New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney asked State Police to investigate a Ballot Law Commission hearing on Friday involving several state representatives and "birther queen" Orly Taitz that turned ugly after the committee unanimously rejected an effort to have Obama removed from the state presidential ballot because she claimed that his birth certificate was a fake.
Taitz testified before the committee, alleging the president's social security number was not valid and his birth certificate was forged. The committee rejected her argument, saying it did not have the jurisdiction to assess the validity of the document.
The White House released the president's long-form birth certificate in April after his campaign released a scanned copy. Some, however, refuse to believe that Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.
"Traitors!" shouted one woman after the committee vote. "Shame on you!" yelled another.
"Saying a treasonous liar can go on our ballot?" yelled Republican state Rep. Harry Accornero after the meeting. Accornero and Republican state Rep. Susan DeLemus yelled in Assistant Attorney General Matt Mavrogeorge's face after the hearing, according to a memorandum he wrote. DeLemus demanded an answer from Mavrogeorge on "whether the United States Constitution trumps New Hampshire's laws regarding the qualifications for president." After the hearing, he and Assistant Secretary of State Karen Ladd locked themselves in an office and called capitol security and the attorney general's office. Crowd members yelled and banged on his door, he said.
Delaney wrote that he was "extremely concerned that a member of my staff was put in a position of fearing for his safety" in a letter to the state police.
Republican state House Speaker Bill O'Brien cancelled a planned Tuesday meeting between himself and nine Republican representatives who doubt Obama's citizenship because of the pending investigations. He also asked State House security to investigate the incident.
Accornero told the Concord Monitor that he did not think the investigations are necessary. "A lot of us were - I wouldn't even say angry, but just upset about how the system works," he said. "People have a right to express their opinion."
