This op-ed was originally published by NH Journal. By Bill O’Brien, former Speaker of the New Hampshire House.
New Hampshire House Republicans are being asked to make a choice larger than selecting a presiding officer. They must decide what kind of majority they intend to be: one that simply manages the institution, or one that uses it to defend the New Hampshire Advantage, protect families, and keep this state free.
In 2010, when I became Speaker, my House colleagues and I made that choice. We chose to protect the New Hampshire Advantage. I know Jason Osborne will do the same. That is why I strongly endorse him to be the next Speaker of the New Hampshire House.
Jason knows why New Hampshire is special. We let families keep more of what they earn and give them more say over how they live. That is the governing philosophy that separates us from the high-tax, high-regulation states around us. It is why my family and I came here more than 40 years ago. It is why Jason made his home here as well.
Serving as Speaker taught me that conservative leadership is not measured by speeches, press releases, or applause from friendly audiences. It is found where Jason has excelled: in hard legislative choices, budgets, votes, rules, priorities, and the willingness to tell every spending constituency that government has no money of its own. It depends on conservative leaders knowing, as Jason does, the most fundamental fiscal realities: Every dollar spent in Concord is a dollar first earned by a New Hampshire family, small business, or retiree, and low taxes come from low spending enforced by governing discipline.
Jason Osborne understands that. More importantly, he is prepared to act on it.
The more Concord spends, regulates, subsidizes, and controls, the less room there is for people to build lives of their own choosing. Jason knows the Speaker’s office must remember that truth, especially when special interests insist, without need or credible evidence, that spending increases are necessary, modest, humane or unavoidable.
Spending increases are rarely unavoidable. They are almost always a choice.
Jason is running for Speaker because he knows Republicans in the House must do more than occupy seats. They must deliver. From years in leadership, he knows the members, the committees, the budget fights, and the pressure that comes when good policy threatens comfortable arrangements. He is not asking to be a caretaker. He is asking to build a stronger, better-organized, and more effective governing majority.
That matters. Jason understands that the road to the Speaker’s chair should run through the work of electing Republicans. He is willing to travel the state, stand with candidates, sharpen the message, raise resources, knock on doors, and win the districts that will decide control of the House. A speaker who helps elect the majority begins with credibility.
Jason’s record as House majority leader shows what he values. House Republicans have cut taxes, eliminated the interest and dividends tax, expanded Education Freedom Accounts, pursued health care choice, fought high energy costs, strengthened constitutional rights, and resisted an income tax. Those gains happened because effective Republican leaders and their majorities were willing to act.
As New Hampshire’s RNC national committeeman, I have met exceptional conservative leaders from across the country. The best are not just ideological. They are builders. They grow majorities, develop talent, prepare for difficult fights, and explain conservative policy in terms of real families and real consequences. Jason fits that mold.
He knows that filling in a budget line is not just finding a number. It means understanding that a number can be a tax burden, a property tax increase, a lost opportunity, or a smaller paycheck. He knows education policy affects a child and a family. He knows energy policy appears in the cost of heating a home and running a shop. He knows a constitutional prohibition on an income tax would protect every working family in New Hampshire.
The special interests in Concord that want more spending will not go away. They will return every session with new programs and new ways to hide long-term costs. The answer is a New Hampshire House speaker who can set priorities early, keep the budget honest, support members willing to make difficult votes, and explain why fiscal discipline respects the people who pay the bills.
Jason Osborne can do that.
This is not a contest between personalities. It is a decision about whether New Hampshire House Republicans want a speaker in the Washington mode who will manage decline or a New Hampshire speaker who will build firewalls protecting our freedom from a profligate and oppressive state government. Jason has the plan, energy, experience, and conservative conviction to build a majority and use it for the hardworking families of New Hampshire.
Jason Osborne should be the next Speaker of the New Hampshire House.
Bill O’Brien is a former Speaker of the New Hampshire House and New Hampshire’s Republican National Committeeman.