State House Bureau Chief CONCORD -- State Rep. Tom Alciere offered yesterday to surrender to critics of his anti-police Internet postings if they meet his conditions.
The Nashua Republican said he will resign if the House finds a substitute sponsor for each of the bills he has introduced and guarantees each one will be introduced on the House floor for a roll call vote.
Manchester Rep. Gary Greenberg said yesterday he might be willing to put his name on Alciere's bills, but insists he must see the language in the bills first.
Alciere, 41, was elected to his first term this fall, but never told voters of his hatred of law enforcement. He was sworn in to office on Dec. 6.
Since then, his views on police, whom he refers to as "thugs" and "enemy officers," have come to light. He expressed sympathy for the killers of Epsom Police Officer Jeremy Charron and urged fellow cop-haters to drive trucks into police funeral processions.
Alciere refuses to apologize for his views, which include an opinion that wife beating is a form of self-defense and that public schools ought to be closed down.
Once a Libertarian, he was thrown out of the party in 1992 after he refused to take a pledge against violence as a means of obtaining political objectives.
He said yesterday that if he gets a pledge that his bills will go through an electronically recorded roll call vote, he will step down.
"I will happily give up my fancy new license plates, mission accomplished," he said.
But he said he reserves his right to run as a candidate in the special election that will be held to fill his vacant seat. At that point, voters can either reject him or reelect him, with full knowledge of all his beliefs.
He said he is not asking legislators to support his bills, only to pledge that they will "perform these simple parliamentary roles" of working to have the bills voted on by the entire House in a roll call vote.
Gov. Jeanne Shaheen's press secretary, Pamela Walsh, said yesterday the governor thinks Alciere has no business setting terms of his resignation.
"He misled voters and he should resign without condition," Walsh said.
Democratic Leader Peter Burling, D-Cornish, agreed.
"I don't make deals with the devil. Mr. Alciere is asking us to trade our votes for him to do the right thing. I think that's inappropriate," he said.
"His instinct is correct. He owes it to voters to step down, and if he wants to run again, fine, this time in a full, fair and informed election."
Speaker of the House Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, was working in Bartlett yesterday. He said he will review the details of Alciere's offer before he responds to it.
"Anything I say right now would be premature," he said.
Assistant Deputy Speaker Keith Herman, R-Milford, said Alciere did not work with House leadership to craft any kind of deal.
Before Alciere's bills can even be considered by committees, they have to pass a vote of the House for introduction, he said. But the House seldom refuses to let in a bill.
Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, said Alciere's offer "is crazy. Who would want to sponsor those bills? Why not be up front with the guy and tell him he is going to be ineffective?"
D'Allesandro said thousands of dollars will be wasted on putting the bills through the process.
"The smartest thing he can do is resign," he said. "He can run for reelection and everybody will know what he stands for, and he'll be running on the merits of the case."
Alciere's bills call for ending age restrictions in liquor laws, empowering pregnant teen runaways to continue their pregnancies over their parents' objections, repealing compulsory school attendance and replacing public schools with a computer-based online education system, eliminating all zoning laws in the state and limiting involuntary admissions to the state mental health system.
Greenberg said yesterday he befriended Alciere on Dec. 6 without knowing anything about his views on police.
He said he came up with the idea for the Alciere offer.
"I was hoping to help him because I thought if there was something I could do so that he wouldn't be forced out, he might be better off," Greenberg said. "He's not in a good situation right now and, you know, he needs a friend. He needs somebody he can trust."
Greenberg said he wants to see the language in each of the eight bills on which Alciere is sole sponsor before he decides to take them up.
"I don't want to run into the same problem he ran into, that by sponsoring a bill people paint a picture of me that is not accurate," he said.
Greenberg said he wants to give Alciere a graceful exit and wants to work for the good of the House.
If he takes over sponsorship, Greenberg said, finding 10 people to approve a roll call vote "won't be a problem for me. To find 10 people out of 400?"
He said he never read any of Alciere's e-mail messages.
"Those things should never have been said. . . . I would never repeat that act," Greenberg said.
Alciere has maintained since his views on police first became public that he is fighting a battle for civil liberties. In defending his views yesterday, he quoted Thomas Jefferson: "We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us;" and Abraham Lincoln: "the fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation."
Design copyright Scars Publications and Design. Copyright of individual pieces remain with the author. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.
