All I can say is…."wow, we did it".
I attended the NH GOP State Committee meeting yesterday, at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, as a voting member and as a political commentator, and was thrilled to spend the entire day and evening among so many like-minded friends, patriots, colleagues, and acquaintances.
In the last six months, New Hampshire Republicans have managed to 1) completely take the NH House, Senate, and Executive Council, with veto-proof majorities in all three, and with many new, conservative, grassroots players among the ranks, 2) elect a very conservative Speaker of the NH House, who supports the feelings of the grassroots, conservative community, and 3) elect a very conservative Chair of the State GOP, who came directly from the pool of passionate, concerned citizens who made up the so-called "Tea Party"; all three wins give New Hampshire a solid footing to help rescue our State from the brink of fiscal disaster and intrusive government expansion.
All three wins also provide a perfect example of what can be done in any State, if conservative Republicans want it badly enough and can organize effectively, as they did here.
I would like to provide some commentary and observation of the events that took place yesterday, along with some photos and video, to convey the essence of the day. I hope to provide the "stories behind the stories", rather than simply reporting on the events…
(story, photos, and video after the jump…)
US Senator Kelly Ayotte
Senator Ayotte addressed the body, and presented a flag that was flown over the US Capitol to Gov. Sununu, which was among the first of many accolades and honors lavished on the out-going Chair. Kelly mentioned the recent healthcare repeal passed by the US House, and hoped that Senate leader Harry Reid would not deny the Senate the opportunity to vote on it. She also reminded everyone that the Senate will begin their session next week, and one of the top priorities is to address a balanced-budget amendment.
Ayotte praised our troops, particularly those from NH, calling them "hands-down, the best and most professional troops in the world". She also mentioned that she met with Army General David Petraeus, who happens to own property in NH, during her recent trip to Afghanistan, and that his first words upon meeting her were "Live Free or Die".
She wrapped up, thanking all the activists who worked hard to help get Republicans elected, and in keeping their elected officials accountable. She was hopeful that we could all "leave behind a better State and a better Nation", by sticking to our "core principles" and "remaining united as a Party".
Kelly has learned how to say the right things, simultaneously satisfying the Party establishment AND the Conservative base. It will be very interesting to see how she ends up voting in the Senate.
US Congressman (NH CD-1) Frank Guinta
Frank Guinta opened his address to hearty applause, saying "What a difference a year makes!". He praised our victories to "bring freedom and constitutionalism back to our country and state, after Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes took us down a dangerous path".
Guinta reminded the body that, after just one year, Republicans took the majority in the US House, and within their first two weeks in session were able to repeal "Obamacare" and read the US Constitution on the House floor (a first).
He stated that it was "an honor to be our voice, in our House" and that he plans to come back to the district every week during the session. He also referred to the plan that House Republicans have, to cut a particular item of spending on a weekly basis.
Guinta said that with 2012 on the horizon, we must "continue our march toward freedom", and thanked Gov. Sununu and his family for "doing the yeoman’s work" for the Party. He also sent a message to the next GOP Chair, extending the support of the delegation, party, and country, who will be watching and looking to NH as an example.
Thankfully, Guinta did not harp on the notion of "party unity", as every other speaker did (most likely at the command of Gov. Sununu)
US Congressman (NH CD-2) Charlie Bass
Charlie opened his address with a number of colloquial, self-deprecating "short man" jokes between Gov. Sununu and himself, letting us know that the Chairman called him daily during the 2010 campaign, admonishing him for all the things he was "doing wrong". Gov. Sununu later corrected Bass, saying that he actually called "multiple times per day" – I wasn’t surprised.
Bass thanked Sununu, insisting that "we would not be where we are today" without his leadership, and if we weren’t "united as a party". He also sent a message to the next Chair, warning that the job is an "enormous challenge", keeping the party "strong, united, and focused on non-partisan politics in the State, by ALL Republicans".
Bass reinforced the notion of "party unity" and inclusion that Sununu has been expressing for months. Essentially, Bass had a sense of urgency to protect himself and his moderate positions, in a Party that is moving more to the Right and may be led by a "Tea Party" Conservative, who wasn’t afraid to use the phrase "litmus test" – perhaps leaving Charlie out in the cold one day.
Every time I heard Bass utter the phrase "party unity", I recalled the recent words of Liberals, quoting "civility in discourse", in their attempt to neutralize the Conservative momentum going against them. Charlie has reason to be nervous.
Chair, NH Young Republicans, Kerry Marsh
Kerry gave the NHYR report, notably indicating that it is "now officially cool to be a Conservative at her age". Young Republicans, who must be under the age of forty, count 24 winners among their ranks, and include Congressman Guinta, and NH House Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt, the youngest State Majority Leader in the United States.
As she closed, Marsh praised out-going Chair Gov. Sununu, admitting that "most current YR’s don’t remember when Sununu was Governor" (1983-1989).
NH RNC Committeewoman, Phyllis Woods
The Honorable Phyllis Woods described how she was in Maryland a few weeks ago with Gov. Sununu, electing a new National RNC Chair (Rience Priebus). She mentioned that Priebus was a self-described "Psalm 139, pro-life Republican".
Woods emphasized the notion that "we are united under a singular cause" of "the salvation of our Republic", in our current land of the "partially free", and added that "we took back our State last year (2010), and will take our Country back next year (2012)".
She closed with the comfort that "rest assured, NH will hold the first-in-the-Nation primary, in 2012", which is the core of her responsibilities to maintain.
Ever-sympathetic to the grassroots, Woods was the ONLY speaker (aside from Jack Kimball), who praised the work of the activists and the "Tea Party", who helped make the successes of 2010 a possibility. As time goes on, I find more and more reasons to appreciate Phyllis’ contributions.
2011 Meldrim Thomson "Principle above Politics" award
Simon Thomson, grandson of former NH Governor Meldrim Thomson Jr., presented this award to Gov. John H. Sununu over "dozens of other suggested nominees". Sununu accepted (and made a disapproving face), thanking the Thomson family, who "cast in concrete, those fiscal conservative principles we all follow today".
Personally, I think the "Tea Party and grassroots conservative activists should have won this, but nobody asked me. Linda Camarota, of Bedford(!), told me that she agreed, and that she even submitted a nomination for "The Tea Party" to get this award…heh.
2011 County/City and Statewide "Norris Cotton" awards
Each County/City Chair chose a person they felt worthy of their "Norris Cotton" award. Notably, former Gubernatorial candidate John Stephen won the award from the Manchester City Committee, as well as the statewide award. Sununu highlighted Stephen’s 2010 campaign against John Lynch, where Lynch’
s favorability rating was cut down from 78% to 52%.
Franklin, NH Mayor, Ken Merrifield
Current Franklin, NH Mayor, Ken Merrifield, along with a handful of former Franklin mayors, and Franklin’s current state Representatives, made a proclamation, praising Gov. Sununu for his work. The best part about Ken’s presentation was the joke, "How many Franklin politicians does it take to find Pinkerton Academy?". Good one, Ken 🙂
Someone next to me commented that "this just seems like a wake for John Sununu". I agreed, and the lavishness became a bit monotonous after a while.
Credentials Report, Jan Glassman
Notable here was the fact that 426 of the 493 State Committee members had checked in by the 11am deadline (however, 3 late-comers checked in after 11am but the rules were suspended later in the day, allowing them to participate – which was agreed to by both Jack Kimball and Juliana Bergeron).
Treasurer Report, Robert Scott
Robert Scott has been the Committee Treasurer for a number of years and presented the annual report, which shows the NH GOP have a current deficit of $57,272. However, according to Sununu, the Party was "hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt" when he took over, as a result of legal fees associated with a painful re-accounting and re-filing of Federal Election Commission (FC) report that had been filed improperly by his predecessor, Fergus Cullen. He also promised to (somehow) eliminate the deficit by February.
Scott was re-elected as Treasurer, but I question why he allowed the improper filings, under his supervision, in the first place.
Chairman’s Report, John Sununu
This 20-minute speech (which can be seen here), will forever be referred to as the "Bold and Brash Kimball Admonishment" speech. Instead of reporting his accomplishments of the past 2 years, and providing sage advice to the future leaders of the party as he steps down, Sununu praised himself and his family for their sacrifices for the party (ok, not a problem), but also sent a not-so-subliminal message to the body that Juliana Bergeon, his endorsed successor, was more capable of handling the "complicated job" of leading the Party, with all the "State and Federal Regulations" getting in the way. Please.
There were more than a few gags quietly surfacing from within the audience, who was keenly aware of Sununu’s use of his speech to boldy and brashly endorse Bergeron at the podium and warn us against choosing Kimball, that nutty Tea Party guy. I was waiting for John Belushi and his Animal House cohorts to start fake-coughing, while uttering a less-than-respectable nuance under their breaths (Tina said she’d hit me if I provided a link to that, but you know what I’m talking about).
He used the phrase "Bold and Brash" at least twice, even adding a "sharp edged" tweaking reference at one point. Oh, and he said that we cannot be seen as a "sliver of a party", and must welcome all views of those who support the platform (but also those who "aren’t quite as conservative as we may be"). Which is it Governor? The hypocrisy was thick. My summation: "Blowhard".
NH Republican State Committee By-law Amendments (2)
There were two amendments offered:
The first was to change the current law that requires an Executive Committee member to resign if they decide to run for office. Now, even a teenager would realize that there is a huge potential conflict-of-interest from a GOP Committee member running for office in the party he or she is supposed to work for. Yet, Sununu gave his endorsement to this amendment, offered by Fran Wendleboe, who was apparently a victim if this law. Someone offered an amendment to this amendment, saying that the person could take a "leave of absence" during the campaign, resigning if they win. The lack of pragmatism of this change was apparent, when the body rejected it soundly. Overall, Wendleboe’s original amendment was also shot down, as nobody wants to face a future Chairman deciding to run for Congress, or Governor, while retaining their powerful seat during a campaign they are supposed to be overseeing. Chalk up one loss on the day for Sununu.
** The second biggest highlight of the day took place during this part of the meeting: Nottingham GOP co-chair, Mary Bonser, walked up to the microphone, poised to offer some words against this amendment. Instead, she had the "you lie" moment of the convention, where she admonished Gov. Sununu, himself, for his own "conflict of interest" in his just-delivered Chairman’s Report speech. Mary, standing at about 5 feet, but with 7 feet of chutzpah and audacity, spoke the words that about 350 others were thinking during his speech: you are abusing your podium to extend your monarchical endorsement of Juliana Bergeron. I am now Mary’s biggest fan, and she became a rock star after her proclamation, surrounded by admirers. Word spread very quickly about her spontaneous throwdown, and those who missed it were disappointed. Unfortunately, we didn’t get this huge moment on video…
The second amendment offered was to require the Chair to fill an RNC Committeeman/woman seat within 60 days of the vacancy. Currently, there is no time limit and the resignation of Sean Mahoney 270 days ago was never resolved (until this meeting). The National RNC held their elections a few weeks ago in Washington DC, choosing a new Chair, without a formal NH Committeman to represent us (vice-chair Wayne MacDonald actually fulfilled this duty). Those against this amendment complained about the cost of having an emergency State Committee meeting, at a cost of thousands of dollars, to fill the vacancy within 60 days, when there could be an upcoming meeting in a few months. Learning from the last amendment, Sununu did not comment on his position. The amendment failed.
Election of GOP Executive Officers
Assistant Secretary – Hillsborough County’s Pam Manney (unopposed)
Secretary – Greg Carson defeated Suzanne Rak
Treasurer – Robert Scott (incumbent, who defeated Jack Conaway)
RNC Commiteeman – Steve Duprey (who was absent, apparently on vacation in the Antarctic (?), defeated Jordan Ulery to replace Sean Mahoney, who resigned a remarkable 270 days ago (!) to run for Congress in NH’s 1st district.
Vice-Chair – Wayne MacDonald (current Vice-Chair, unopposed)
Chair (Jack Kimball, Juliana Bergeron)
Of course, this was the main event we all waited for. In fact, had this been the first item on the agenda, I think 90% of the body would have run for the exits after voting.
After Gov. Sununu’s subliminal subversion, Kimball and Bergeron’s nominators took the microphones. Kimball’s primary nominator was none other than Speaker of the NH House, Bill O’Brien. I firmly believe
that O’Brien’s support and "Send Me Reinforcements!" speech (here) directly help put Jack over the top.Bergeron’s nominators did their best, but the crowd really sent a message after O’Brien finished reading his nomination.
After the nominations were done, the candidates each gave their 5-minute speech. While nobody wants to follow Jack Kimball at the podium, the grace of the God’s were on Jack’s side, as they spoke alphabetically. Juliana, a nice woman, intelligent and fairly-well spoken went first, but could not compete with Jack in this department.
The vote was tense, and, unlike the other votes, Kimball supporters stationed themselves at every voting-box, observing and double-counting the slips, to ensure a fair and accurate count.
As the vote tallies came in from each area, Kimball was down by about 11 with one county left to report. Now, if you know anything about Strafford county, know this: Jerry and Sue DeLemus, who lead the Rochester 912 group, have done their homework and diligence (the very type of work so proudly praised by Gov. Sununu) over the past year. They managed to get a good many members of their 912 group elected as Strafford County GOP members – the same people who vote for the GOP Chair. The voting area that Strafford County is part of put Jack over the top, giving him 31 additional votes….and the win.
While credit is spread far and wide for Jack’s victory, including the team of people who volunteered to make hundreds of advocacy calls in the weeks before the election, much, much credit must be given to Jerry and Sue, and their associates, for bringing a lovely bunch of Conservatives to the meeting.
Then, Gov. Sununu had to perform one of the most difficult tasks of his political career, when he announced that Jack Kimball was the new Chair of the NH GOP. It was a beautiful day; one for the "bold and brash", and one that didn’t "happen by accident".
Jack’s acceptance and victory speech:
Let the transition, and the transformation, begin….