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House Speaker supports Republican changes

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New Hampshire House Speaker Shawn Jasper and Majority Leader Richard Hinch have proposed simplifying the state Republican Party platform to remove many specific policies.

For example, Jasper and Hinch want to remove support for Right-to-Work, opposition to Medicaid expansion, and the call to overturn the Claremont education funding decisions. Instead, they want the platform to outline broad conservative principles that can guide individual policy decisions as they arise.

"At one time, not too long ago, the platform was a broader set of all-embracing core Republican values," said Hinch. "In recent years, the platform has begun to transform into a document outlining such a high level of specificity, it is almost impossible to apply or follow it in its entirety in our normal course of business in the Legislature."

"Overall, it’s just too specific and we’re beating our heads against a wall," Jasper told WMUR.

Some core conservatives object to removing policies such as Right-to-Work from the platform.

"If you take the Republican issues out of the Republican platform, how do we hold our elected officials accountable?" asked Rep. Tammy Simmons, a member of the NHGOP Executive Committee.

Simmons added that the proposal had no chance of passing, and noted that if Jasper runs for reelection as Speaker, he faces more conservative challengers, notably Rep. Laurie Sanborn.

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