Great. Got it. Baby Huey Sununu makes national news but not exactly for the right reason. The Epoch Times has a lengthy article on how Sununu is trying to “cancel” those that stand up for the Constitutions and Conservative values.
They questioned him and his actions – and yet he wants “unity” even as he’s bringing fire and brimstone against those that DARE to challenge him. His Dad would never have stooped to this level, but again, he’s not even half the politician his Dad is.
Related: A Look at Who is Paying the Sununu-Supporting Super PAC to Attack NH House Republicans
You know, Chris used to say, “Hey, I’ll talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time.” Heck, at an NH GOP Annual Meeting, he sat down with GraniteGrok for an extended conversation. However, as he climbed “the Ladder,” that willingness dissipated just like the early fall fog is now. He wouldn’t talk to us (GrokGauntlet) and refused to even participate in a debate. No, he is now “above” the littler people, and how DARE they challenge him?
Take a read. Emphasis mine
Republican PAC That Backs Sununu Targets New Hampshire Republicans
A mass campaign mailer attacking anti-establishment Republican candidates running in New Hampshire’s upcoming primaries was sent out by a political action committee formed to support party Gov. Chris Sununu as its purpose.
“This is an outrageous and unprecedented attempt to purge as many constitutional conservative Republicans from the state house delegation as possible,” State Rep. Paul Terry, one of the Republican candidates targeted by the mailers, told The Epoch Times, “He wants us replaced with Rhinos [sic] or Democrats.”
Terry is running for re-election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
At least six Republicans are known to have been targeted by the mailers. All of them are running in contested Republican primaries and are called out in the mailers for supporting such Republican initiatives as impeaching Sununu and seceding from the U.S.
Alex Stanford, chairman and treasurer of Granite PAC, which sent out the mailers, told The Epoch Times that Sununu had nothing to do with the mailers, that neither the governor nor his campaign knew about them, and that his committee chose the targeted candidates on their own.
Related: Sununu-Supporting Super PAC Spends Over $25,000.00 Attacking NH Republicans in House Races
Sure thing, pal.
While Stanford would not disclose his ties to Sununu, The Epoch Times learned he was a former intern for Sununu’s father, John Sununu, a former NH governor who went on to serve as chief of staff for George Bush Sr.
Stanford also counts Paul Collins, Sununu’s campaign advisor, among his followers and his social media pages, which are riddled with personal posts promoting Sununu.
“We chose these candidates because they don’t represent Republican values and have taken actions that are not in the best interest of New Hampshire,” said Stanford, who refused to elaborate on his political credentials, “this has nothing to do with the governor’s elections.”
Er, their House Republican Alliance and NH Liberty Alliance scores say otherwise. In this, Stanford sounds NO different than the Democrat-founded, led, strategized, and funded Citizens for Balknap PAC.
Sununu’s campaign did not respond to inquiries about the mailers.
On Stanford’s political committee registration filed with the office of New Hampshire Secretary of State on May 12, 2021, the stated purpose of the PAC is “To Support Governor Chris Sununu.”
The document also lists Sununu on its statement of independent expenditures as the candidate it would be spending its money on. According to its most recent financial filings with the SOS, the PAC spent $27,000 on the mailings.
While denying that Sununu’s campaign has anything to do with the mailers, Stanford said that his PAC did not send out mailers on any other race, local or federal.
Just a PURE coincidence, folks. Nothing to see here, nothing to question here, no colluding here. So, just move along…
“It is so obvious that this is Sununu that it is insulting to say otherwise,” State Rep. Norman Silber, another Republican state House representative targeted by Stanford’s mailers told The Epoch Times.
The mailer targeting Silber depicts the New Hampshire state flag being shredded with the warning to voters: “Don’t Let New Hampshire Become Undone by Norm Silber’s Divisive Leadership.”
Silber, who led party challenges against Sununu for various actions, including his excessive use of his executive powers during COVID, filed a complaint with the NH Attorney General’s office about the mailers. Silber’s specific complaint was about the amounts of contributions made to Granite PAC.
According to the PAC’S financial statements filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, three of its donors made contributions in excess of $50,000. Silver says the donations violate a state law that limits donations to political action committees at $10,000.
I have known Norm for a few years now – and one of his greatest assets and attributes is an adherence to the Rule of Law. If it ain’t legal, he doesn’t do it. He’s OBSESSIVE about that.
Related: State Rep. Melissa Blasek Must be Doing it Right – The GOPe is Attacking Her with Negative Mail
And silly me, thinking that was a Republican value. Neither Stanford nor Sununu cares much at all about that.
The donors include an electrical contractor whose owners appear in pictures posted on social media presenting Sununu with a $25,000 check for a food bank in 2020.
Another $50,000 contribution came from the owner of dozens of McDonald’s restaurants in the state. The owner appears in pictures on social media presenting Sununu with a $50,000 check for the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.
State Rep. Josh Yokela, another Republican targeted by the mailers, told The Epoch Times that he feels Sununu should be investigated for violating the ethical rules of the party.
“What Sununu is doing is hurting his own party with the potential of putting Democrats in office over Republicans,” said Yokela, “this whole mailer thing he has done is so short-sighted and is just obviously personal.”
In this, Sununu/Stanford are joined at the hip with the Citizens for Belknap PAC whose real purpose is EXACTLY that (besides serving the purposes of, IMHO, the monied people that used to be part of and associated with Gunstock Area Commission). Has Sununu ever bothered to look into the “hotel monkey business”?
Mike Sylvia, another Republican House member targeted by the mailers, was involved in a recent controversy that Sununu inserted himself into even though it had nothing to do with state affairs.
Sylvia and Silber are members of an all-Republican delegation that oversees the Gunstock Mountain Resort, owned by Belknap County, which Sylvia and Silber represent.
The delegation, which Sylvia chairs, makes appointments to the Gunstock Area Commission, which oversees the resort’s finances.
The commission at the time was led by Tom Day, a former general manager of the Waterville Valley Resort, which Sununus own.
Actually, the Epoch Times got this part wrong. Tom Day was and is the General Manager of Gunstock Mountain Resort which is overseen by the Gunstock Area Commission and has connections with Sununu, former GAC Commissioners Gary Kiedaisch and Rusty McLear, and another connection Alex Ray (where the latter two are big real estate/restaurant developers here in NH.
When the delegation and Day got into a very public tangle over allegations by the delegation against the commission, Sununu, who, again, has nothing to do with the Gunstock ski resort, released a letter, siding with Day and calling for Silber and Sylvia to be “removed from their positions” for what he called making “bad decisions.” Sununu also offered Day, who resigned over the dispute, a job with the state Parks department.
Shortly later, a $500 check written out to Sununu’s campaign by the commission surfaced. It was signed by Day. Sylvia released the check to the public with a statement that it was discovered in an audit.
One of the Republican candidates running against Silber was a member of the Gunstock commission that signed off on the donation to Sununu’s campaign in 2020.
And I did an RSA91A Right To Know demand and have the General Ledger account transaction information that underlies that second check, rumored to be $1,000, drawn on a Gunstock bank account, tweeted out by the Union Leader’s Kevin Landrigan that was, again, sent to Sununu’s campaign.
Sununu has turned into a revenge-filled, petty little tyrant. There, I said it.
Note: although not mentioned in the article, NH State Rep Melissa Blasek has also come under fire by Sununu and Stanford for the same reasons as those listed above. While we have only talked on a few occasions, it’s clear that she’s of the same mindset as the others…
…I see no problem with their Republican value chops.
Sununu, on the other hand…