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	GOP Chief Says House Members Have Lost Focus By Tom Fahey New Hampshire Union Leader April 7, 2011 http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=GOP+chief+says+House+members+have+lost+focus&articleId=8b38275e-c016-4457-a29f-5c61d484f911 CONCORD – A Republican lawmaker's interest in revoking the Catholic Church's tax-exempt status earned House members a rebuke from the chairman of the State Republican Party Wednesday. After days of controversy over Republican attacks on Catholic Bishop John McCormack for his appearance at a public rally, GOP Chair Jack Kimball said members of the House have lost focus on what they were elected to do. He urged them to return to issues directly connected to state government. "I'm talking about all representatives, Republicans and Democrats," Kimball said. Speaker of the House William O'Brien said he thinks Kimball really meant only Democrats. Kimball spoke out after a fifth straight day of controversy about the Catholic Church and McCormack, leader of 290,000 New Hampshire Catholics. Church 'double dipping' Rep. Andrew Manuse, R-Derry, was in the spotlight Wednesday, after he said he was considering legislation to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status. He said McCormack should not have spoken against the state budget, and its treatment of the poor and disabled during a March 30 protest. In an interview, Manuse said more is being made of his idea than he meant. He tried to distinguish between considering such a bill and intending to file one. "I never said I intended to file it. I wanted to start a discussion," said Manuse, who was raised Catholic. He said church leaders should not preach from a tax-exempt pulpit and at public rallies, saying: "It seems like double dipping." Democrats, noting they are in rare agreement with Kimball, urged someone in the GOP to get party members under control. A leading conservative, Kevin Smith of Cornerstone Action, also said Republicans are getting fed up with behavior in the House. The GOP holds a 3-1 advantage in the 400-member House. Not going to file bill Manuse said that if he had filed a bill on tax status, it would have dealt with all churches, not just the Catholic church. "I'm not considering it anymore," he said, complaining that he has received "very hateful" emails. He also disagreed with McCormack's criticism of budget cuts. "It is the church's responsibility to care for vulnerable people, it's not the government's responsibility to do that . . . I don't think it's the church's place to say what government should or shouldn't do," he said. Former Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan called on O'Brien to take action. She said Manuse's decision to target church leaders over their remarks threatens the core constitutional freedoms of religion, speech and assembly, as well as the right to petition the government over grievances. Sullivan challenged O'Brien "to show true leadership by insisting . . . that they cease engaging in efforts to intimidate and threaten members of the public." Attacks on bishop The attacks on McCormack stem from his role as a chief administrator in the Boston Archdiocese in the early 1990s. He handled sex abuse complaints against priests, and assigned accused priests to new duties, including roles at other parish churches. The controversy over his role had faded over the past few years, but is once again in the forefront. It began with House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt's Facebook page Friday, calling McCormack a "pedophile pimp" for protecting accused priests. Bettencourt, who is Catholic, was outraged that McCormack was at the State House rally to say budget cuts will hurt the state's poor, elderly and vulnerable, when he had turned his back on victims of abuse. O'Brien said he agreed with Bettencourt's sentiment, but not his choice of words. Bettencourt has since said he regretted the comments and plans to meet privately with the bishop today. Four Democrats urged O'Brien on Monday to condemn Bettencourt's statements. The president of the national Catholic League called for his formal censure by the House. A Fremont state representative also stepped into the fray. Rep. Timothy Comerford, R-Fremont, in an email to all lawmakers through his personal online account, described McCormack as "a corrupt scumbag." Church leaders, he said, are "socialist-globalist leaning potentates." Comerford, vice chair of the House Legislative Administration Committee and a Catholic, did not return phone calls. Losing sight of big picture Kimball sent out a terse admonishment Wednesday. "Many of our state representatives seem to have lost sight of the bigger picture and what Republicans were elected to do," he said. "We have a fiscal crisis in this state and last week the House served the taxpayers well and passed a responsible budget." Kimball said Democrats caused the budget crisis with poor fiscal management over the years. He accused them of stirring up fear among the poor while ignoring the role they played in a nearly $1 billion deficit. In an interview, he said, both parties "have really lost sight of the big picture. All this hyperbole has really taken over. They've got to reboot, refocus and get back to the task at hand." Making political hay Democrats made political hay out of Kimball's statement. "In what may be a first, the New Hampshire Democratic Party is in total agreement with a statement issued by the New Hampshire Republican State Committee that criticized House Republicans for not being focused on the issues," Democratic spokesman Harrell Kirstein said. "Will a leader in the Republican Party come forward and address this madness or will House Republicans continue to run wild?" Smith, Cornerstone's executive director, was critical of the discussion and of Manuse in particular. His remarks, Smith said, "are not what I would consider to be representative of traditional conservatism." Like Kimball, he urged House GOP members to reset. "I understand that many in the House are new to the process this year, but that does not excuse some of the unbecoming behavior that conservatives like myself are growing very weary of," Smith said.
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