Cheshire County Democratic Committee

Letter and Petition from Jackie Cilley calling for Rep. Marty Harty to resign after reprehensible comments. Please read, participate and forward.
Click here to print Letter/Petition

I’m not sure whether you have heard of the situation with Rep. Marty Harty, who I have the distinct misfortune of being represented by in our legislature. The full story is below. I have copied it below. This man actually said that he believed in eugenics, that the world was overpopulated with “defective people” — defining that by “the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled, the physically disabled and the addicted,” and that these “defective people” should be sent to Siberia where they would freeze to death and die and not burden society anymore.

I cannot think of anything more reprehensible. He has devalued and dehumanized thousands of our citizens. We are working to get signed petitions into the hands of advocates for all of the communities that he has verbally assaulted. He should, without doubt, be asked for an apology and to resign. Speaker O’Brien excuses Harty’s behavior by saying he is 91 years old (an insult to the many elderly I know that would never think of saying anything so despicable — if only Granny D were still with us!) and that he served in the military (every veteran should be angered to see somebody who thinks like this would hide behind his military service).

I have attached the petition with this e-mail. If there is anything that you can do in your corner of the state to get as many of these signed as possible that would be great. Let me know and we will find ways of picking all of these up. They are being sent all over the state. Advocates will take them to the Statehouse next week (hopefully by the boxload) and with luck, will have WMUR in tow when they ask for Harty’s resignation.

Thank you in advance for any assistance that you may be able to provide.

Jackie Cilley
8 Oak Hill Road
Barrington, NH 03825
(603) 664-5597

State lawmaker from Barrington says ‘defective people’ should be sent to ‘Siberia’
By Jennifer Keefe
Fosters Daily Democrat
jkeefe@fosters.com
Friday, March 11, 2011

DOVER — A 91-year-old freshman state representative has angered a Dover Community Partners staffer for his comments he doesn’t support state funding for “the crazy people” who should be sent to “Siberia.”

Martin Harty of Barrington made the comments to Sharon Omand, a program manager at Community Partners, which provides behavioral health and developmental services for Strafford County. Omand had called Harty and other legislators to discuss measures in the proposed House Republican state budget that would make significant cuts to mental health services.

Omand told Foster’s that Harty told her he disagreed with her about the need for funds for mental health services and he believed in eugenics.

“The world population has gotten too big and the world is being inherited by too many defective people,” he told her.

Omand said she asked him to clarify if he meant mentally ill and developmentally disabled and he responded, “I mean all the defective people, the drug addicts, mentally ill, the retarded — all of them.”

“I asked what we should do with them,” Omand said, and Harty said, “I believe if we had a Siberia we should send them to this and they would all freeze and die and we will be rid of them.”

Harty confirmed his comments in an interview with Foster’s Daily Democrat late Thursday afternoon.

Explaining his thoughts, Harty said one of his main concerns is population explosion, and he is wary of funding a social issue that can’t really be helped.

“The population keeps doubling,” he said. “It’s not hitting us too hard yet; we’re not running out of food and we’re not running out of drinkable water. But we’re getting damn close. The homeless people that every state has their share of are mostly mentally ill. You can’t really help those people. You can keep them alive, but there’s only so much you can do for those people.”

Harty referenced science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and his stories about a pending population explosion as someone whose messages he is “in tune with.”

Omand said she was also angered by the comment Harty made to her about his believing in eugenics, a biosocial movement that advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population.

Harty told Foster’s he had been “kidding around” with Omand and had obviously riled her up, but she had continued pushing her point of “getting more money for the crazy people.”

He said Omand called him Adolf Hitler and hung up on him. He says he never mentioned Hitler.

He said he talks about eugenics frequently but also believes mental health funding should be studied.

“There are people you can only help so much, and throwing more money at the problem isn’t going to do it,” he said. “It needs to be studied some more and get more people and try to do it in a slightly different way.”

“Justice delayed is justice denied.” This old expression has becoming increasingly true in New Hampshire due to cutbacks in the court system. Plans by the newly-elected Republican majority in the state legislature to cut the state budget by 10% should be of concern to all citizens.

Let me try to put a human face on the cost of court cutbacks.

In the not-so-distant past, Cheshire County Superior Court had two full-time judges, and a full-time marital master (hearing officer.) Now the court has one full-time judge, and a half-time marital master. The delays in scheduling hearings have been significant.

Consider the story of Laurel (not her real name). Laurel and her ex-boyfriend each had equal parenting time with their daughter. In June 2007, Laurel’s ex-boyfriend claimed she had neglected their daughter. She was faced with a sudden ‘temporary’ hearing to address the allegations, she had no attorney, and lost all contact with her daughter except for three hours of supervised visits.

What followed was a two-year effort to regain her parental rights.

The “final hearing” was scheduled for December 2007, but only fifteen minutes were allotted, which was woefully inadequate. The next available time for a hearing was not until March 2008. The four hours allotted were reduced because of other hearings that day, and the time remaining was not enough to complete the hearing. Another hearing was scheduled for June 2008.

After the hearing was completed in June 2008, the parties had to wait for the decision of the Court. The judge was scheduled in other counties for half the months of the year. When the judge was not in Keene, the file was not available for him work on the decision.

When the Court’s decision finally arrived, the good news was that the allegations of the ex-boyfriend had been rejected by the court. The bad news was that the decision arrived in December 2008, eighteen months after Laurel had lost custody.

The Court’s decision ordered the parties to transition back to equal parenting time. The ex-boyfriend objected to any transition, so another hearing was required, which could not be scheduled until May 2009. When the two hours allotted at the May hearing proved inadequate, the parties had to travel to Dover in June to complete the hearing, because the judge was temporarily assigned there, and would not be back in Keene until the fall.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that parental rights are a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. It took Laurel 24 months to regain her parental rights, and much of the delay was due to cutbacks in our court system. Because of the shortage of judge time, Laurel’s case was scheduled for less time than was needed. When time ran out, Laurel’s hearings had to be continued to the next available date, which was always several months later. This contributed to the inefficiency of the Court, as time was needed in the second hearing to recap what had happened in the first hearing.

In recent months, the situation has worsened for people like Laurel. Due to budget cutbacks, several Superior Court judge positions have been left vacant. Jury trials have been cancelled during certain months. All courts are being closed for twelve business days during this budget cycle.

The reason we have a court system is to resolve disputes. Timely resolution of disputes is an essential part of justice, but is often impossible in the current budgetary environment. The new legislature needs to understand that if we are to deliver ‘liberty and justice for all,’ the court system cannot suffer further cuts.

Mark Fernald is an attorney in Peterborough at the firm of Fernald, Taft, Falby & Little.

Dear Cheshire County Democrats,

I have a shop on Main Street in Keene and that location allows me to speak with many of you everyday. Because I know you, I feel compelled to reach out to you. No, this is not another plea for money. This is a plea for your vote and that of everyone you know. I have heard stories of discouragement. People in our own party are saying that this election is lost. I cannot disagree more. Let me quote one of our brightest and most diligent hard working Cheshire County campaign managers:

“This election is for my sister, and everyone like her who has struggled to get health care coverage. I refuse to see more people struggle like my sister did to get care. I refuse to allow healthcare reform to be revoked by any Republican. I will work until I collapse in order to ensure that the people who will fight for others like my sister are the ones that get elected”

We cannot afford to lose the heathcare reform that the Obama administration made happen. We cannot stand by and let all the incredible work that has been started fail and get lost to the Party of NO.

With regard to the polls, our own internal polls show this race MUCH closer than the latest public polls. Barely half of voters have made up their minds at this point, and as you know, NH voters are notorious for breaking late (remember Hillary’s primary win in 2008).

What we are seeing across the country is that Democrats are starting to tune back in, and as they do, the “enthusiasm gap” continues to shrink and all of our races are tightening. We expect to see the same trend in our NH races throughout these final days before the election. The fact is, all of these polls show that the Democratic votes are out there — it’s just a matter of getting them to the voting booth. That’s why we Democrats have opened 16 offices across New Hampshire, and are focusing much of our resources on the ground game. A Public Policy Poll in early October showed simply that if Democratic voters turned out the way they did in 2008, all of our Democratic candidates would win.

We can and will make this election a stunning defeat for the negative Republicans. Do you want the Pledge to America to become our doctrine? Do you remember the horrific results of the Contract for America? We are the party of YES. We are the party that cares about all the people in America. We are the party that got the healthcare bill passed. We need to continue to do all that we can to support our candidates and our President. Please join me. Please take a stand for yourself, your families, and for all the people of our state and our country – and VOTE. Get yourself to the polls and vote for all of our incredible Democratic candidates. And get your friends, families, fellow employees and everyone you know to get out and vote, too!

Here in NH we are running the nation’s best Get Out the Vote effort; the woman who brought Hilary the win in NH is running our efforts here. The man who ran the numbers for President Obama is running our numbers. We have the best people here because we can win here, and it is so important that we do win. The Republicans know how close it is as well, that is why they are sending Sarah Palin to New Hampshire on Nov. 1st.

We need you to vote so that we may continue the incredible progress and work our party is and will be doing.

Join me and vote for all of our Democratic candidates on Tuesday November 2nd!

Respectfully,

Ann Heffernon,
Chair, Cheshire County Democratic Committee
www.cheshiredemocrats.org