Jim Kenyon: Some New Hampshire legislators being bought by the badge
Jim Kenyon. Copyright (c) Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Modified: 1/23/2021 10:28:48 PM
Cops are quick to claim their overarching mission is to protect and serve. In New Hampshire, they’re pretty good at playing politics too.
Over the years, New Hampshire’s state troopers, municipal police officers and police chiefs have used their nonprofit entities to funnel thousands of dollars into lobbying the Legislature and supporting the campaigns of pet lawmakers.
With the 2021 legislative session barely underway, law enforcement groups are already hard at work to pass Senate Bill 39, which would shield cops from increased public scrutiny. The proposed legislation would override a pair of 2020 state Supreme Court decisions intended to improve the odds of the public gaining access to internal investigations into police misconduct, under the state’s right-to-know law. Investigations, by the way, that are paid for with taxpayers’ dollars.