I was sitting with Secretary of State William Gardner yesterday discussing the 2018 election. He is very concerned with manner in which the Democrats fought this last election. They created Political Action Committees (PAC) upon PACs, designed to obscure the source of the money, most of which was from out of State. They began their corporate campaign a year before the election when they recruited candidates they believed would be universally popular. The influx of cash enabled Democratic State Senate candidates to outspend their Republican opponents 3 to 1. In addition, on top of the money spent by the candidates, the PACs spent enormous amounts on mailers in support of Democrats, and in opposition to Republicans.
Secretary Gardner also had an opinion about the job of the Chairman of a Political Party. He likened them to a college President. Their number one job is to raise money using the prestige of their position.
All of this points to the need for a Chairman who can 1) raise money and 2) organize local Republican Committees. For my money the man for this is Stephen Stepanek. In working with me on the Republican Fund from 2006 though 2009, and then with Speaker Bill O’Brien, he has learned how to raise campaign funds, including from outside the State. Most importantly, he has the personal resources to make being the Chairman his full time activity. During his time as Chairman of The Hillsborough County Republican Committee, he tripled the number of local Committees.
Stephen Stepanek was in the New Hampshire House of Representatives for 12 years. During those years he rose to several leadership positions as Chairman and Vice Chairman of Committees and Minority Whip when the Democrats were in the majority. As a former New Hampshire legislator, he understands the importance of electing Republicans to the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Senate.
The last time we’ve had a NHGOP Chairman with practical political experience from running campaigns to working in government was Gov. John Sununu. That brought us the super majorities of 2011/2012.
So, who is Keith Hanson? He has lived in New Hampshire for 3½ yr. But he didn’t register to vote here until November 2018; same day registration at the polls. On Saturday, he’ll have been a New Hampshire Republican for 74 days. Have you noticed he drives a car with Florida license plates? There are three options for this:
- It isn’t his car.
- The car is owned by a Florida corporation.
- In which case, one might wonder about his commitment to New Hampshire?
- He is breaking the law which requires registrations and licenses to be changed to New Hampshire within 60 days of moving here.
And if he has lived here for 3½ years., where did he vote in 2016. Or did he even vote?