RebuildNH Celebrates End To State of Emergency

EAST DERRY, N.H.—RebuildNH is celebrating victory today as the no-longer State of Emergency has officially come to an end, and is acknowledging the efforts of many activists and legislators who fought diligently behind the scenes during the past 65 weeks for the return to balance in New Hampshire government.

“I am super excited today by the long-overdue end to the State of Emergency and the official restoration of the New Hampshire Republic and its balance of powers, but now the real work begins to make sure we amend emergency powers laws to ensure no governor can ever run away with authoritarian control of the state again,” said Andrew J. Manuse, chairman of RebuildNH. “I am grateful for all of our activists who tirelessly contacted their representatives and senators each week, and I’m also grateful that the Legislature heeded the people's call and worked behind the scenes to return power back to the people, where it belongs.”

The Constitution, which was drafted during a much more severe smallpox pandemic, outlined how government ought to be limited to ensure the people’s liberty. It was balanced with three co-equal branches to ensure one branch did not rule over the other branches or the citizens. Over the past 65 weeks, the governor, who leads one of these three branches, exercised control over the whole government without any checks on his power, and we learned the hard way why this was a bad idea.

“The founding fathers created a government that was equipped to handle emergencies and outlined that procedure within the founding documents, and it is a shame that our governor chose not to follow the Constitution,” said JR Hoell, secretary/treasurer of RebuildNH. “Part Second, Article 50 lays out that the governor ought to call the Legislature into session to deal with any state emergencies.”

Using a drumbeat of propaganda to spread unsubstantiated fear about the COVID-19 pandemic, the executive branch mantra “two weeks to flatten the curve” transitioned into 65-weeks of pointless and scientifically unfounded dictates that wreaked havoc on small businesses, religious institutions, families, and children, whose economic, mental and spiritual health was irreparably damaged. Despite ReopenNH and RebuildNH constantly sounding the alarm about the scientifically flawed stay-at-home orders, mask mandates, social distancing nonsense, and vaccine hype, the governor blindly followed the advice of “experts” who ended up being demonstrably wrong.

“Now that the State of Emergency is over, we need meaningful emergency powers reform to ensure there is a balance of power during the next crisis so that the era of COVID fascism can never be repeated; an era when actual science became political science,” said Melissa Blasek, executive director of RebuildNH, who is also a Republican state representative from Merrimack.

At the end of April, when Gov. Sununu stated he would need to keep a State of Emergency going through the end of 2021 to ensure the influx of federal tax dollars, RebuildNH researched the details and announced this claim was false.

“I was right,” Blasek said, after repeated confrontations with various government officials over the details. “Our work in this area is one of the main reasons why the State of Emergency is over today.”

“It pays to have a citizen Legislature that does the work they were elected to do instead of always relying on the interpretations of bureaucrats that are often politically motivated and factually wrong,” Hoell said. “It’s great when citizens and their 424 elected representatives in the House and Senate step up to the plate to read federal and state statutes and identify what is accurate and true. This is why New Hampshire is so successful as a state compared to states with less representation.”

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About RebuildNH

RebuildNH, also known as ReopenNH, is made up of concerned individuals devoted to getting New Hampshire back to work through a restoration of balance and reason in state government.