September 23, 2025 • 39 mins
The New Hampshire Executive Council has enormous power and almost no name recognition. What the [bleep] is it? And why does New Hampshire have it?
In this episode, Kayla Montgomery (VP of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England) returns to the pod to tell Liz an abbreviated history of the Executive Council. Liz references multiple musicals.
New episodes every Tuesday.
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Have an idea for an upcoming episode? Email Liz: newhampshirehasissues@gmail.com
Links:
- PPNHAF LizTok about the Executive Council (look how young Liz looks!)
- Find your Executive Councilor
- PPNHAF Executive Council page
- NH gerrymandering: ACLU-NH releases new analysis of proposed Executive Council map (ACLU of New Hampshire)
- Gerrymandering Makes the Majority the Minority in the NH State House (InDepthNH)
- PPNHAF LinkTree
- Sponsor a printer at PPNHAF
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New Hampshire Has Issues is generously sponsored by Seacoast Soils, an organic compost and topsoil provider for New Hampshire, Maine, and Northeast Massachusetts. Visit their website at www.seacoastsoil.com!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
What I love the most is that both of us have
backgrounds that are allabortion, even though the
executive council has nothing todo with abortion.
Yeah.
Except they hate it.
And so they don't want toapprove contracts.
SPEAKER_03 (00:12):
Right.
They think they have somethingto do with abortion.
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
They think they don't.
They think they do.
So we put as many posters as hasbeen the arguments they've made
that make no sense.
That's how many posters arebehind us.
It's an audio podcast.
Nobody can see them.
But they're there.
But they're there.
Right.
And I'm also wearing a shirtthat has the word abortion on
it.
Gotta represent.
And And because I only havethree shirts and they're all
Planned Parenthood.
It's fine.
And only one tie.
(00:35):
And only one tie.
That's right.
For the cost of one cup ofcoffee a day, you can make sure
Liz Canada has a different pinktie to wear to the state house.
Become a
SPEAKER_03 (00:43):
supporter of the show and you can buy Liz a new
tie.
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
With your Patreon subscription, you could get Liz
a new tie.
Just one more tie.
Look, I'm happy to put thephotos.
You're asking for a lot.
I know.
I'm happy to put the photos ofme from multiple days of
testifying with just the sametie.
I have two jackets.
Let's be
SPEAKER_03 (00:59):
real.
Not days, Liz.
as years.
Years.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
It's like the hair gets grayer, but the tie stays
the same.
The
SPEAKER_03 (01:06):
hair gets grayer, but the tie stays the same.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Over the course of time, it's so true.
I'm just weathered.
The tie, nevertheless, persists.
SPEAKER_03 (01:14):
That sounds like the tagline of the show in general.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
My God, I'm so weathered from these issues.
SPEAKER_03 (01:18):
New Hampshire has issues, and
SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
they have weathered us.
And they have weathered us.
You're listening to NewHampshire Has Issues, and I am
your host, Liz Canada, talkingto you from the future and like
the far future.
(01:42):
When Kayla and I recorded thisepisode, it was like smack dab
in the middle of summer.
And boy, oh boy, has a lotchanged since then in our
society, the vibes.
I wore a tie to work the otherday and felt like weird getting
out of my car wearing a tie.
So I hope this episode bringsyou a little joy.
(02:04):
That's really the goal.
Yes, by the end of the episode,if I offered you a dollar, I
would hope that you know oneexecutive counselor's name.
But really, I hope you enjoythis and that it brings you a
little bit of laughter.
If you would like to support theshow, you can go to patreon.com
slash nhhasissues.
There's also a link in the shownotes for that.
(02:26):
This episode is generouslysponsored by Seacoast Soils.
You can find their informationin the show notes as well.
Thank you for listening.
And I'll pass it back over tome.
So we're not here to talk aboutabortion, even though the
posters and my shirt sayotherwise.
We are here to talk aboutsomething that everyone is
extremely familiar with, as faras I'm aware.
SPEAKER_03 (02:46):
Something that every single Granite Stater is like, I
know exactly what that meanswhen I hear the executive
council.
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Oh yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
This is sarcasm.
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
We love sarcasm.
This is sarcasm.
Kayla, you're a fan favorite ofthe show.
It's so fun to be here.
People have been writing intothe show for months saying, get
Kayla Montgomery.
Well, I think you're a fanfavorite because no one knows
the executive council,tragically, better than you do.
Tragically.
Tragically.
(03:15):
Tragically.
We have been talking about theexecutive council, what feels
like nonstop.
And still, it seems nobody knowswhat it is.
And part of that is because it'sso unique to New Hampshire.
And part of that is that theyare a little bit shrouded in
mystery.
It's very different than what'shappening in other ways in the
statehouse.
But it is not, in fact, theterm.
knock of the down the executivecouncil despite how hard we have
(03:38):
tried I
SPEAKER_03 (03:39):
think we've knocked on every single door in New
Hampshire to talk to peopleabout it but turns out they're
not listening
SPEAKER_00 (03:44):
I love when we knock on a door and then I say hi my
name's Liz yada yada yada andthen I say so have you heard of
the executive council and thenthe look of panic on the
person's face I'm like I'm nothere to quiz you you're not in
trouble I'm not I'm evangelizingI'm evangelizing to you to bring
you into the fold anyway Ireally want to just ask people
(04:04):
on the street for a dollar.
Name any executive counselor.
Name anyone.
For a dollar.
For a dollar.
SPEAKER_03 (04:07):
Can you tell me what the executive council is?
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Past or present.
Just name an executivecounselor.
Past or present.
Name any of them and I will giveyou a dollar.
SPEAKER_03 (04:15):
You would have a lot of dollars left in the pocket.
You'd have so many dollars leftin your pocket you could afford
a new tie.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
What are we doing with all these dollars?
Well, we're asking people in thegreat state of New Hampshire,
what is the executive council?
Oh boy.
Okay, so I am your host, LizCanada.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask, what the f*** is theexecutive council?
I'm tired of not cursing while Italk about it.
I'm sick of it.
I'll bleep it out.
But what the f*** is theexecutive council?
(04:41):
Everyone else is asking it.
Why not me?
What the f*** is it?
Kayla, what's your tagline?
You are actually right now.
I am.
I am.
I am asking it now.
All right.
What's your tagline?
What do you have for the show?
SPEAKER_03 (04:52):
Well, Liz, it's a pleasure to be here.
I'm so glad you're back.
Welcome back.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like I never left.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask maybe we We should take alittle peeksy at what the New
Hampshire Executive Council isand why we have it.
A little looksy.
That's kind of a long tagline.
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
It's a little long, but let's take a little peek
under the hood of the ExecutiveCouncil.
SPEAKER_03 (05:16):
First and last in the nation.
SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
So I have a few questions for us to cover with
the hopes that we actuallyanswer them in an amount of time
that I can actually publish anepisode and that people can
actually understand what thef*** the Executive Council is.
So let's start with yourhistory.
What brings you to the executivecouncil conversation how did you
get roped into being on thispodcast episode besides that you
(05:40):
that you asked to be on it butother than that what brings you
to the executive councilconversation Kayla
SPEAKER_03 (05:45):
yeah that's right a couple weeks ago when we were
filming one of the first thefirst episode here I said and I
hope maybe we can talk about theexecutive we didn't have time to
talk about the executive councilbut I was like maybe I'll come
back for that not thinking thatI actually would but here we
SPEAKER_00 (06:00):
are here you are it's true that's a long time ago
be well and told to do it yeahSo here we are.
That was four months ago.
Was it really?
Four months ago, I hate to tellyou.
Yeah, four months ago.
Time
SPEAKER_03 (06:09):
flies when
SPEAKER_00 (06:09):
you're talking about the executive council.
And that's why this face is asweathered as it is.
That's where the grays comefrom.
SPEAKER_03 (06:13):
Okay, so I have the distinction of going to
executive council meetingspretty often over the last few
years, decade.
Decades.
Decades.
Let's be honest.
And really experiencing thatinteresting form, that uniquely
New Hampshire form of governmentfor myself firsthand.
(06:35):
Been through some stuff with theExecutive Council.
Did go into labor once.
Oh, how did that go?
So there was that.
That was a weird day.
I didn't, I just should clarify,I did not give birth in the
Executive Council chambers, butyou know.
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
If you had, more people would know what the
Executive Council is.
Totally.
That's on you, see?
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
So do you want to talk about what the Executive
Council is?
Yeah, I want you to tell me whatit is.
Okay, well, the New HampshireExecutive Council is uniquely
New Hampshire, as is most thingsin about new hampshire it is a
five member elected body so youa voter will vote for your
executive council every twoyears in the same way that you
vote for governor for statesenate for state representative
(07:16):
so yeah we do in new hampshireof course we vote a lot
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
we vote a lot we love voting we love to vote it's
our favorite thing to doelections yeah totally
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
so they are on your ballot they're actually right
under governor because they're apart of the executive branch so
they're really like high rankingofficials in the state of new
hampshire But people justhaven't heard of it.
So there's quite a lot ofhistory to the Executive
Council, which I don'tnecessarily need to get into
details.
But I do think there are someimportant pieces about how we
(07:45):
got here because people don'tknow what the Executive Council
is.
And part of the reason peopledon't know what the Executive
Council is is because NewHampshire is the only state that
has this type of government,this type of executive branch.
So it is kind of interesting ifyou're into that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (08:00):
Unfortunately, I am.
Yeah.
So to recap.
Five people make up theexecutive council.
In New Hampshire, everyone hasone executive counselor, and we
vote on them every other year inthe even-numbered years, just
like we do with governor, justlike we do with the state
senate, just like we do with thestate house, just like we do
(08:21):
with our U.S.
representatives.
Exactly.
And they're a part of
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
the executive branch.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Right, and they're a part of the executive branch.
So they're not
SPEAKER_03 (08:29):
making laws.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
Right.
They're not lawmakers.
Right, they are not lawmakers.
despite what they might thinkabout themselves.
They do not make laws in theexecutive council.
Why do we have this?
Where does it come from?
What's the deal with theexecutive council?
SPEAKER_03 (08:47):
So I am not the state historian, although that
is a very cool job.
And I think the state historiancould probably really get into
this.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
I haven't reached out to the state historian.
Well, you should.
That's a fair point.
Maybe I should have done that.
But I've asked you instead togive me the history of the
executive council.
All right, we'll do a very brieftimeline because it's kind of a
lot.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
So back in 1679.
Throwback.
Rewind is 1679.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Okay.
That's where it all began.
So when you said brief timeline,I'm glad that we went right to
the 1600s.
This
SPEAKER_03 (09:20):
is where our story begins.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
Our story begins before the foreman of the United
States.
We are in the executive councilworld.
Okay.
Yeah.
Oh
SPEAKER_03 (09:28):
yeah.
We are in, we are, we are back.
We are, we are way back.
You know, there's a lot ofindigenous people.
people in New Hampshire, right?
But it's the first time that thewhite folks have come in.
And King Charles II of Englandwas over there doing his thing
in England.
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
We are so far back in history that we are before
the king who was featuredprominently in the musical
Hamilton.
Just to be clear, we are beforeHamilton.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (09:53):
Zero days since Liz talked about Hamilton.
Okay.
Musical theater.
Okay.
Theater.
Musical theater.
Okay.
So at that time, Massachusettsand New Hampshire were one.
Oh.
Believe it or not.
SPEAKER_00 (10:05):
Oh.
So is it that they masked up NewHampshire or did we New
Hampshire up mass?
What happened?
SPEAKER_03 (10:13):
That's a great question.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's also a different podcast.
Yeah.
That's a different episode.
Well, what's interesting is ifyou read some of the history of
this, the people who were likeseparated from Massachusetts
were really pissed about it.
Like they loved theirrelationship with Massachusetts.
So they were not happy aboutthis separation.
So don't mask up New Hampshire.
But like some would say we had apretty good thing going on.
And
SPEAKER_00 (10:33):
that's true.
A few years ago.
It has some positive attributesto it.
All right.
I'm taking a controversialstance.
I mean, sure.
But
SPEAKER_03 (10:40):
again, that's a podcast for another day.
Another
SPEAKER_00 (10:43):
day.
Another
SPEAKER_03 (10:43):
day.
Anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
We can ask somebody else to come on to talk about
massing up New Hampshire.
I'm sure there are some peoplewho have strong opinions.
I don't know.
I don't know who.
I don't know.
I've never heard of anyone.
SPEAKER_03 (10:51):
So anyway, the King of England was like, we got to
form some, we don't have agovernment yet.
So let's just come up with someplan here.
And so he made this council andthis council was reporting back
what was going on to the kingbecause obviously the king's not
there and kind of reporting backon like the governor although it
wasn't a governor yet and thenyou know the Revolutionary War
(11:13):
comes so that that's a wholething that happened and we
SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
that's another musical 1776 could bring that
SPEAKER_03 (11:20):
up we could I think you did you
SPEAKER_00 (11:22):
know what's happening right now is there is
an incredible Jesus Christsuperstar that's Cynthia Erivo
from Wicked is starring as JesusChrist
SPEAKER_03 (11:28):
I've heard you've heard so we're because you've
told yeah
SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
so we're after the happenings of jesus christ
superstar before hamilton butnow we're in act one we're in
the
SPEAKER_03 (11:38):
hamilton moments so obviously no more governor i
mean no more king we have agovernor no more king
SPEAKER_00 (11:44):
the king is yeah i remember that in the musical
SPEAKER_03 (11:46):
but we sort of held on to that distrust of like we
we i mean we the collective wein new hampshire and so we
continued with like the councilto not just like not to report
but to keep the sort of checksand balances system so like the
governor couldn't have too muchpower they had this council that
they have to report to so it'slike a class New Hampshire
distrust.
So I'm going to read this linefrom the history of the
(12:07):
Executive Council because Ithink it is absolutely
fascinating and it saysbasically everything you need to
know.
Let's hear it.
The New Hampshire ExecutiveCouncil holds the distinction of
being the first and the last ofits kind in the nation.
It is a vestige of the colonialera and a public reminder of the
continuing indication of thebasic distrust that Granite
State citizens have fordictatorial government.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
Yeah, so...
That's a lot.
SPEAKER_03 (12:32):
That says a lot
SPEAKER_00 (12:32):
about Granite State.
You're telling us We don't likedictators.
SPEAKER_03 (12:35):
That's exactly
SPEAKER_00 (12:36):
what we're saying.
It's baked into our history ofthe executive council.
That's very interesting that asa state, we have this executive
council because we don't likedictators.
Fascinating.
It's fascinating.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Timely.
Timely.
And yet so old.
First and last.
It's a good phrase.
First and last.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (12:54):
So we're
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
going
SPEAKER_03 (12:54):
to
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
fast forward
SPEAKER_03 (12:55):
all the way to 1850.
And actually, Liz, what'sinteresting is that in 1850,
this is where our story is goingto end.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
Okay.
Our story is going to end in1850.
1850, but we're in 2025.
Okay.
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03 (13:06):
All right.
Yeah.
Weird, huh?
1850, there's a constitutionalconvention.
What is a constitutionalconvention?
Oh, Liz, that's a whole othertopic.
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
It's also in Hamilton, so you can listen to
Act II and listen to theconstitutional convention.
Okay, we
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
do not have time to get into what a constitutional
convention is.
It's a bunch of people gettingtogether and figuring out the
constitution.
Should I just perform the wholething?
Yeah, you should.
I don't think that could be onpodcast, though.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
Yeah, I'll probably get sued by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
It's fine.
It's on Disney+.
You can go watch it.
Okay, Franklin Pierce.
So, Franklin Pierce.
SPEAKER_03 (13:33):
You know him.
Not personally.
We all know him.
But yes.
No, he wasn't ranked very highas being a good president, I
would say.
But some would say he wasextremely handsome.
SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
Who?
You?
So, you know.
Are you saying that?
Should I quote you on that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Franklin Pierce, totallyhandsome.
He's extremely handsome.
Extremely handsome.
Quote Kayla Montgomery.
SPEAKER_03 (13:53):
Bit of a drunk, good abolitionist.
Okay.
Not a very good president.
Right.
Anyway, he was the governor.
Pluses and minuses.
A lot of roses and thorns herewith this guy.
Totally.
Right, right.
He recommended at theConstitutional Convention that
we get rid of, that we abolishthe Executive Council.
This was in 1850.
Okay.
And the people of the conventionwere like, how?
(14:13):
no like absolutely not and Lizit has never been revisited
since 1850 so
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
that was the end okay so Franklin Pierce took a
big swing and a big mess and hewhiffed it
SPEAKER_03 (14:25):
okay all right and nobody has been like since then
since 1850 has been like wellshould we examine this no one
has even like brought thequestion
SPEAKER_00 (14:34):
well I feel like we bring the question almost every
day in our office yeah well noone's
SPEAKER_03 (14:38):
listening to us
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
apparently but now we're on a podcast and people
will listen to us
SPEAKER_03 (14:42):
we're listening to each We've
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
been shouting through each other about this
and we decided to bring it onthe air with microphones.
SPEAKER_03 (14:48):
Right.
So there's been like littletweaks, you know, little tweaks
in like the way.
But like basically, yeah, it'sthis group that is the check and
balance on the governor and weelect them.
They're elected officials.
And that is the way it's theonly one in the country that
works like this.
And
SPEAKER_00 (15:04):
here we are.
So the checks and balances onthe governor.
How does that even work?
SPEAKER_03 (15:08):
The governor in states obviously have a lot of
power.
So and everything works a Everystate's going to be a little
different.
That's the beauty of how thiscountry operates.
Every state's going to be alittle bit different and every
governor is going to have alittle bit different sort of job
description when they'reelected.
So in some states, the governorcan just can choose their
commissioners.
(15:29):
Whereas in New Hampshire, yourcommissioners and judges all
have to be approved by theexecutive council.
So the governor can makerecommendations, but the
executive council, the majority.
So you have to get three votesin order to have their
nominations approved.
SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
So So the governor nominates someone.
A recent example is thecommissioner of education.
Governor Ayotte nominatedCaitlin Davis and the previous
commissioner of education, FrankEdelblut, was nominated by Chris
Sununu, then governor of ChrisSununu.
So the governor nominates thecommissioner, but that's not the
end of the process.
The governor doesn't get to makethat choice on their own.
(16:05):
The executive council, thosefive people have to, by a
majority vote, approve thatnomination.
SPEAKER_03 (16:11):
Exactly.
So it's for like commissionheads and also for judges in new
hampshire because in newhampshire we don't elect our
judges
SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
right so three is the magic number you need three
is the magic number you got toget to three got to get to three
so got to find three of the fivebecause three is a majority of
five people wow tell me moreabout this math so the magic
number is three to approvenominations by the governor so
the governor nominatescommissioners and you just said
the governor nominates judges aswell every judge in the state is
(16:41):
by nomination by the governorand then approve by the
executive council so the magicnumber is three
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
and then they also the executive council also will
approve or deny contracts overten thousand dollars so this is
where Planned Parenthood comesin ding ding here we are ding
ding Planned Parenthood yeah andalso lots of like lots of groups
and so there's obviously a lotof money that comes from the
federal government like a lot ofmoney the executive council has
this big job of approving ordenying these contracts a lot of
(17:08):
them are like really standardlike you know just kind of like
housekeeping like you know themoney's coming in for Or
whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00 (17:14):
Money comes in for Medicaid.
SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Money comes in for a lot ofthings.
Safety and education and...
Federal money to repair bridges.
Yep.
Bridges and roads.
They approve or deny.
And a lot of times it's justlike standard.
It's just sort of like, youknow, this is just a sort of a
housekeeping.
But then some things get reallypoliticized.
Right.
(17:36):
And some things become sort ofareas where the executive
council has made a point to...
deny some of those contractsthat come in just based on their
politics and Planned Parenthoodcontracts has within the last
few years become one of thosecontracts that has been
politicized and that even thoughwe're doing all the right things
and Planned Parenthood ofNorthern New England is being
(17:56):
awarded this money they're justchoosing to deny it based on
political reasons even thoughyou know these contracts began
coming to the state back in 1972and they've always had always
been accepted and then over thelast couple years all that has
changed.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
1972 being a hundred plus years after the
Constitutional Convention, whereit was like, should we rethink
this executive council?
Well, the ramifications arrived.
So when you say contracts, thatword alone is, it's kind of
boring.
So what is, let's talk aboutwhat the contract is for Planned
Parenthood of Northern NewEngland, for example.
(18:33):
Yeah, paperwork.
What is the contract?
Like, what is it?
Because you said that PlannedParenthood of Northern New
England was awarded thecontract, but didn't get the
money.
So what is the contract?
So talk a little bit more aboutthat.
SPEAKER_03 (18:46):
Back in 1972, we're doing a lot of history here in
this one.
So much.
So back in 72, it was RichardNixon, another president with
some issues.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Positives and minuses, once again.
SPEAKER_03 (18:59):
This was a positive.
What he did was a positive.
So they set up the Title XFamily Planning Program, which
is a program to help elevate themiddle class to get birth
control, cancer screenings,reproductive health care into
the hands of low-income women.
And this is a program that waswildly successful.
Still is wildly successful.
(19:19):
And still is.
It is money to help thecommunity health providers be
able to give birth control,cancer screenings, STI testing
and treatment, essentialreproductive health care, to be
able to give those services topeople who otherwise can't
afford them.
So if a person comes in andthey're like, I really need
birth control, but I only have$5, then these providers
(19:43):
providers say absolutely noproblem like we'll still give
you the birth control there's norefusal of any patient just
because they can't afford thisservice and so the federal
government is like thank you fordoing that because this is
really important for communityhealth and so here's some a
little bit of contribution tohelp pay for that it doesn't
like cover everything that's forsure because there's a lot of
(20:03):
need out there but it's just alittle bit to help the cost of
providing this care for low costor sometimes just for no cost
this is money that never goes toa It's just for these essential
preventative reproductive healthcare.
There's a federal law thatprevents the money from going to
abortion.
That's called the HydeAmendment.
That's been around since 1973.
(20:24):
So long time separation of thesefunds.
It's always been that way.
The money never gets mixed uptogether.
That just can't happen.
Traditionally, the federalgovernment has been giving some
of that Title X money to thestate of New Hampshire and then
different vendors, differentcommunity health providers who
are able to do this work willthen apply to the state and then
(20:48):
the state will say yeah likebecause you do this much you're
going to get this much moneybecause you do this much you get
so like there's lots ofdifferent sometimes there's six
different providers sometimesthere's 11 different providers
whatever it's like whoever isapplying that year so the state
makes their recommendations ofwho should be receiving this
money and how much money andthen the executive council will
(21:09):
approve or deny that
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
by a majority vote by
SPEAKER_03 (21:11):
a majority vote
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
need three people
SPEAKER_03 (21:13):
we've historically seen unanimous support of these
contracts it was just sort oflike housekeeping for decades
and then for the first time eversince we were in the program by
we I mean Planned Parenthood ofcourse since Planned Parenthood
was in the program the firsttime we ever saw a contract a
standard contract be denied wasin 2011 was the first time and
(21:37):
then since then we also saw itin 2015 then counselor Sununu
one time rejected the contracts.
And then fast forward to 2021,they've been rejected every year
since.
So that was a much speediertimeline than my original
history of the
SPEAKER_00 (21:54):
Executive Council timeline.
Cancer screenings, STI testing,STI treatment as well, birth
(22:17):
control, and no money can ordoes go toward abortion from
these contracts.
And these contracts are stoppedby the executive council because
they are, they're the wall orthe bridge between the federal
or state funding, between thefamily planning funding, and
getting to the providers.
And because these folks hateabortion so much, four of them,
(22:40):
they voted against reimbursingproviders.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (22:46):
Keeping our communities safe and healthy.
(23:12):
you know, life-threatening.
If you can detect cancers early,if you can stop the spread of
STIs early, if you can getpeople the preventative birth
control that they need in orderto be able to plan, prevent, and
space their pregnancies, theyare healthier people.
We create healthier families.
We create healthier communities.
All of these things are criticaland everyone deserves it.
(23:33):
Whether you can afford theseservices or not, you still
deserve to be healthy.
So this is community providersdoing a really, really important
work out there for individuals,but also for the state of New
Hampshire, and for keeping usall healthy, our communities
healthy, and public health caretrending the right way.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
I want to play a clip from an executive council
meeting where they took up thefamily planning program
contracts.
Specifically, I want to playCounselor Wheeler asking a
question about the providers whoare currently in the program.
And all of the providers who arecurrently in the family planning
program do not offer abortioncare, none of them, because
(24:12):
Because the council has votedagainst those contracts every
time since 2021.
So, let's listen to CouncilorWheeler.
Let's.
SPEAKER_04 (24:22):
So, under these contracts, can these family
planning agencies refer, canthey refer women for abortions?
So, the
SPEAKER_05 (24:33):
claims themselves cannot perform abortions.
That's noted in the letter.
We have a litigationsolicitation to them to attest
that they do not perform orabortion services, we don't have
direct insight into their clientrelationships.
Obviously, we do not have anymore
SPEAKER_04 (24:51):
information to do so.
Can they refer, when a womancomes in pregnant, can they say,
here's your options?
So they can provide appropriateclinical care?
We don't have direct clinicaldecisions?
I understand that.
Can they refer a woman toPlanned Parenthood or some other
(25:12):
So,
SPEAKER_00 (25:14):
Counselor Wheeler wants to know, do women get all
the information when they go tothese health centers?
They're
SPEAKER_03 (25:22):
given the full range of information about their
health, like anyone
SPEAKER_00 (25:29):
should be.
He's saying it in a really meanway, is how it sounds to me.
Yeah.
Like, ugh, are these womengetting the information about
abortion?
SPEAKER_03 (25:39):
Right, like, does a man get all information?
And then
SPEAKER_00 (25:47):
what does he do on those contracts?
He votes them down.
He votes them down, right.
Spoiler alert.
Spoiler alert.
You know, not to give it allaway, but he votes against the
contracts even for healthcenters that do not offer
abortion care because they arenot abortion providers.
He doesn't...
But they're offeringinformation.
Yes, he does.
(26:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:07):
God forbid we give people information about their
health.
But they're
SPEAKER_00 (26:11):
offering
SPEAKER_03 (26:11):
information...
Accurate
SPEAKER_00 (26:13):
information.
Medically accurate information.
(26:42):
We talked about what theexecutive council does.
We talked about commissioners.
We talked about judges.
We talked about contracts.
And we've talked about howpeople don't know what the hell
it is.
That's the big one.
Who decides who becomes anexecutive counselor?
How does this happen?
How do we get into this, dare Isay, this mess?
(27:03):
Yeah, well.
And I say mess because we have acouncil that includes four
people who are, and I feel likethey're pretty comfortable
saying that they'reanti-abortion.
or at least four people in theprevious administrations that
have voted down these contracts,even though the contracts have
nothing to do with abortion.
So, you know, four people whoare like, they will not approve
(27:23):
contracts for providers whooffer health care to everybody
who walks in the door.
We will not do that because theyalso offer abortion care.
We have four of them and onlyone who's like, this is good for
public health and for thecommunity.
So Kayla, how did we get here?
What happened?
Don't take me back.
Don't take me back to the 1600sI might fall over
SPEAKER_03 (27:44):
that's where I was
SPEAKER_00 (27:44):
I'm so sorry I know
SPEAKER_03 (27:46):
so it would say that like the people decide because
they have a vote so you go tovote in your general election
and you vote for your executivecouncil or just the same way you
vote for the governor butunfortunately we have this
little problem in New Hampshirewith the executive council
called gerrymandering
SPEAKER_00 (28:04):
gerrymandering Liz what is gerrymandering
gerrymandering so you know thatI'm terrible with geography and
math You are.
Historically.
I am woefully unaware of where Iam at any given moment.
SPEAKER_03 (28:17):
Sometimes you don't even know you're in Concord.
It's alarming.
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
I have made the wrong turn walking back to our
office from a coffee shop thathas zero turns.
I've gotten lost getting back.
Like
SPEAKER_03 (28:30):
more than once.
It's really, really bad.
Liz, you're good at a lot ofother things, but geography is
not your strong
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
suit.
I'm good at some things.
Pluses and minuses.
Yes, right.
Roses and thorns, baby.
So, Jared.
So in a state, everybody votesfor the governor and everybody
who's registered to vote in NewHampshire votes for the
governor, right?
So if you live in New Hampshire,if you are a registered voter,
you can go and vote for who'sgoing to be the governor.
The executive council, there'sfive of them.
So there are five sections ofNew Hampshire that are broken
(28:59):
out.
And depending on where you liveis which district you are in.
It's the same with Congress,right?
Like we have two U.S.
House representatives.
We have what's calledcongressional districts.
District 1, CD1, and you haveCongressional District 2, CD2.
So depending on where you live,you vote for one or the other,
(29:20):
you know, you vote depending onwhere you live.
So for the Executive Council,you take the map of New
Hampshire, and they have thesedistricts that are, you know,
the five districts.
And the issue, thegerrymandering specifically, is
that the people who drew thesemaps, which exist for 10 years,
you get 10 years of the samemap, the people who drew these
maps put a whole bunch ofDemocrats in one of of the
(29:42):
districts.
And they drew the maps becausethey looked at all the numbers
of registered voters, I assume.
And they said, I don't know ifthey said it out loud, but maybe
they did, but they put a wholebunch of Democrats, Democratic
voters in one of the districts.
And the other four have a wholebunch of Republican voters,
registered Republicans.
So even though our state ispretty evenly divided, I would
(30:03):
say, I feel like we're a trulypurple state of about half of
the folks vote Democratic, halfof the folks vote Republican.
It swings a a little bit thisway, that way.
But because of how the map hasbeen drawn, it is gerrymandered
in that it is not really fair.
A lot of the votes for Democratsgo into only one district, and
(30:23):
that makes it so that theexecutive council is kind of
stuck for four Republicans andone Democrat.
That was a very longexplanation.
SPEAKER_03 (30:33):
No, but I mean, that's the truth.
And there's the numbers thatbear that out.
You can look at the electionsand look at the gross number of
people who voted for a democratfor executive council is in some
cases the majority and yet onlyone democrat got elected so like
that's just that's you can seeit's like clear clear as day
(30:54):
right there i do think it'sreally also important to note
that the contracts for familyplanning and the contracts that
were awarded to family planningproviders who also provide
abortion have been bipartisanfor many many years right um for
decades for decades it was justjust Republicans on the
executive council.
And they were always passedunanimously.
(31:17):
And then in more like recenttimes, we've seen Republicans
who also voted for thesecontracts.
Chris Sununu a couple timesvoted for them.
Russell Prescott, when he was anexecutive counselor, he voted
for them.
So it's not like just becauseyou're a Republican, you're
against these.
In fact, history would say theopposite, that these
traditionally have beennonpartisan, noncontroversial,
(31:40):
just really criticallyimportant.
That's a really great andimportant
SPEAKER_00 (31:59):
point.
Historically, it's been abipartisan support of these
contracts because they saw thevalue.
They saw that the providers whooffer this preventative sexual
and reproductive health carewere doing a significant amount
of service to the state forpublic health in the state of
New Hampshire.
So providing these contractshelps them to be able to provide
that health care.
(32:19):
And then it became, go ahead.
The people who have voted
SPEAKER_03 (32:22):
against it have said, well, other providers will
step in.
Other providers will step in anddo the work.
And guess what?
Years have gone by and no oneelse can step in because Planned
Parenthood and these othercommunity health providers that
also provide abortion play sucha critical role.
And they are experts in sexualand reproductive health care.
And not everyone can say incertain IUD, like same day
abortion.
not other providers sort of havethe the background in this
(32:46):
really critical work aroundsexual reproductive health so
other providers can't just stepin like it's it's us it's it's
Planned Parenthood Northern NewEngland and it's independent
providers of sexual reproductivehealth who are the ones that are
doing this work and people can'tjust step in that's a big you
can't just fill that hole
SPEAKER_00 (33:02):
I wish I had the number in front of me I'm like
desperately looking for it Ican't remember if it was 2020 it
must have been 2022 the electionof 2022 where Yeah, I know what
you're talking about.
(33:41):
Democrat was elected.
And that's gerrymandering.
That is gerrymandering, plainand simple.
That you've drawn maps that puta specific group of people all
in one district so that theycannot have the power of their
vote in the other districts.
And yes, executive council usedto, in a bipartisan way, approve
contracts and have discussions.
(34:02):
And now it has become extremelypoliticized for just personal
beliefs, fundamentalism,far-right beliefs.
It's transformed what theexecutive council is it's
because of the gerrymanderedmaps that don't get changed
until after the 2030 election
SPEAKER_03 (34:21):
so maybe it's time to take a little peeksy at the
executive council yeah i'm notsaying we should abolish it i am
not saying that because there issomething uniquely new hampshire
about it no i'm saying but maybebut maybe we should just like
explore it a little bit you knowlike just i don't know just like
look at this is this still whatwe want to be doing because we
(34:43):
haven't looked at it in a fewyears since 1850.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
175 years.
Thank
SPEAKER_03 (34:49):
you for doing that, Matt.
SPEAKER_00 (34:50):
You're welcome.
There are no executivecounselors on the council now
who were around in 1850.
This is a
SPEAKER_03 (34:58):
very old state, but not that old.
SPEAKER_00 (35:00):
Yeah, I feel like it would be a great time to take a
look-see.
So much of it is there has to bea better understanding of the
immense power.
Well, Liz, you could knock onmore doors.
I cannot.
I physically can't knock on anymore doors to talk about the
executive council.
An important part is letting ourfriends and family and neighbors
know what this weird littlething of five people does.
(35:23):
Enormous power.
It has enormous power.
If they decide who our judgesare, they are or are not going
to approve that nomination.
And we're just not going to moveforward until you bring someone
we like and whose ideologies weagree with.
They could do that.
They don't have to justify theirdecisions with data or research.
They can just not do something.
SPEAKER_03 (35:43):
Or they could choose to reject a contract from the
federal government for COVIDrelief funds that went to really
critical vaccines for folks.
And they could just reject thatoutright.
They have that power.
And put the state of NewHampshire back a couple of weeks
in the process just because theydidn't like it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:05):
They have that power.
That has happened.
That has happened.
They could say things that makeabsolutely no sense.
such as i think that you canjust show up at a pharmacy and
get an abortion pill wheneveryou want to and that's why i'm
voting against this thing it'slike none of that is true the
things you just said are nottrue right and there's nobody to
(36:28):
stop them there's nobody whocould be like actually we just
did a fact check and that's amillion pinocchios no they have
that ultimate power
SPEAKER_03 (36:37):
yeah and i mean that's also a great example
because that has happened andeven when, say, the commissioner
of HHS has said, actually,medication abortion and
emergency contraception are notthe same thing, but turns out
they don't care.
SPEAKER_00 (36:52):
The commissioner of the Department of Health and
Human Services can stare atthese counselors all day, and
still, the counselors will stillsay the same things that are not
true.
They are made up, or they aregiven these talking points from
folks who hate abortion so thatthey just repeat them, and
there's nothing that can stopthem from saying those things
(37:12):
and then voting a certain waybecause they said them.
Nobody stopped them, except forvoting them out.
SPEAKER_03 (37:17):
You know who can stop it, though?
SPEAKER_00 (37:19):
Who?
SPEAKER_03 (37:19):
You.
SPEAKER_00 (37:20):
Oh, yeah, me.
Oh, listener, yes.
But it makes it really difficultwhen the maps are gerrymandered.
And it's interesting that thereis a state senator who wants to
redistrict the congressionalseats, which are not
gerrymandered, but doesn't wantto think about the executive
council, which for sure is.
We have a Is he running
SPEAKER_03 (37:45):
for
SPEAKER_00 (37:50):
something?
(38:11):
gerrymandering.
That is explicit Stealing ofSeats by Gerrymandering and by
Redistricting.
And we have it here in NewHampshire with our Executive
Council.
It's happening here.
Thank you for coming on theshow.
SPEAKER_03 (38:24):
Thanks so much for having me.
It was really fun to talk aboutthe Executive Council.
SPEAKER_00 (38:28):
I will come up with more musicals to talk about, not
just Hamilton, not just JesusChrist Superstar.
Although it's excellent.
She's an incredible Jesus.
I am sure that there are peoplein this country who are not
thrilled that she is playingJesus.
SPEAKER_03 (38:39):
Well, those people probably don't even know that
this is something that theycould watch.
So
SPEAKER_00 (38:44):
don't tell them.
It's important not to tell them.
All right.
Well, I'm going to take myweathered face and go off into
the wild.
Thank you for being on the podagain.
What do you want to come talkabout next time?
Do you want to quiz me ongeography?
SPEAKER_03 (38:55):
Well, no, because you'd fail.
And I don't want to do that toyou.
SPEAKER_00 (39:11):
I know.
I saw an old Liz talk from thefirst year that I started doing
them, and I look like adifferent person.
I'm so young and
SPEAKER_03 (39:17):
fresh-faced.
I know.
When I first started here, Ididn't have two children, so I
looked like an entirelydifferent person when I began at
Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER_00 (39:25):
The office looks exactly the same as it has for
approximately 20 years.
SPEAKER_03 (39:28):
Non-profit life.
SPEAKER_00 (39:29):
Non-profit life.
We have two printers.
One works.
The one that does not has ayellow streak when we print.
Anyway, this is a great ask fordonations.
If you wanted to sponsor a tie,go to patreon.com slash to
sponsor maybe a new printer.
www.ppnhaf.org.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (39:47):
Exactly.
What I love the most is that both of us have
backgrounds that are allabortion, even though the
executive council has nothing todo with abortion.
Yeah.
Except they hate it.
And so they don't want toapprove contracts.
SPEAKER_03 (00:12):
Right.
They think they have somethingto do with abortion.
SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
They think they don't.
They think they do.
So we put as many posters as hasbeen the arguments they've made
that make no sense.
That's how many posters arebehind us.
It's an audio podcast.
Nobody can see them.
But they're there.
But they're there.
Right.
And I'm also wearing a shirtthat has the word abortion on
it.
Gotta represent.
And And because I only havethree shirts and they're all
Planned Parenthood.
It's fine.
And only one tie.
(00:35):
And only one tie.
That's right.
For the cost of one cup ofcoffee a day, you can make sure
Liz Canada has a different pinktie to wear to the state house.
Become a
SPEAKER_03 (00:43):
supporter of the show and you can buy Liz a new
tie.
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
With your Patreon subscription, you could get Liz
a new tie.
Just one more tie.
Look, I'm happy to put thephotos.
You're asking for a lot.
I know.
I'm happy to put the photos ofme from multiple days of
testifying with just the sametie.
I have two jackets.
Let's be
SPEAKER_03 (00:59):
real.
Not days, Liz.
as years.
Years.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
It's like the hair gets grayer, but the tie stays
the same.
The
SPEAKER_03 (01:06):
hair gets grayer, but the tie stays the same.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
Over the course of time, it's so true.
I'm just weathered.
The tie, nevertheless, persists.
SPEAKER_03 (01:14):
That sounds like the tagline of the show in general.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
My God, I'm so weathered from these issues.
SPEAKER_03 (01:18):
New Hampshire has issues, and
SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
they have weathered us.
And they have weathered us.
You're listening to NewHampshire Has Issues, and I am
your host, Liz Canada, talkingto you from the future and like
the far future.
(01:42):
When Kayla and I recorded thisepisode, it was like smack dab
in the middle of summer.
And boy, oh boy, has a lotchanged since then in our
society, the vibes.
I wore a tie to work the otherday and felt like weird getting
out of my car wearing a tie.
So I hope this episode bringsyou a little joy.
(02:04):
That's really the goal.
Yes, by the end of the episode,if I offered you a dollar, I
would hope that you know oneexecutive counselor's name.
But really, I hope you enjoythis and that it brings you a
little bit of laughter.
If you would like to support theshow, you can go to patreon.com
slash nhhasissues.
There's also a link in the shownotes for that.
(02:26):
This episode is generouslysponsored by Seacoast Soils.
You can find their informationin the show notes as well.
Thank you for listening.
And I'll pass it back over tome.
So we're not here to talk aboutabortion, even though the
posters and my shirt sayotherwise.
We are here to talk aboutsomething that everyone is
extremely familiar with, as faras I'm aware.
SPEAKER_03 (02:46):
Something that every single Granite Stater is like, I
know exactly what that meanswhen I hear the executive
council.
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Oh yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_03 (02:53):
This is sarcasm.
SPEAKER_00 (02:54):
We love sarcasm.
This is sarcasm.
Kayla, you're a fan favorite ofthe show.
It's so fun to be here.
People have been writing intothe show for months saying, get
Kayla Montgomery.
Well, I think you're a fanfavorite because no one knows
the executive council,tragically, better than you do.
Tragically.
Tragically.
(03:15):
Tragically.
We have been talking about theexecutive council, what feels
like nonstop.
And still, it seems nobody knowswhat it is.
And part of that is because it'sso unique to New Hampshire.
And part of that is that theyare a little bit shrouded in
mystery.
It's very different than what'shappening in other ways in the
statehouse.
But it is not, in fact, theterm.
knock of the down the executivecouncil despite how hard we have
(03:38):
tried I
SPEAKER_03 (03:39):
think we've knocked on every single door in New
Hampshire to talk to peopleabout it but turns out they're
not listening
SPEAKER_00 (03:44):
I love when we knock on a door and then I say hi my
name's Liz yada yada yada andthen I say so have you heard of
the executive council and thenthe look of panic on the
person's face I'm like I'm nothere to quiz you you're not in
trouble I'm not I'm evangelizingI'm evangelizing to you to bring
you into the fold anyway Ireally want to just ask people
(04:04):
on the street for a dollar.
Name any executive counselor.
Name anyone.
For a dollar.
For a dollar.
SPEAKER_03 (04:07):
Can you tell me what the executive council is?
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Past or present.
Just name an executivecounselor.
Past or present.
Name any of them and I will giveyou a dollar.
SPEAKER_03 (04:15):
You would have a lot of dollars left in the pocket.
You'd have so many dollars leftin your pocket you could afford
a new tie.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
What are we doing with all these dollars?
Well, we're asking people in thegreat state of New Hampshire,
what is the executive council?
Oh boy.
Okay, so I am your host, LizCanada.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask, what the f*** is theexecutive council?
I'm tired of not cursing while Italk about it.
I'm sick of it.
I'll bleep it out.
But what the f*** is theexecutive council?
(04:41):
Everyone else is asking it.
Why not me?
What the f*** is it?
Kayla, what's your tagline?
You are actually right now.
I am.
I am.
I am asking it now.
All right.
What's your tagline?
What do you have for the show?
SPEAKER_03 (04:52):
Well, Liz, it's a pleasure to be here.
I'm so glad you're back.
Welcome back.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like I never left.
Welcome to New Hampshire HasIssues, the podcast that dares
to ask maybe we We should take alittle peeksy at what the New
Hampshire Executive Council isand why we have it.
A little looksy.
That's kind of a long tagline.
SPEAKER_00 (05:12):
It's a little long, but let's take a little peek
under the hood of the ExecutiveCouncil.
SPEAKER_03 (05:16):
First and last in the nation.
SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
So I have a few questions for us to cover with
the hopes that we actuallyanswer them in an amount of time
that I can actually publish anepisode and that people can
actually understand what thef*** the Executive Council is.
So let's start with yourhistory.
What brings you to the executivecouncil conversation how did you
get roped into being on thispodcast episode besides that you
(05:40):
that you asked to be on it butother than that what brings you
to the executive councilconversation Kayla
SPEAKER_03 (05:45):
yeah that's right a couple weeks ago when we were
filming one of the first thefirst episode here I said and I
hope maybe we can talk about theexecutive we didn't have time to
talk about the executive councilbut I was like maybe I'll come
back for that not thinking thatI actually would but here we
SPEAKER_00 (06:00):
are here you are it's true that's a long time ago
be well and told to do it yeahSo here we are.
That was four months ago.
Was it really?
Four months ago, I hate to tellyou.
Yeah, four months ago.
Time
SPEAKER_03 (06:09):
flies when
SPEAKER_00 (06:09):
you're talking about the executive council.
And that's why this face is asweathered as it is.
That's where the grays comefrom.
SPEAKER_03 (06:13):
Okay, so I have the distinction of going to
executive council meetingspretty often over the last few
years, decade.
Decades.
Decades.
Let's be honest.
And really experiencing thatinteresting form, that uniquely
New Hampshire form of governmentfor myself firsthand.
(06:35):
Been through some stuff with theExecutive Council.
Did go into labor once.
Oh, how did that go?
So there was that.
That was a weird day.
I didn't, I just should clarify,I did not give birth in the
Executive Council chambers, butyou know.
SPEAKER_00 (06:48):
If you had, more people would know what the
Executive Council is.
Totally.
That's on you, see?
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
So do you want to talk about what the Executive
Council is?
Yeah, I want you to tell me whatit is.
Okay, well, the New HampshireExecutive Council is uniquely
New Hampshire, as is most thingsin about new hampshire it is a
five member elected body so youa voter will vote for your
executive council every twoyears in the same way that you
vote for governor for statesenate for state representative
(07:16):
so yeah we do in new hampshireof course we vote a lot
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
we vote a lot we love voting we love to vote it's
our favorite thing to doelections yeah totally
SPEAKER_03 (07:24):
so they are on your ballot they're actually right
under governor because they're apart of the executive branch so
they're really like high rankingofficials in the state of new
hampshire But people justhaven't heard of it.
So there's quite a lot ofhistory to the Executive
Council, which I don'tnecessarily need to get into
details.
But I do think there are someimportant pieces about how we
(07:45):
got here because people don'tknow what the Executive Council
is.
And part of the reason peopledon't know what the Executive
Council is is because NewHampshire is the only state that
has this type of government,this type of executive branch.
So it is kind of interesting ifyou're into that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_00 (08:00):
Unfortunately, I am.
Yeah.
So to recap.
Five people make up theexecutive council.
In New Hampshire, everyone hasone executive counselor, and we
vote on them every other year inthe even-numbered years, just
like we do with governor, justlike we do with the state
senate, just like we do with thestate house, just like we do
(08:21):
with our U.S.
representatives.
Exactly.
And they're a part of
SPEAKER_03 (08:25):
the executive branch.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Right, and they're a part of the executive branch.
So they're not
SPEAKER_03 (08:29):
making laws.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
Right.
They're not lawmakers.
Right, they are not lawmakers.
despite what they might thinkabout themselves.
They do not make laws in theexecutive council.
Why do we have this?
Where does it come from?
What's the deal with theexecutive council?
SPEAKER_03 (08:47):
So I am not the state historian, although that
is a very cool job.
And I think the state historiancould probably really get into
this.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
I haven't reached out to the state historian.
Well, you should.
That's a fair point.
Maybe I should have done that.
But I've asked you instead togive me the history of the
executive council.
All right, we'll do a very brieftimeline because it's kind of a
lot.
Perfect.
SPEAKER_03 (09:07):
So back in 1679.
Throwback.
Rewind is 1679.
SPEAKER_00 (09:14):
Okay.
That's where it all began.
So when you said brief timeline,I'm glad that we went right to
the 1600s.
This
SPEAKER_03 (09:20):
is where our story begins.
SPEAKER_00 (09:21):
Our story begins before the foreman of the United
States.
We are in the executive councilworld.
Okay.
Yeah.
Oh
SPEAKER_03 (09:28):
yeah.
We are in, we are, we are back.
We are, we are way back.
You know, there's a lot ofindigenous people.
people in New Hampshire, right?
But it's the first time that thewhite folks have come in.
And King Charles II of Englandwas over there doing his thing
in England.
SPEAKER_00 (09:43):
We are so far back in history that we are before
the king who was featuredprominently in the musical
Hamilton.
Just to be clear, we are beforeHamilton.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (09:53):
Zero days since Liz talked about Hamilton.
Okay.
Musical theater.
Okay.
Theater.
Musical theater.
Okay.
So at that time, Massachusettsand New Hampshire were one.
Oh.
Believe it or not.
SPEAKER_00 (10:05):
Oh.
So is it that they masked up NewHampshire or did we New
Hampshire up mass?
What happened?
SPEAKER_03 (10:13):
That's a great question.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's also a different podcast.
Yeah.
That's a different episode.
Well, what's interesting is ifyou read some of the history of
this, the people who were likeseparated from Massachusetts
were really pissed about it.
Like they loved theirrelationship with Massachusetts.
So they were not happy aboutthis separation.
So don't mask up New Hampshire.
But like some would say we had apretty good thing going on.
And
SPEAKER_00 (10:33):
that's true.
A few years ago.
It has some positive attributesto it.
All right.
I'm taking a controversialstance.
I mean, sure.
But
SPEAKER_03 (10:40):
again, that's a podcast for another day.
Another
SPEAKER_00 (10:43):
day.
Another
SPEAKER_03 (10:43):
day.
Anyway.
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
We can ask somebody else to come on to talk about
massing up New Hampshire.
I'm sure there are some peoplewho have strong opinions.
I don't know.
I don't know who.
I don't know.
I've never heard of anyone.
SPEAKER_03 (10:51):
So anyway, the King of England was like, we got to
form some, we don't have agovernment yet.
So let's just come up with someplan here.
And so he made this council andthis council was reporting back
what was going on to the kingbecause obviously the king's not
there and kind of reporting backon like the governor although it
wasn't a governor yet and thenyou know the Revolutionary War
(11:13):
comes so that that's a wholething that happened and we
SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
that's another musical 1776 could bring that
SPEAKER_03 (11:20):
up we could I think you did you
SPEAKER_00 (11:22):
know what's happening right now is there is
an incredible Jesus Christsuperstar that's Cynthia Erivo
from Wicked is starring as JesusChrist
SPEAKER_03 (11:28):
I've heard you've heard so we're because you've
told yeah
SPEAKER_00 (11:33):
so we're after the happenings of jesus christ
superstar before hamilton butnow we're in act one we're in
the
SPEAKER_03 (11:38):
hamilton moments so obviously no more governor i
mean no more king we have agovernor no more king
SPEAKER_00 (11:44):
the king is yeah i remember that in the musical
SPEAKER_03 (11:46):
but we sort of held on to that distrust of like we
we i mean we the collective wein new hampshire and so we
continued with like the councilto not just like not to report
but to keep the sort of checksand balances system so like the
governor couldn't have too muchpower they had this council that
they have to report to so it'slike a class New Hampshire
distrust.
So I'm going to read this linefrom the history of the
(12:07):
Executive Council because Ithink it is absolutely
fascinating and it saysbasically everything you need to
know.
Let's hear it.
The New Hampshire ExecutiveCouncil holds the distinction of
being the first and the last ofits kind in the nation.
It is a vestige of the colonialera and a public reminder of the
continuing indication of thebasic distrust that Granite
State citizens have fordictatorial government.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
Yeah, so...
That's a lot.
SPEAKER_03 (12:32):
That says a lot
SPEAKER_00 (12:32):
about Granite State.
You're telling us We don't likedictators.
SPEAKER_03 (12:35):
That's exactly
SPEAKER_00 (12:36):
what we're saying.
It's baked into our history ofthe executive council.
That's very interesting that asa state, we have this executive
council because we don't likedictators.
Fascinating.
It's fascinating.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Timely.
Timely.
And yet so old.
First and last.
It's a good phrase.
First and last.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (12:54):
So we're
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
going
SPEAKER_03 (12:54):
to
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
fast forward
SPEAKER_03 (12:55):
all the way to 1850.
And actually, Liz, what'sinteresting is that in 1850,
this is where our story is goingto end.
SPEAKER_00 (13:02):
Okay.
Our story is going to end in1850.
1850, but we're in 2025.
Okay.
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03 (13:06):
All right.
Yeah.
Weird, huh?
1850, there's a constitutionalconvention.
What is a constitutionalconvention?
Oh, Liz, that's a whole othertopic.
SPEAKER_00 (13:13):
It's also in Hamilton, so you can listen to
Act II and listen to theconstitutional convention.
Okay, we
SPEAKER_03 (13:17):
do not have time to get into what a constitutional
convention is.
It's a bunch of people gettingtogether and figuring out the
constitution.
Should I just perform the wholething?
Yeah, you should.
I don't think that could be onpodcast, though.
SPEAKER_00 (13:26):
Yeah, I'll probably get sued by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
It's fine.
It's on Disney+.
You can go watch it.
Okay, Franklin Pierce.
So, Franklin Pierce.
SPEAKER_03 (13:33):
You know him.
Not personally.
We all know him.
But yes.
No, he wasn't ranked very highas being a good president, I
would say.
But some would say he wasextremely handsome.
SPEAKER_00 (13:43):
Who?
You?
So, you know.
Are you saying that?
Should I quote you on that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Franklin Pierce, totallyhandsome.
He's extremely handsome.
Extremely handsome.
Quote Kayla Montgomery.
SPEAKER_03 (13:53):
Bit of a drunk, good abolitionist.
Okay.
Not a very good president.
Right.
Anyway, he was the governor.
Pluses and minuses.
A lot of roses and thorns herewith this guy.
Totally.
Right, right.
He recommended at theConstitutional Convention that
we get rid of, that we abolishthe Executive Council.
This was in 1850.
Okay.
And the people of the conventionwere like, how?
(14:13):
no like absolutely not and Lizit has never been revisited
since 1850 so
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
that was the end okay so Franklin Pierce took a
big swing and a big mess and hewhiffed it
SPEAKER_03 (14:25):
okay all right and nobody has been like since then
since 1850 has been like wellshould we examine this no one
has even like brought thequestion
SPEAKER_00 (14:34):
well I feel like we bring the question almost every
day in our office yeah well noone's
SPEAKER_03 (14:38):
listening to us
SPEAKER_00 (14:39):
apparently but now we're on a podcast and people
will listen to us
SPEAKER_03 (14:42):
we're listening to each We've
SPEAKER_00 (14:44):
been shouting through each other about this
and we decided to bring it onthe air with microphones.
SPEAKER_03 (14:48):
Right.
So there's been like littletweaks, you know, little tweaks
in like the way.
But like basically, yeah, it'sthis group that is the check and
balance on the governor and weelect them.
They're elected officials.
And that is the way it's theonly one in the country that
works like this.
And
SPEAKER_00 (15:04):
here we are.
So the checks and balances onthe governor.
How does that even work?
SPEAKER_03 (15:08):
The governor in states obviously have a lot of
power.
So and everything works a Everystate's going to be a little
different.
That's the beauty of how thiscountry operates.
Every state's going to be alittle bit different and every
governor is going to have alittle bit different sort of job
description when they'reelected.
So in some states, the governorcan just can choose their
commissioners.
(15:29):
Whereas in New Hampshire, yourcommissioners and judges all
have to be approved by theexecutive council.
So the governor can makerecommendations, but the
executive council, the majority.
So you have to get three votesin order to have their
nominations approved.
SPEAKER_00 (15:43):
So So the governor nominates someone.
A recent example is thecommissioner of education.
Governor Ayotte nominatedCaitlin Davis and the previous
commissioner of education, FrankEdelblut, was nominated by Chris
Sununu, then governor of ChrisSununu.
So the governor nominates thecommissioner, but that's not the
end of the process.
The governor doesn't get to makethat choice on their own.
(16:05):
The executive council, thosefive people have to, by a
majority vote, approve thatnomination.
SPEAKER_03 (16:11):
Exactly.
So it's for like commissionheads and also for judges in new
hampshire because in newhampshire we don't elect our
judges
SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
right so three is the magic number you need three
is the magic number you got toget to three got to get to three
so got to find three of the fivebecause three is a majority of
five people wow tell me moreabout this math so the magic
number is three to approvenominations by the governor so
the governor nominatescommissioners and you just said
the governor nominates judges aswell every judge in the state is
(16:41):
by nomination by the governorand then approve by the
executive council so the magicnumber is three
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
and then they also the executive council also will
approve or deny contracts overten thousand dollars so this is
where Planned Parenthood comesin ding ding here we are ding
ding Planned Parenthood yeah andalso lots of like lots of groups
and so there's obviously a lotof money that comes from the
federal government like a lot ofmoney the executive council has
this big job of approving ordenying these contracts a lot of
(17:08):
them are like really standardlike you know just kind of like
housekeeping like you know themoney's coming in for Or
whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00 (17:14):
Money comes in for Medicaid.
SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Money comes in for a lot ofthings.
Safety and education and...
Federal money to repair bridges.
Yep.
Bridges and roads.
They approve or deny.
And a lot of times it's justlike standard.
It's just sort of like, youknow, this is just a sort of a
housekeeping.
But then some things get reallypoliticized.
Right.
(17:36):
And some things become sort ofareas where the executive
council has made a point to...
deny some of those contractsthat come in just based on their
politics and Planned Parenthoodcontracts has within the last
few years become one of thosecontracts that has been
politicized and that even thoughwe're doing all the right things
and Planned Parenthood ofNorthern New England is being
(17:56):
awarded this money they're justchoosing to deny it based on
political reasons even thoughyou know these contracts began
coming to the state back in 1972and they've always had always
been accepted and then over thelast couple years all that has
changed.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
1972 being a hundred plus years after the
Constitutional Convention, whereit was like, should we rethink
this executive council?
Well, the ramifications arrived.
So when you say contracts, thatword alone is, it's kind of
boring.
So what is, let's talk aboutwhat the contract is for Planned
Parenthood of Northern NewEngland, for example.
(18:33):
Yeah, paperwork.
What is the contract?
Like, what is it?
Because you said that PlannedParenthood of Northern New
England was awarded thecontract, but didn't get the
money.
So what is the contract?
So talk a little bit more aboutthat.
SPEAKER_03 (18:46):
Back in 1972, we're doing a lot of history here in
this one.
So much.
So back in 72, it was RichardNixon, another president with
some issues.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
Positives and minuses, once again.
SPEAKER_03 (18:59):
This was a positive.
What he did was a positive.
So they set up the Title XFamily Planning Program, which
is a program to help elevate themiddle class to get birth
control, cancer screenings,reproductive health care into
the hands of low-income women.
And this is a program that waswildly successful.
Still is wildly successful.
(19:19):
And still is.
It is money to help thecommunity health providers be
able to give birth control,cancer screenings, STI testing
and treatment, essentialreproductive health care, to be
able to give those services topeople who otherwise can't
afford them.
So if a person comes in andthey're like, I really need
birth control, but I only have$5, then these providers
(19:43):
providers say absolutely noproblem like we'll still give
you the birth control there's norefusal of any patient just
because they can't afford thisservice and so the federal
government is like thank you fordoing that because this is
really important for communityhealth and so here's some a
little bit of contribution tohelp pay for that it doesn't
like cover everything that's forsure because there's a lot of
(20:03):
need out there but it's just alittle bit to help the cost of
providing this care for low costor sometimes just for no cost
this is money that never goes toa It's just for these essential
preventative reproductive healthcare.
There's a federal law thatprevents the money from going to
abortion.
That's called the HydeAmendment.
That's been around since 1973.
(20:24):
So long time separation of thesefunds.
It's always been that way.
The money never gets mixed uptogether.
That just can't happen.
Traditionally, the federalgovernment has been giving some
of that Title X money to thestate of New Hampshire and then
different vendors, differentcommunity health providers who
are able to do this work willthen apply to the state and then
(20:48):
the state will say yeah likebecause you do this much you're
going to get this much moneybecause you do this much you get
so like there's lots ofdifferent sometimes there's six
different providers sometimesthere's 11 different providers
whatever it's like whoever isapplying that year so the state
makes their recommendations ofwho should be receiving this
money and how much money andthen the executive council will
(21:09):
approve or deny that
SPEAKER_00 (21:10):
by a majority vote by
SPEAKER_03 (21:11):
a majority vote
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
need three people
SPEAKER_03 (21:13):
we've historically seen unanimous support of these
contracts it was just sort oflike housekeeping for decades
and then for the first time eversince we were in the program by
we I mean Planned Parenthood ofcourse since Planned Parenthood
was in the program the firsttime we ever saw a contract a
standard contract be denied wasin 2011 was the first time and
(21:37):
then since then we also saw itin 2015 then counselor Sununu
one time rejected the contracts.
And then fast forward to 2021,they've been rejected every year
since.
So that was a much speediertimeline than my original
history of the
SPEAKER_00 (21:54):
Executive Council timeline.
Cancer screenings, STI testing,STI treatment as well, birth
(22:17):
control, and no money can ordoes go toward abortion from
these contracts.
And these contracts are stoppedby the executive council because
they are, they're the wall orthe bridge between the federal
or state funding, between thefamily planning funding, and
getting to the providers.
And because these folks hateabortion so much, four of them,
(22:40):
they voted against reimbursingproviders.
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03 (22:46):
Keeping our communities safe and healthy.
(23:12):
you know, life-threatening.
If you can detect cancers early,if you can stop the spread of
STIs early, if you can getpeople the preventative birth
control that they need in orderto be able to plan, prevent, and
space their pregnancies, theyare healthier people.
We create healthier families.
We create healthier communities.
All of these things are criticaland everyone deserves it.
(23:33):
Whether you can afford theseservices or not, you still
deserve to be healthy.
So this is community providersdoing a really, really important
work out there for individuals,but also for the state of New
Hampshire, and for keeping usall healthy, our communities
healthy, and public health caretrending the right way.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
I want to play a clip from an executive council
meeting where they took up thefamily planning program
contracts.
Specifically, I want to playCounselor Wheeler asking a
question about the providers whoare currently in the program.
And all of the providers who arecurrently in the family planning
program do not offer abortioncare, none of them, because
(24:12):
Because the council has votedagainst those contracts every
time since 2021.
So, let's listen to CouncilorWheeler.
Let's.
SPEAKER_04 (24:22):
So, under these contracts, can these family
planning agencies refer, canthey refer women for abortions?
So, the
SPEAKER_05 (24:33):
claims themselves cannot perform abortions.
That's noted in the letter.
We have a litigationsolicitation to them to attest
that they do not perform orabortion services, we don't have
direct insight into their clientrelationships.
Obviously, we do not have anymore
SPEAKER_04 (24:51):
information to do so.
Can they refer, when a womancomes in pregnant, can they say,
here's your options?
So they can provide appropriateclinical care?
We don't have direct clinicaldecisions?
I understand that.
Can they refer a woman toPlanned Parenthood or some other
(25:12):
So,
SPEAKER_00 (25:14):
Counselor Wheeler wants to know, do women get all
the information when they go tothese health centers?
They're
SPEAKER_03 (25:22):
given the full range of information about their
health, like anyone
SPEAKER_00 (25:29):
should be.
He's saying it in a really meanway, is how it sounds to me.
Yeah.
Like, ugh, are these womengetting the information about
abortion?
SPEAKER_03 (25:39):
Right, like, does a man get all information?
And then
SPEAKER_00 (25:47):
what does he do on those contracts?
He votes them down.
He votes them down, right.
Spoiler alert.
Spoiler alert.
You know, not to give it allaway, but he votes against the
contracts even for healthcenters that do not offer
abortion care because they arenot abortion providers.
He doesn't...
But they're offeringinformation.
Yes, he does.
(26:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (26:07):
God forbid we give people information about their
health.
But they're
SPEAKER_00 (26:11):
offering
SPEAKER_03 (26:11):
information...
Accurate
SPEAKER_00 (26:13):
information.
Medically accurate information.
(26:42):
We talked about what theexecutive council does.
We talked about commissioners.
We talked about judges.
We talked about contracts.
And we've talked about howpeople don't know what the hell
it is.
That's the big one.
Who decides who becomes anexecutive counselor?
How does this happen?
How do we get into this, dare Isay, this mess?
(27:03):
Yeah, well.
And I say mess because we have acouncil that includes four
people who are, and I feel likethey're pretty comfortable
saying that they'reanti-abortion.
or at least four people in theprevious administrations that
have voted down these contracts,even though the contracts have
nothing to do with abortion.
So, you know, four people whoare like, they will not approve
(27:23):
contracts for providers whooffer health care to everybody
who walks in the door.
We will not do that because theyalso offer abortion care.
We have four of them and onlyone who's like, this is good for
public health and for thecommunity.
So Kayla, how did we get here?
What happened?
Don't take me back.
Don't take me back to the 1600sI might fall over
SPEAKER_03 (27:44):
that's where I was
SPEAKER_00 (27:44):
I'm so sorry I know
SPEAKER_03 (27:46):
so it would say that like the people decide because
they have a vote so you go tovote in your general election
and you vote for your executivecouncil or just the same way you
vote for the governor butunfortunately we have this
little problem in New Hampshirewith the executive council
called gerrymandering
SPEAKER_00 (28:04):
gerrymandering Liz what is gerrymandering
gerrymandering so you know thatI'm terrible with geography and
math You are.
Historically.
I am woefully unaware of where Iam at any given moment.
SPEAKER_03 (28:17):
Sometimes you don't even know you're in Concord.
It's alarming.
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
I have made the wrong turn walking back to our
office from a coffee shop thathas zero turns.
I've gotten lost getting back.
Like
SPEAKER_03 (28:30):
more than once.
It's really, really bad.
Liz, you're good at a lot ofother things, but geography is
not your strong
SPEAKER_00 (28:36):
suit.
I'm good at some things.
Pluses and minuses.
Yes, right.
Roses and thorns, baby.
So, Jared.
So in a state, everybody votesfor the governor and everybody
who's registered to vote in NewHampshire votes for the
governor, right?
So if you live in New Hampshire,if you are a registered voter,
you can go and vote for who'sgoing to be the governor.
The executive council, there'sfive of them.
So there are five sections ofNew Hampshire that are broken
(28:59):
out.
And depending on where you liveis which district you are in.
It's the same with Congress,right?
Like we have two U.S.
House representatives.
We have what's calledcongressional districts.
District 1, CD1, and you haveCongressional District 2, CD2.
So depending on where you live,you vote for one or the other,
(29:20):
you know, you vote depending onwhere you live.
So for the Executive Council,you take the map of New
Hampshire, and they have thesedistricts that are, you know,
the five districts.
And the issue, thegerrymandering specifically, is
that the people who drew thesemaps, which exist for 10 years,
you get 10 years of the samemap, the people who drew these
maps put a whole bunch ofDemocrats in one of of the
(29:42):
districts.
And they drew the maps becausethey looked at all the numbers
of registered voters, I assume.
And they said, I don't know ifthey said it out loud, but maybe
they did, but they put a wholebunch of Democrats, Democratic
voters in one of the districts.
And the other four have a wholebunch of Republican voters,
registered Republicans.
So even though our state ispretty evenly divided, I would
(30:03):
say, I feel like we're a trulypurple state of about half of
the folks vote Democratic, halfof the folks vote Republican.
It swings a a little bit thisway, that way.
But because of how the map hasbeen drawn, it is gerrymandered
in that it is not really fair.
A lot of the votes for Democratsgo into only one district, and
(30:23):
that makes it so that theexecutive council is kind of
stuck for four Republicans andone Democrat.
That was a very longexplanation.
SPEAKER_03 (30:33):
No, but I mean, that's the truth.
And there's the numbers thatbear that out.
You can look at the electionsand look at the gross number of
people who voted for a democratfor executive council is in some
cases the majority and yet onlyone democrat got elected so like
that's just that's you can seeit's like clear clear as day
(30:54):
right there i do think it'sreally also important to note
that the contracts for familyplanning and the contracts that
were awarded to family planningproviders who also provide
abortion have been bipartisanfor many many years right um for
decades for decades it was justjust Republicans on the
executive council.
And they were always passedunanimously.
(31:17):
And then in more like recenttimes, we've seen Republicans
who also voted for thesecontracts.
Chris Sununu a couple timesvoted for them.
Russell Prescott, when he was anexecutive counselor, he voted
for them.
So it's not like just becauseyou're a Republican, you're
against these.
In fact, history would say theopposite, that these
traditionally have beennonpartisan, noncontroversial,
(31:40):
just really criticallyimportant.
That's a really great andimportant
SPEAKER_00 (31:59):
point.
Historically, it's been abipartisan support of these
contracts because they saw thevalue.
They saw that the providers whooffer this preventative sexual
and reproductive health carewere doing a significant amount
of service to the state forpublic health in the state of
New Hampshire.
So providing these contractshelps them to be able to provide
that health care.
(32:19):
And then it became, go ahead.
The people who have voted
SPEAKER_03 (32:22):
against it have said, well, other providers will
step in.
Other providers will step in anddo the work.
And guess what?
Years have gone by and no oneelse can step in because Planned
Parenthood and these othercommunity health providers that
also provide abortion play sucha critical role.
And they are experts in sexualand reproductive health care.
And not everyone can say incertain IUD, like same day
abortion.
not other providers sort of havethe the background in this
(32:46):
really critical work aroundsexual reproductive health so
other providers can't just stepin like it's it's us it's it's
Planned Parenthood Northern NewEngland and it's independent
providers of sexual reproductivehealth who are the ones that are
doing this work and people can'tjust step in that's a big you
can't just fill that hole
SPEAKER_00 (33:02):
I wish I had the number in front of me I'm like
desperately looking for it Ican't remember if it was 2020 it
must have been 2022 the electionof 2022 where Yeah, I know what
you're talking about.
(33:41):
Democrat was elected.
And that's gerrymandering.
That is gerrymandering, plainand simple.
That you've drawn maps that puta specific group of people all
in one district so that theycannot have the power of their
vote in the other districts.
And yes, executive council usedto, in a bipartisan way, approve
contracts and have discussions.
(34:02):
And now it has become extremelypoliticized for just personal
beliefs, fundamentalism,far-right beliefs.
It's transformed what theexecutive council is it's
because of the gerrymanderedmaps that don't get changed
until after the 2030 election
SPEAKER_03 (34:21):
so maybe it's time to take a little peeksy at the
executive council yeah i'm notsaying we should abolish it i am
not saying that because there issomething uniquely new hampshire
about it no i'm saying but maybebut maybe we should just like
explore it a little bit you knowlike just i don't know just like
look at this is this still whatwe want to be doing because we
(34:43):
haven't looked at it in a fewyears since 1850.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
175 years.
Thank
SPEAKER_03 (34:49):
you for doing that, Matt.
SPEAKER_00 (34:50):
You're welcome.
There are no executivecounselors on the council now
who were around in 1850.
This is a
SPEAKER_03 (34:58):
very old state, but not that old.
SPEAKER_00 (35:00):
Yeah, I feel like it would be a great time to take a
look-see.
So much of it is there has to bea better understanding of the
immense power.
Well, Liz, you could knock onmore doors.
I cannot.
I physically can't knock on anymore doors to talk about the
executive council.
An important part is letting ourfriends and family and neighbors
know what this weird littlething of five people does.
(35:23):
Enormous power.
It has enormous power.
If they decide who our judgesare, they are or are not going
to approve that nomination.
And we're just not going to moveforward until you bring someone
we like and whose ideologies weagree with.
They could do that.
They don't have to justify theirdecisions with data or research.
They can just not do something.
SPEAKER_03 (35:43):
Or they could choose to reject a contract from the
federal government for COVIDrelief funds that went to really
critical vaccines for folks.
And they could just reject thatoutright.
They have that power.
And put the state of NewHampshire back a couple of weeks
in the process just because theydidn't like it.
SPEAKER_00 (36:05):
They have that power.
That has happened.
That has happened.
They could say things that makeabsolutely no sense.
such as i think that you canjust show up at a pharmacy and
get an abortion pill wheneveryou want to and that's why i'm
voting against this thing it'slike none of that is true the
things you just said are nottrue right and there's nobody to
(36:28):
stop them there's nobody whocould be like actually we just
did a fact check and that's amillion pinocchios no they have
that ultimate power
SPEAKER_03 (36:37):
yeah and i mean that's also a great example
because that has happened andeven when, say, the commissioner
of HHS has said, actually,medication abortion and
emergency contraception are notthe same thing, but turns out
they don't care.
SPEAKER_00 (36:52):
The commissioner of the Department of Health and
Human Services can stare atthese counselors all day, and
still, the counselors will stillsay the same things that are not
true.
They are made up, or they aregiven these talking points from
folks who hate abortion so thatthey just repeat them, and
there's nothing that can stopthem from saying those things
(37:12):
and then voting a certain waybecause they said them.
Nobody stopped them, except forvoting them out.
SPEAKER_03 (37:17):
You know who can stop it, though?
SPEAKER_00 (37:19):
Who?
SPEAKER_03 (37:19):
You.
SPEAKER_00 (37:20):
Oh, yeah, me.
Oh, listener, yes.
But it makes it really difficultwhen the maps are gerrymandered.
And it's interesting that thereis a state senator who wants to
redistrict the congressionalseats, which are not
gerrymandered, but doesn't wantto think about the executive
council, which for sure is.
We have a Is he running
SPEAKER_03 (37:45):
for
SPEAKER_00 (37:50):
something?
(38:11):
gerrymandering.
That is explicit Stealing ofSeats by Gerrymandering and by
Redistricting.
And we have it here in NewHampshire with our Executive
Council.
It's happening here.
Thank you for coming on theshow.
SPEAKER_03 (38:24):
Thanks so much for having me.
It was really fun to talk aboutthe Executive Council.
SPEAKER_00 (38:28):
I will come up with more musicals to talk about, not
just Hamilton, not just JesusChrist Superstar.
Although it's excellent.
She's an incredible Jesus.
I am sure that there are peoplein this country who are not
thrilled that she is playingJesus.
SPEAKER_03 (38:39):
Well, those people probably don't even know that
this is something that theycould watch.
So
SPEAKER_00 (38:44):
don't tell them.
It's important not to tell them.
All right.
Well, I'm going to take myweathered face and go off into
the wild.
Thank you for being on the podagain.
What do you want to come talkabout next time?
Do you want to quiz me ongeography?
SPEAKER_03 (38:55):
Well, no, because you'd fail.
And I don't want to do that toyou.
SPEAKER_00 (39:11):
I know.
I saw an old Liz talk from thefirst year that I started doing
them, and I look like adifferent person.
I'm so young and
SPEAKER_03 (39:17):
fresh-faced.
I know.
When I first started here, Ididn't have two children, so I
looked like an entirelydifferent person when I began at
Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER_00 (39:25):
The office looks exactly the same as it has for
approximately 20 years.
SPEAKER_03 (39:28):
Non-profit life.
SPEAKER_00 (39:29):
Non-profit life.
We have two printers.
One works.
The one that does not has ayellow streak when we print.
Anyway, this is a great ask fordonations.
If you wanted to sponsor a tie,go to patreon.com slash to
sponsor maybe a new printer.
www.ppnhaf.org.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (39:47):
Exactly.
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