Showing up to work wearing “farmer jeans” and t-shirts with questionable slogans will keep House members from participating in key floor votes in the New Hampshire House if a new GOP leadership rule is approved Wednesday.
The proposed dress code was discussed by the House Rules Committee last month.
“I definitely agree that along with discipline and civility in the House, we have gone downhill in the past number of years,” House Speaker Sherm Packard (R-Londonderry) said of the proposal to require “proper business attire” to conduct House business. “I’m looking at something that’s egregious, which both sides have done within the past three or four years.
“Offensive t-shirts or things of that nature I’ve seen both sides wear, or someone coming in wearing farmer jeans or something like that,” Packard said.
The dress code proposal was introduced by Rep. Jeanine Notter (R-Merrimack). She said the proposal is “straightforward” and told Rules Committee members “casual clothing cheapens the decorum” during work hours and ticked off a list of fashion faux pas she’s observed over the years.
“We’ve seen not enough clothing, we’ve seen ripped jeans during committee,” Notter said. As for concerns that a dress code would create a financial burden for representatives who are paid just $100 a year, Notter said some members have found proper business-appropriate apparel at Goodwill.
An amendment to House rules regarding proper dress was also introduced in 2016, committee member and state Rep. Lucy Weber (D-Walpole) reminded Packard.
Weber, who was dressed in a t-shirt during the Dec. 17 committee hearing, was quick to defend her own wardrobe choice.
“I am well aware of the fact that I came from a physical therapy appointment today and I am wearing the equivalent of a t-shirt. I noticed that there are other members here who are not wearing constructed jackets with lapels. I don’t own one with a lapel anymore, thank God,” Weber said.
“I agree very well in principle with this. We want to represent our town and be respectful. But I am thinking of the innumerable layers of what I think of as proper business attire and what other people think of as proper business attire.”
Regarding Notter’s observation that members have found business attire at discount Goodwill shops, Weber called it “demeaning to have to make those kinds of determinations.”
“I think without knowing exactly what proper business attire is, you Mr. Speaker, are going to have a tough time of it,” Weber warned.
Rep. Steve Smith (R-Charlestown), who serves as Deputy Speaker, was blunt in assessing the concerns of Democratic committee members regarding what constitutes proper business attire.
“I have more faith (in House members) than that,” he said. “I think the idea is we do not want a representative showing up for committee or house session wearing flip flops, board shorts, and a ‘Wu Tang Forever’ shirt that hasn’t been washed since COVID.
“I have faith in both sides being able to work this out.”
Democrats on the committee voted unanimously against the dress code, while Republicans were unified in voting in support.
