2010 SEA Heroes
The 2009 – 2010 legislative sessions have been the toughest for our members who work hard to protect our drinking water, preserve our natural resources, keep our roads safe and ensure that those in need receive a strong safety net to get them through the prolonged economic downturn. Our members of SEA and their families have done their part to deliver efficient high quality services; unfortunately, there are some in the Legislature who let us down.
The Legislature passed a budget that was balanced for the most part on the backs of State and County employees. There are hundreds of unfilled positions while there has been a huge increase in the need for services. There are unpaid furlough days in the Court system, frozen wages and retirees paying more for the benefits that were promised to them when they were hired. We have said we are willing to give and contribute to helping the State balance the budget, but we do expect others to also chip in.
Thankfully there were real heroes in the State House this last session who were there to help protect our rights and give us the tools to help the State and Gounty government become more efficient and less costly.
These SEA Heroes were there for us when we needed them most. They were Republicans and Democrats -- because it doesn’t matter which party you belong to when you support our Department of Transportation workers or our members at the Department of Revenue.
The following list is just a few of the elected officials who stood out and stood up for us. It is not a complete list as there are many others who did great work -- but we did want to
recognize a few of them who rose above all the roadblocks to do the right thing and support us.
Senator Sharon Carson (SD 14)
State Senator Sharon Carson, representing the towns of Auburn, Hudson, and Londonderry has been recognized as a Legislative Hero for SEA members this past session. Senator Carson was prime sponsor of the NH Public Employee Whistleblower and Waste Prevention Act. The bill has passed the Legislature and is awaiting enrolling for the Governor’s signature. New Hampshire public employees will now have whistleblower protection to report instances of waste, fraud or abuse of public funds.
Working closely with the SEA, Senator Carson not only sponsored the bill but she also fought every step of the legislative process in order to bring it to final passage. This legislation is a major step forward for public employees in New Hampshire who care so deeply about their work and being responsible stewards of the precious public dollars in this state. “Sharon fought for this bill because she believes that it’s the people on the frontlines of government who can help save money,” said SEA Political Education Chair Ken Roos, “and they deserve the protections necessary to expose waste. None of us want to go to work everyday without the full knowledge we are doing things as efficiently as we can, particularly in these tight economic times.”
For all her efforts on this legislation and for her continuing support, please contact Senator Carson and thank her for work at
sharon.carson@leg.state.nh.us.
Senator Betsi DeVries (SD 16)
State Senator Betsi DeVries, representing Litchfield and five wards in Manchester has been a consistent hero throughout her legislative career and was certainly one during both sessions this term. In 2009, Senator DeVries went against her party’s leadership and the Governor to vote against the budget bills, HB 1 and 2. Senator DeVries voted against the budget to protect workers and worker rights that were trampled in the bill. State employees were stripped of employee rights they previously held for over 50 years, the Legislature reversed a promise made to state retirees, over 200 state employees faced layoff or demotion and the bill offered no long-term revenue solutions in the future.
This year, Senator DeVries has continued that spirit of standing up for SEA members by supporting public employee whistleblower legislation. She has also fought against the retirement bills that would dismantle the system and change the rules for those that have been long term dedicated employees. Senator DeVries also sponsored the NH W.A.R.N. Act, which prevents employers from closing their doors without giving their employees notice. DeVries fought to bring in revenue to save State jobs by co-sponsoring the expanded gaming bill and to improve the procurement practices of the state by sponsoring SB 493 so that when we have to contract projects, it provides for good wages and benefits.
Senator DeVries also worked to tackle the extraordinarily high cost of health care in New Hampshire by co-sponsoring SB 505, passed this session. The legislation establishes a health care cost commission to set target rates for hospitals.
State Representative John DeJoie (Merr 11)
Rep. John DeJoie represented parts of Concord but as a leader in the Legislature, John represented and fought for all working families every day. John is a union firefighter for the City of Concord and who was a strong voice for SEA members on the Finance Committee. We could count on John to stand up against the Committee when they went after retirement benefits or workers rights or when we just needed an advocate to point out when workers would be hurt by legislative proposals.
While Rep. DeJoie would seek to compromise, he would not back down when the final vote was taken. As a member on the Committee of Conference for last year's budget battle, John was taken off of the Committee by his leadership because he would not go along with a vote against SEA. This year, Rep. DeJoie worked on legislation that would force a more comprehensive examination of the cost of contracting out public services currently done by State workers prior to those services being privatized. Rep. DeJoie also sought equity in personnel reduction methodology which thus far has fallen disproportionally on front line workers. Rep. DeJoie sponsored an amendment to the budget fix this year that would have required proportional reductions among classified and unclassified personnel and furloughs for unclassified and non-classified. This provision passed the House, but did not make it into the final special session budget legislation.
John unfortunately is not running for re-election this year. He will certainly be missed next session.
Please take the time to call or e-mail him and thank him for his extraordinary service and support. Phone: 682-8531; E-Mail:
johndejoie@yahoo.com.
Rep. Deborah Wheeler (Merr 6)
A dedicated Chapter 1 member, with 36 years of State and union service, Debbie has been an unwavering champion for SEA members in her two terms in the Legislature. This session Deb was invited into the Governor’s office when he was trying to convince legislators to votes for the budget, saying it was the best they could do. Rep. Wheeler stood strong and still spoke out against the effect the budget would have on employee rights and retiree health care, and she voted against the budget for those reasons. This year Deb continued to support SEA members by voting for revenue options to offset personnel and service cuts. Rep. Wheeler also worked against attempts to raise active employee retirement contribution rates that do not help the Retirement System and hurt the economy. Deb is running for re-election this year in Merrimack 6, which includes Andover, Boscawen, Canterbury, Loudon, Northfield and Salisbury.
Executive Councilor Bev Hollingworth (District 3)
This year was a challenging year for the SEA members with a tight budget and an increasing legislative interest in privatizing and cuts to essential services. Councilor Hollingworth has stepped up her scrutiny of these privatization contracts that come before the Executive Council, challenging the Department of Health and Human Services on the analysis for privatizing the Multiple Offender Program (MOP) and the operations of the Tobey School.
Bev Hollingworth is a thoughtful Councilor who has been a strong supporter and advocate for one of our members who had been seriously injured in the line of duty for Liquor Enforcement. Councilor Hollingworth took on a nine-month fight to provide workers' compensation benefits for our member.
Executive Councilor Ray Wieczorek (District 4)
Leading the charge on reigning in the automatic cost increases for our health insurance contract with Anthem this year was Councilor Ray Weiszorek from Manchester. Councilor Wieczorek push for open transparency in the contract process and along with Bev Hollingworth, the contract was reworked to protect our member’s health insurance. Working with the SEA, together we saved millions of dollars in health savings by actually negotiating on cost reductions to a contract extension.
Councilor Wieczorek has been a consistent and effective supporter for our members at the Sununu Youth Services Center. Ray has met with our members on numerous occasions and has taken our concerns back to the Executive Council and Agencies and has gotten results.