Just a few hours ago Union Leader political columnist John DiStaso came out with an apparent clarification of the intent of Republican Speaker of the House candidate Gene Chandler, after the GraniteGrok posting below created a political firestorm among the new majority Republicans. Chandler indicated that he will not run for Speaker with Democrat support if he loses the election in the GOP caucus next week. Said Chandler: "I’m running in the Republican caucus to be the Republican nominee for Speaker. It’s as simple as that. I’m not running for any other position or for any other party."
This appears to indicate that Rep. Chandler will abide by the new GOP Caucus rule proposed by Speaker candidate Bill O"Brien, which states that "Any person accepting a nomination for Speaker at the Caucus shall agree not to oppose the Caucus’s nominee for Speaker of the House on Organization Day."
"Organization Day" is the first session of the State House of Representatives, where the Speaker of the House is officially elected by all House members. The candidate of the the majority party is usually chosen in the absence of political skullduggery, such as happened in 2004 when a Republican was elected with a minority of GOP votes, but all the Democrats voted for him.
It’s good to hear that Rep. Chandler is going to abide by the decision of the Republican Caucus. I would hope also that the two other candidates for Speaker, Susan Emerson and John Reagan, will similarly pledge to support whichever candidate is chosen for Speaker of the House in the GOP Caucus meeting next week.