The New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission denied a request last Friday by California attorney Orly Taitz and several state legislators to strike President Barack Obama’s name from state ballots, eliciting raw emotion from those present.
The commission ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to decide whether Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate, released earlier this year, was a forgery, as the petitioners claimed.
“A child can see this is a forgery,” Taitz told the commission, according to the Concord Monitor. “This is bigger than Watergate. This is a hundred times bigger than Watergate.”
Following the decision, members of the state legislature and upset citizens verbally attacked state Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge, causing members of the commission to flee to an office, lock the doors and call police.
“Saying a treasonous liar can go on our ballot?” shrieked Republican state Rep. Harry Accornero after the decision. “You’re going to have to face the citizens of Laconia. You better wear a mask.”
“It just makes me want to throw up,” exclaimed Republican state Rep. Susan DeLemus. “Let’s just bury the Constitution now and have a funeral.”
New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney wrote to the state police this week requesting an investigation into the episode, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
“I am extremely concerned that a member of my staff was put in a position of fearing for his safety during a public hearing based in part on the conduct of members of the General Court,” Delaney wrote. (RELATED: ‘Birther’ champion Orly Taitz seeks GOP Senate nomination in California)
In a separate letter, Delaney requested that New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien review the conduct of legislators involved.
“No state employee should find himself in this situation, and I am asking the General Court to take whatever steps it deems appropriate concerning the standards of conduct exhibited by these elected officials,” he wrote.
Taitz considers the decision the work of a corrupt commission and has requested that the state legislature impeach New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner.
In a strongly-worded letter to Taitz, the state’s Republican House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt expressed his irritation with “the gobbledygook that is the ‘birther’ movement.” He wrote that Taitz’s “continued obsession over President Obama’s birth place” was “ridiculous.”
Bettencourt informed Taitz that there would be no impeachment hearings against Gardner, who he called “a New Hampshire treasure.” Furthermore, he wrote that he had instructed sympathetic legislators to “immediately disassociate themselves from you and this folly.”
“Please, Dr. Taitz, go away and leave New Hampshire alone,” Bettencourt pleaded.
Recording of the hearing:
Aftermath of the hearing: