Enough is enough of the misinformation, distortions and outright lies of Bobbi Boudman. Her recent letter attacking my record deserves some truth telling so here it goes.
1. HB 1649 is probably the bill that Ms. Boudman is misrepresenting in her letter. She claims I support cancer causing chemicals in baby products and water supplies. As with many of you, my family has been impacted dramatically by cancer so to charge I support cancer causing chemicals is insulting. The bill dealt with PFAS but introduced a ban on any one of a large list of consumer products if they are made with a chemical compound whose formula contains one or more “fully fluorinated carbon” molecules. There are thousands of such compounds and consumer products numbering in hundreds of thousands – products such as Gore-Tex and Teflon and probably all clothing, cosmetics, and toys. As a legislator, I have to analyze the impact of legislation rather than just see PFAS in the text and blindly say I am against the bill. This bill went too far in my judgement.
2. Ms. Boudman claims I sponsored a bill on ”divisive concepts” that is unconstitutional and cost the state millions of dollars. I co-sponsored a bill that stated that the state, towns and schools could not teach, instruct or train employees or students that: 1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex, 2) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, 3) an individual should be discriminated against because of his or her race or sex and several other similar concepts of discrimination. A district court recently ruled against the law on the basis that it was vague in terms of what is prohibited and the enforcement. The NH Department of Justice is appealing the decision to the US Court of Appeals.
Evidently Ms. Boudman believes that it is fine to teach kids that one race is superior to another or that it is OK discriminate against someone because of their race or sex. I believe that is wrong and has no place is our society, let alone our schools.
3. She criticizes me for supporting education freedom accounts (EFAs) on the basis that it will harm public schools and increase property taxes. I believe that every child deserves the opportunity to get the education that best meets their individual needs. As to the program destroying public schools, in the 2022-23 school year, 5 students left the Governor Wentworth School District to take an EFA. The state funds would go with that student but payments to the district are phased out over three years. The local school funding stays in the district even though the district does not have the child to educate. I will also point out that study after study show that pubic school academic performance increases when there is a robust school choice program.
4. Her claim that I sponsored a Constitutional Amendment to levy taxes to pay for elite private schools is another lie. I sponsored an amendment to remove a provision in our state Constitution (called a Blaine amendment) that no money raised by taxation would go to religious schools. These amendments (in several state Constitutions) have been ruled in numerous decisions as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts stated in the most recent decision (Carson v. Makin, 2022) that a neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious schools through the independent choices of private benefit recipients is constitutional. If you would like to read further about this topic, you can go to my web site: RepealNHBlaine.com
5. I supposedly sponsored legislation to put non-accredited teachers in public schools according to Ms. Boudman. I think that she must be referring to a bill I sponsored to try to help address the teacher shortage problem. It would have allowed districts to hire people with expertise and significant experience in a subject area to teach less than 30 hours a week without going through the lengthy process of getting certified. Evidently Ms. Boudman does not feel that school districts are capable of hiring qualified people even when there is a teacher shortage in the school? This bill had bi-partisan support when it came out of a conference committee but failed due to a paperwork glitch.
6. Another lie by Bobbi Boudman. I did not sponsor legislation to take away art, music and sports. Legislation that I did sponsor simply said the schools should emphasize reading, math, science, and social studies. It eliminated nothing. Have you seen the proficiency scores at our schools in the basic subjects? Check them out and tell me that they should not be emphasized.
7. Cooperative school districts, like our local district, have been the source of legislation to fix problems and unfairness to small towns in these districts. My bill would have ended these cooperative districts in five years and allow the towns to form new agreements. One example of the unfairness is the question of why Wolfeboro and Ossipee residents should have a vote for the Effingham school board representative. My legislation was intended to start a dialogue to find solutions to these cooperative school district problems.
8. Book banning. I am so tired of hearing this red herring. My legislation was designed to address the age inappropriate materials that would be harmful to minors found in many NH schools. It defined what is harmful to minors and put in place a minimum appeal process for parents to object to materials. It did not ban anything. But I will tell you that Democrats tried to shut down my reading of some passages for books in NH schools on the House floor. A vote had to be taken to allow me to continue. To them it was inappropriate for me to read a few passages to adults in the NH House but it is fine for them to be available in public schools. A video of my speech can be found on X (formerly Twitter) and got over 4 million views. When it comes to standing up for kids and parents, I will not be silenced.
9. This one really gets me angry. She claims my legislation would take away a mother’s right to hold her dying baby. The bill was the “Born Alive Protection Act”. It would have mandated that a baby born alive, even the result of a botched abortion, would get immediate medical attention. The fact that it was defeated shows the extremism of the Democrats in the House.
10. There have been multiple bills related to landfills so I have no idea what she is talking about. There was a bill to limit out of state trash but that passed the House on a voice vote. There was also a bill to limit ownership of landfills but it was felt by the Senate that it needed more work and was held for study. A bill to have landfills considered in regional development impact by local boards was passed and signed into law.
Voters in the 2022 election saw through the outlandish attacks against me by Bobbi Boudman. I hope you will also and I will soon start my own campaign. If you would like to talk about issues or my record, my phone number is 603-515-0008 and my web site is CordelliforNH.com