president son were president and as were his last year, i would be telling you the exact same thing. Because this is not about politics. The country needs to let the josh we will see what happens. We have less than two minutes to go, but i want to ask you any young attorney must go through the law books late at night and dream of a day of being u. S. Supreme court. Is it like that . Individual . S an enormous privilege and it norm is responsibility. And there s a tradeoff. You are a little more reclusive. Your relationships change, you cannot have expressed opinions outside of a written opinion. But i think anyone who is interested in the law and its evolution would love that job. It is a tremendous honor. Josh you have been active in your concern for the future of this was an energetic primary, to say the least. Justice broderick i will tell you, josh the establishment tends to decide who holds the primaries. The establishment was not on donald trump s side or on Bernie Sanders s side, and if it turns out they are the nominees, the establishment might say, why are we using New Hampshire anymore . I hope that does not happen. Josh i hope so, 20, but a lot of voters did what they see as their civic duty. Justice broderick it s an amazing state. Josh it is. That will wrap up this edition of closeup. We will be back next week. Today on matter of fact, immigration and obamacare. We could have really a perfect storm of some of these social issues in particular. Will the supreme arguments determine a president ial winner . And campaign dark money. Fernando how can we know if a candidate is effectively being bought . Are mystery donors destroying democracy . Plus [crowd chanting bernie ] Hillary Hillary the battle for the soul of southern democrats. Then, a penalty for prayer breaks on the production line . I ve never heard of a company not allowing its employees to pray five minutes. Conflicts over religion on