Pantelakos Blasted for 'Stand Your Ground' Statement
Andrew Hemingway, candidate for NH GOP chairman, calls for the removal Portsmouth State Rep. Laura Pantelakos as chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
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A candidate for State Republican Committee chairman is calling for the removal of Rep. Laura Pantelakos as chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee after he said she berated voters during a hearing on the "Stand Your Ground" bill on Tuesday.
Andrew Hemingway, one of three candidates for NHGOP chairman, issued a statement on Wednesday night saying that Pantelakos, D-Portsmouth, told some voters, "Show some respect for the members of this committee. We are forced to sit here and suffer through this…I am not going to tolerate this!”
Hemingway criticized Pantelakos for speaking this way to New Hampshire voters who had traveled from as far away as Coos County to address House Bill 135, a measure that seeks to rescind a person's right to use deadly force to protect themselves in a public place if they feel threatened.
“I was at the hearing and hundreds of citizens sacrificed time from their jobs and families to attend this hearing and were disrespected by the comments of the chairwoman. I am calling for her immediate removal as Chair of the committee. If the burden of listening to voters is too great for the chairwoman, than it is incumbent upon Speaker (Terie) Norelli to remove her as chair and replace her with one that respects the voice of the people," said Hemingway in a prepared statement.
On Thursday morning, Hemingway said Pantelakos demonstrated a lack of tolerance for voters who are opposed to the legislation and said her attitude reflects the new New Hampshire House Democratic Party leadership headed by Speaker Norelli, D-Portsmouth.
“She was clearly agitated and she sort of had an outburst,” Hemingway said of Pantelakos. “It was just very disrespectful to the citizens who came to that meeting.”
When contacted on Thursday afternoon at the Legislative Office Building, Pantelakos said Hemingway's assertion that she had a lack of tolerance for some of the voters who testified "was a bare faced lie.
“I asked them to have some respect for the people who were testifying before the committee," Pantelakos said. "I had a very hostile crowd."
Pantelakos said she made the statement that Hemingway referenced when some voters in Representatives Hall applauded when other voters who were opposed to House Bill 135 spoke, which she said is not permitted during committee hearings.
“People that are that angry with rights certainly couldn’t see any good in me,” Pantelakos said. “I could have closed that hearing at any time and told them to come back next week, but I didn’t do that.”
She said the committee had 68 speakers and the hearing lasted for 5-1/2 hours.
“Anybody who comes to a committee hearing is allowed to speak whether you agree with what they have to say or not,” she said. “I did the best I could.
“Every card that we had in front of us we called the name off and they were allowed to come to the microphone and speak their piece,” she added. “I think that we tried very hard to accommodate everybody.”
Pantelakos said the committee will hold an executive session in the next week or so to vote on the legislation and she has no idea how the panel's 11 Democrats and nine Republicans will vote.
Timothy Harden
2:24 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Pantelakos should step down, this is outrageous. Is this what we can expect from the democrats.
Jim Splaine
3:30 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Laura Pantelakos is one of the most gracious people I know -- and I've known her since the 1970s. She was doing her job, facilitating a meeting where she wanted all people treated equally so that they could speak without intimidation, which is the job of the chairs of all legislative committees. That the public was heard and that all those in attendance had a forum to express their points of view is testimony that she ran the meeting within the rules of the legislature.
Christine Giuda
10:09 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
"we are forced to sit here and suffer through this"? Maybe the job isn't for her then as she is liable to have to sit through many hearings on issues she is not interested in or has already made up her mind on. Doesn't sound to me like this is not leadership.
Ryan
4:35 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
I've sat through countless of these public hearings and can say it is not a partisan problem. I've heard sarcastic comments from both sides of the aisle about having to hear from the public. The House ED&A committee was the worse offender.
tim h
7:21 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
It's time to remind these career politicians who their real bosses are. Hint: not corporations and not your political party. It's time to do away with career politicians and restore power to We The People.
Atlant Schmidt
4:11 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
She, like the rest of the New Hampshire State Government, was just (re-)elected. Apparently, her constituents like her just fine.
Stephen D. Clark
7:21 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Rep. Pantelakos said "Show some respect for the members of this committee. We are forced to sit here and suffer through this…I am not going to tolerate this?”
Oh my. How utterly wicked of her to object to the same kind of rude tea party hysteria we saw in 2009. Geez. When you don't have an issue, invent one.
Geoge L. Gorman
8:04 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
" I did the best I could." What a lame excuse. She got caught and her reasoning just doesn't justify her actions. Hostel crowd or not. She should be ashamed by her commits. She's not representing the people she was elected by. time to move on! Find another place to be!
Bob Robertson
8:04 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
It's terrible that anyone would force Rep. Pantelakos to listen to anything at all. She should exercise her ultimate power and stay home.
Rick
8:26 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
While two wrongs do not make a right, Some hand picked buddies of Speaker O'Brien, adjourned public hearings with the comments to the effect "that I don't want to listen to this anymore". Also, O'Brien often brought bills to the floor that were not on the agenda and without public hearings. Watch out, NH. He may not be Speaker, but he is always planning shenanigans.
rick barasso
8:00 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
Where was this guys outrage when commandant O'brien kicked the concord monitor out of a press conference?
robert benjamin Cohen
8:41 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
Had former House Speaker O'Brien been there these people could have talked for 12
and all these reprobates would be cheering and calling him a "Champion for the Cause". Can't wait for the Republican party to just be a footnote in history.
Robert Sprague
12:21 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Rep. Pantelakos, you have my empathy. I've been up against the gun nuts. God help us all.
R. Stewart
10:09 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
The fact the Chair sees the residents of NH as "hostile" speaks quite clearly of her bias. Anyone that objects to the infringement of our Constitutional Rights, is viewed as intolerant and hostile by those in the Democrat party.
Mike Lorrey
10:10 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
To quote Congressman Steve King of Iowa: "The 2nd amendment isn't about the right to shoot deer, its about the right to shoot tyrants!"
One can only surmise he was talking about people like Pantelakos.
Lorna Andoscia
9:37 am on Saturday, January 26, 2013
She publicly embarrassed be by implying that I had requested special treatment. I had arrived an hour early in order to get my card in as soon as possible as I had to work that evening. When I noticed that the cards were being removed from the table and shuffled around, I asked if the speakers would be called on a first come/first called basis. She took my name and said she would so what she could. After she interrupted my testimony by stating, "Your not going to read that whole thing are you?" and suggesting that I simply turn in my paper statement, I politely stated my reasons for wanting to continue and stated that I preferred to continue. When I was done, she made a comment that inferred that I had asked for special treatment that she had complied with. I DID NOT ask for special treatment, but rather, simply asked for the speakers to be called in the order that they had arrived. My testimony, along with every other testimony given to that point, had been totally respectful; and no-one deserved the disrespect that she displayed.
Sam Brooklyn
7:31 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Gee anyone see a conflict that she is the mother of the divorced wife of slain greenland police chief Michael Maloney and that she and her daughter have been relentless in abusing his widow??