I was included on an email thread that had a number of people on it and one of the issues is that of Open Primaries in NH. Here’s the initial email: <redacted> wrote (to a number of people) including Steve Stepanek who has announced that he is running to fill the soon to be empty slot of NH GOP Chair (as Wayne MacDonald has demurred from running for election):
Hello Steve Stepanek…
I am a newly elected (on 12/12) Belknap County Republican Committee member who will be voting for County and State Republican Leadership on January 9, 2019 and January 26 at meetings in Laconia, NH and Derry, NH respectively. I am glad you stepped up and spoke for the short time at the BCRC meeting… your remarks were appreciated and we regretted that time did not permit enough discussions with you.
If we assume you will be successful in gaining the State Chair Seat: (for now it’s not clear who will be running for that position, other than you), here are some thoughts:
1) You are “spot on” when you talked about the need to build a stronger “war chest” to compete with the Democratic Parties Campaign Spending. How will you do that? Without a big pile for 2020 we will surely lose the white house and the NH State Senate and House.
2) The NH GOP is viewed as very divided, as is National GOP. We have too many RINO’s and too many Senators and Representatives (State and Federal) who fail to work together to create a party platform grass roots voters can understand, and support with their votes. What is your thinking here?
3) The NHGOP Leadership has not communicated and coordinated the state GOP effectively. I suspect this is due to the fact they are so small in staff numbers and limited in the money they have to spend. Item No. 1 (a big pile) above can help that.
4) I am hearing that Governor Sununu and Tom Rath (whom I do not know) are planning to support, in 2020, an Open Primary? Thoughts?
5) I now understand the By-Laws of NH GOP prevent the party from supporting a incumbent President…..so they cannot come out strong behind Trump in 2020? Thoughts here?
Sincerely,
<redacted>
<redacted>
Laconia, NH 03246
One person responded on that Open Primary item, #4: From: <redacted> to the same “lots of people:
Subject: Re: Steve Stepanek Brief Talk at the Belknap County Republican Committee Meeting
Bylaws can always be changed and should be changed by the State Convention. It is ridiculous to allow an open primary when we all know that the Demolitioncrats will have a campaign to crossover and vote for Kasich or Sununu , as a favorite son. Go to www.americanthinker.com and read the article about the Republican party being the stupid party. An open primary in 2020 is solely to create an impediment for President Trump. It is as easily fixed as the 60 vote rule in the Senate, which the stupid Republicans failed to fix. I am waiting to see if NH Republicans are as stupid as US Senatorial republicans.???. Unfortunately , I will not hold my breath.
A high regard for the NH GOP that is shared by many! I had my own response to the above and sent it to the same folks plus a couple more:
Subject: RE: Steve Stepanek Brief Talk at the Belknap County Republican Committee Meeting
Dear <redacted>:
I know that you and I have gotten “into it” in the past, but I must say that when you are right, you are right.
At the NHGOP convention this past January in Meredith, I proposed a floor amendment to the Platform that would close our primaries because of my strong belief that if you want to run as a Republican, and to vote on who will carry the GOP banner into elections, you should be intellectually honest enough to be a registered Republican. Closing primaries by party action is expressly permitted by NH state law.
Unfortunately, my proposed floor amendment, along with all of the other proposed floor amendments (including two that would have formally stripped GOP affiliation from state reps and state senators who do not vote with the GOP Platform positions at least a specified percentage of the time [with which I also agreed]) were cut off at our knees by then state Chair Forrester, who abruptly adjourned the convention without taking up any of the proposed floor amendments.
Sometimes I simply cannot help myself from being on the snarky side, so I will add that I assume that our former state GOP chair, who left the state party essentially insolvent during her brief tenure, will apply her remarkable financial skills in her new job at the Town Administrator of Tilton. Fortunately, I live in Gilford, which has its own share of problems and issues.
Norman J. Silber
Former Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
Member of The Florida Bar & the New Hampshire Bar“Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”
-General John Stark, hero of the American Revolutionary War
NOTE by Skip: while technically we have a “closed primary”, because of our election laws, one can be un-enrolled (an Independent and not associated with any Party), show up at the polling place, enroll in a Party, take their Primary ballot, vote, and then promptly un-enroll back to being an Independent making our “closed” Primaries a farce.
