Well, it looks like the dripping is going to speed up... - Granite Grok

Well, it looks like the dripping is going to speed up…

 "…having attended and spoken at many of its events around New Hampshire…"

Well, I got sidetracked by the RightOnline conference and then by work, but now it is time to start finishing this sad tale.  So, as my fellow Groksters were telling me to get on with it, I shall – and the dripping faucet will proceed at a faster pace.  And this time, let’s proceed in a straight timeline instead of bouncing back and forth and giving everyone a good case of whiplash.

  • The Prequel – April 15, 2010 – TEA Party event in Portsmouth.  It seems that the candidate decided to torque off a number of organizers during the actual event.  While indeed providing some ideas and assistance on some of the details, it turned out that the instructions to keep spoken speeches "on a patriotic" theme and not on campaigns" was oh so skillfully skirted. It didn’t help matters much that a professional looking camera crew showed up and the speech "crossed the line".  At this point, the "coattail hairs" rose on the back of my neck – something that most of us had decided that we would not let happen

As a co-founding member of the NH TEA Party Coalition, I know pretty much all of the organizers and main TEA Party / 912ers in the state, so I contacted the Portsmouth folks as well as all of the others that I knew. As far as I could ascertain, this was pretty much the very first event in which Sean Mahoney had participated.

I let a "friend of the campaign" know of peoples’ ire, and then let it sit.

  • The Reminder: In my local paper (7/16) was this article of a Mahoney press conference inside the former showroom of a local car dealer that got shut down by Obama’s Auto Task Force.  I know the building well, having put up a picture of it a while earlier (7/12). Must have been some event; knowing the size of the show room, it must have been packed with local reporters – 2 maybe?

Asked about his participation in the Tea Party movement, Mahoney said that having attended and spoken at many of its events around New Hampshire, he understood the frustration of many of its members with government. He said the energy of the Tea Party has caused the GOP to focus back on "the very founding principles of our government."

Now, did any of the local media challenge Mahoney on this claim?  Of course not! Remember, in The Prequel, I had already established that no such thing had been done.  I contacted folks again – no such memories existed.  Pretty much, this was A Claim spun out of thin air and cloth (think: Emperor’s New Clothes).  I’ll apologize if I’m wrong, but unlike the media, I decided to research it more – at the source.

  • The Call: (7/19) …

So, I called the campaign office at the number listed on the website with the sole reason of asking "can the use of the word ‘many’ be backed up by the campaign?"  In essence, if Mahoney is going to make it appear like he has been a stalwart supporter of the movement, prove it, for I have found no material support for that claim.  Or was Mahoney in the same league as Charlie Bass (albeit, with more of the money of a Bill Binnie)?

A young staffer answered the phone and I gave my name and then told him the reason why I was calling – I wanted to see if the campaign would substantiate the candidate’s use of the word "many" in my local paper (giving many people reading the paper the impression that he had been playing a vital part in the movement – when he had not).  He asked if I was associated with anyone, and I said GraniteGrok and that I was active in the TEA Party movement. He got real defensive and demanded if I was "with a campaign" – I told him that while GraniteGrok had endorsed Frank Guinta, this had nothing to do with the politics but with the TEA Party movement.

Well, suffice it to say, he ratcheted up the volume, and I just couldn’t get him to understand that it wasn’t about the politics – it was about a claim to something that had not been earned.  And yes, I matched the volume, truth be told.  Effectively, he informed me that I was only acting out of political purposes for "my" candidate – HORSE PUCKEY!

  • The Email:  Well, now *I* was a mite torqued off, so I sent a "clarifying email" to the staffer as well as to the same "friend of the campaign" as I did in The Prequel. 

Good Afternoon, <redacted>!

Here is the article in the Laconia Sun [er, that should have been Citizen  -Skip] that I was referencing.  I have also BCC – Pat Hynse on this (with an email address that I will release).

http://citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100717/GJNEWS02/707179888/-1/CITNEWS

"Asked about his participation in the Tea Party movement, Mahoney said that having attended and spoken at many of its events around New Hampshire"

I appreciated the fact that you have already categorized me as part of the Frank Guinta media team, so let me spell it out more slowly for you (without you ALREADY thinking I’m going for a smear):

  • YES, GraniteGrok IS an opinionated blog
  • YES, GraniteGrok HAS endorsed Guinta
  • YES, GraniteGrok is looking for substantiation for the claim of the word "many" used by Mr. Mahoney in his conversation with the Citizen.

That has NOTHING to do why I called Sean’s campaign office and ended up with you, sir.  Now, sir, here’s the REAL reason why I’m asking for the list of events so as to justify the use of Sean’s word choice of MANY:

  • ADD to your knowledgebase that GraniteGrok was one of the original co-Founding members of the NH TEA Party Coalition
  • YES, GraniteGrok has reason to believe that the word "stretching" will not cover the claim of "many".
  • YES, I know pretty much all of the TEA Party Leaders
  • NO, they have not, up until he did the event with <redacted> and <redacted> in Portsmouth, heard much from Mr. Mahoney – I know because I started asking right from the get go (right Pat?  You and I have already gone round on this)
  • NO, it has NOTHING to do with my endorsement of Guinta; it is ALL about someone who may be trying to wear the mantle of a TEA Party person when they are quite late to the movement.
  • YES, I have excoriated others in the past for such; Exhibit A is Charlie Bass for his attempts at appearing to be "in" with the TEA Party movement here in NH
  • Unlike what Trent Lott wants to see happen, my goal is to keep the TEA Party movement, where and whenever, from being seen as having been co-opted; in this respect, Sean is no Jack Kimball (and yes, <redacted>, GraniteGrok knows Jack well and has endorsed him BECAUSE he comes directly out of the TEA Party movement).

Yo, Hynsie – a little more instruction for the staff in NOT effectively calling folks "stooges" for the opposition when people ask for information.  And yes, Pat, where I was rather laid back on this issue for a while, but since <redacted> decided to go to the mat and challenge me for being a shill for Guinta, I’ve gotten real prickly all of a sudden….

-Skip

I never heard back from the staffer – but I certainly did from the "friend"!  It brought back memories of the McCain campaign ("McCain seemed tired…") – for the calls started up again.  

And then it got interesting….

 

 

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