David H. Watters Papers, 2009

Title:

David H. Watters Papers, 2009

Creator:

Watters, David H., 1950

Accession / Call Number:

2009.050

Object ID:

2009.050

Date:

2009

Physical Description:

1 box ; 0.42 linear feet

Scope and Content:

The David H. Watters Papers consist mainly of correspondence between Watters, constituents, other New Hampshire state representatives, and leaders of special interest groups relating to HB 436, to allow same-sex couples to marry; HB 73, a clarification of religious protections under HB 436 that Governor John Lynch required to sign HB 436 into law; HB 415, to add protections to transgender and nonbinary people; and HB 310, regarding the mileage payment of judges who preform civil unions. The collection focuses on HB 73, as HB 436 passed and HB 415 failed early within the dates. HB 415 was the only bill relating to the collection to fail. The correspondence is entirely composed of printouts of emails. Any emails consisting of the same base email are kept together in the collection, under the base email alone or with the fewest replies. The last email in each chain is undated, due to the nature of the computer program. If the email is a reply, it is dated by the email directly underneath it in the chain. Single emails that are undated are placed in the collection either by any chain that relates to them or by the content and physical relation to others in the original order, which has been, for the most part, maintained. Many of the emails between the representatives and interest group members contain "Blue Hampshire" blog posts, written (and sent by) Rep. Jim Splaine; delegate work; conversations with other State Representatives that are unsure of how they will vote; or call for meetings of the group. There exist no minutes of these meetings within the collection. Constituent correspondence cites religious, scientific, personal, and political reasons why the sender believes any of these bills should not pass. Also included are Official New Hampshire House of Representatives documentation of the relevant bills, voter lists of the bills, and voter predictions for HB 73.

Subjects:

Bills, Legislative , Correspondence , Politics and government , Gay rights , Same-sex marriage--Law and legislation , Governors , Legislators

Locations:

Concord, NH

People:

Watters, David H., 1950 , Hassan, Margaret, 1958 , Splaine, James R., 1947 , Baxley, Maureen , Pierce, David , Read, Robin , Butler, Edward, 1949 , Merrill, Amanda, 1951 , Murphy, Caitlyn , Mead, Robert, 1937 , Corriveau, Garth , Levasseur, Nickolas , Vaillancourt, John Steven, 1951-2017 , Reynolds, Deborah , Larson, Sylvia , Lynch, John H. , 1952 , Hopper, Gary , Levesque, Melanie , Landrigan, Kevin , Price, Susan , Sullivan, Kathleen, 1954 , Ulery, Jordan , Shattuck, Gilman , DiFruscia, Anthony , Robertson, V. Gene, 1947

Organizations:

New Hampshire. General Court
New Hampshire. House of Representatives

Credit Line:

Gift of David H. Watters.

Restrictions:

Available for research.

Level Description:

Collection