Rep. Lucy Weber: Houston, we have a disinformation problem

As the ranking Democrat and former Chair of the House Committee on Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs, I know federal funds are imperative to enable the state to address critical problems on our already shoe-string state budget. Whether it’s the mental health crisis, the opioid epidemic, or our long-term care and nursing home issues, assistance from the federal government is crucial, and addressing the COVID pandemic is no different.

The trouble is that our state and our country are in a disinformation crisis. Disinformation and conspiracy theories about public health are permeating the mainstream through social media and other online platforms and have real, tangible effects on the people we love, our friends and neighbors, and now they are tainting the process of government. Republicans in government have bought into this disinformation, with disastrous results for our state.

In early September, House Republican leadership held a jam-packed press conference turned anti-vaccination rally with a hundred attendees whose children held signs saying “masks are child abuse.” This is a disturbing sight as America neared 700,000 dead from COVID, among them over 1,000 teachers and almost 1,000 children. It is important to recognize that more Americans have already died this year than did in all of 2020.

Then an Executive Council meeting was disrupted by extremists pledging to halt elected officials from voting to accept the aforementioned $27 million to fund the Immunization Program through the American Rescue Plan, which increases the availability of COVID vaccines to Granite Staters, especially in rural areas. Gov. Sununu permitted these bad actors to shut down that meeting, stalling the receipt of these funds and our pandemic response as a whole. The New Hampshire Attorney General has weighed in to say that accepting the federal funds does not hold New Hampshire hostage to any strict federal guidelines or mandates that critics cited as a concern.

The disinformation campaign was continued by Republican Rep. Ken Weyler. Having already directed the Joint Fiscal Committee to table the $27 million in federal funds, in his then capacity as committee chair, Rep. Weyler disseminated a document full of outlandish conspiracy theories about the COVID vaccine. The document claimed COVID vaccines contained octopus-like tentacled organisms and 5G mind control. The document also spewed vile religious bigotry toward Catholic and Jewish people.

Republican leadership took a full week to “reluctantly” accept Rep. Weyler’s eventual resignation as chair. House Republican leadership tried to minimize the damage by saying that Rep. Weyler had only read the first few pages of the report, and was unaware of the bizarre claims and bigotry to follow. But even the early pages are full of disinformation, and Rep. Weyler’s endorsement of bigotry dates back at least to 2016, when he testified that “[g]iving public benefits to any person or family that practices Islam is aiding and abetting the enemy. That is treason.”

It is clear that Rep. Weyler is no stranger to disinformation. However, while distributing and legitimizing anti-science and anti-reality theories about life-saving medical care is alarming in any capacity, it is even more dangerous coming from an elected official. This kind of extremism and radicalization in the upper ranks of government undermines the most carefully researched current medical science and reduces government effectiveness to help prevent the spread of disease now and in the future.

The current level of government obstruction by a small fringe group is unprecedented. Not only did they derail the Executive Council meeting, but meetings of the Fiscal Committee and the Special Committee on Redistricting were also cancelled following the disruption at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Allowing conspiracy theorists and extremists to endanger public health, halt the function of our government, and force institutions to close political events is the most harmful blow to the first-in-the-nation primary that we have seen. We need to get back to business as usual. Governor Sununu and House Republicans ought to ditch extremism, get back to the people’s work, and get New Hampshire vaccinated.