He just keeps angering a whole bunch of folks in the Republican arena lately – unforced errors. I put a short list together here:
- Gov. Sununu said he wanted him defeated
- The NH House Freedom Caucus believes he’s nuts for picking a fight with GraniteGrok
- The Democrat PAC Citizens for Belknap (even after doing their bidding) marked him for defeat in the Primary
- And Rep and candidate for NH Senate Tim Lang decided vote for himself for Vice-Chair of the Delegation instead of voting for Hough (a bit of disrespect in that Lang knew he’d be out of the House come January while Hough could have possible been selected as the Primary hadn’t yet happened).
- And decided to lambast the Belknap County Republican Committee’s Executive Committee this past Wednesday night for not picking picking up the Gunstock Audit Report (which I found out hadn’t been generally released at the time of the meeting).
Well, I can add a Gunstock Area Commissioner and the BCRC Treasurer to that list. Dr. David Strang was provoked an email by Hough and has given me permission to post it. Yes, it starts before Wednesday’s meeting – when Strang heard what Hough said, he sent this thread over (reformatted slightly, emphasis mine):
On Tuesday, October 4, 2022, 06:43:40 PM EDT, Gregg Hough <gregghough2020@gmail.com> wrote:
Greetings All,
My request to rid BCRC meetings of the Granite grok has fallen on deaf ears. Aside from the numerous attacks on me and others in the Republican Party in Belknap by the grok, below the link shows that you have willingly set the table and now the jackals are coming to dine. The choice to allow this rests on the EC of the BCRC.
Action is no longer a request but a demand! Rid the BCRC of this poison so that we may begin to rebuild our Fractured brand.
I dryly note that Hough is quoting a Letter to the Editor from a hard Left Democrat – as if THAT is supposed to convince other Republicans. Great choice in debate materials.
Regards,
Representative Gregg Hough
Belknap County district 3, Laconia
Labor, industrial and rehabilitative services committee
Resource, Recreation and Development Committee
I again observe that when the Chair read the BCRC’s decision that his complaint about the ‘Grok was unfounded, Hough said nothing. But Dr. Strang did take notice of “but a demand” bit – as if Hough had any Power to make such a demand. And a bit of backstory that I bet most people haven’t heard before. I’m betting that Hough wasn’t pleased:
On Thu, Oct 6, 2022 at 12:02 AM david strang <davidstrangmd@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Gregg:
I am writing in response to your terse email of Oct. 4th (below) to the BCRC Exec. Cmte. I apologize that you have not yet received a formal response to your request (now demand) that Skip Murphy and therefore the GraniteGrok, be removed from our monthly meetings. As you took the time to make a formal presentation to the EC on your view, we indeed owe you a response. On behalf of the EC, I apologize for the tardiness of that response. Please look for a formal reply from Chairman Silber in the next 1-2 days.
Regarding the rest of your email, I must say you are in no position to demand anything of the BCRC, much less its Exec. Cmte. You have not been a regular attendee to our monthly meetings until just a few times most recently and were notably absent for most of 2021 and 2022. You have not contributed to any of our fundraising efforts in the past two years or even purchased a ticket in their support. In addition, after the fuss you and your wife created last year over her desire to attend our meetings as a registered Democrat, we specifically adjusted our attendance policy to accommodate her, contingent upon her (ultimately) changing her party of registration. Despite our willingness to show deference to her and your claiming that she had changed her party of registration, she has never attended a single BCRC meeting that we know of.
When I called you on Aug. 1 to warn you that Citizens for Belknap was a Democrat organization with ties to George Soros and that Gunstock was not the brass ring on this carnival ride, but rather your seat in the Delegation and Legislature was, you ignored my advice and replied, “thank you very much.” How did that turn out? You lost in the primary to which I can only respond, “I told you so.” You joined with this leftist group and appointed a hard left Democrat (Denise Conroy) to the GAC whose own Twitter page had a posting calling for YOUR defeat in the primary. Shame on you and Harry for failing to do your homework. Despite your collusion with this leftist group, they continued to call for your defeat in the primary and it worked.
Yep forgot that with that last bit, the Gunstock Area Commission was against him.
Now you forward a LTE from Stephen Hepburn in your email attack yesterday and change your request to exclude Mr. Murphy and Granite Grok to a “demand.” Do you know who Hepburn is? He is registered as a “Hard Democrat.” Once again, you are taking advice from Democrats. Shame on you. Rather than defend the Republican brand, you seem more comfortable attacking us on the EC and all that the BCRC has accomplished here in Belknap County. Shame on you. Given this desire and your clear comfort in forwarding Democrat talking points, perhaps you are registered in the wrong party Gregg. Perhaps you might have had a different outcome on Sept. 13th if you had run on the Democrat ticket. Your recent talking points and actions certainly seem aligned with their goals. In summary, you are in no position to demand anything of our organization. Perhaps in a moment of quiet reflection, you will understand that all of this disunity in our County Committee was in fact caused by you, your disloyalty and your traitorous actions in colluding with Democrats over Gunstock and NOT by the actions of the BCRC Exec. Cmte. which remains loyal to the conservative, Republican cause. Remember, even Gov. Sununu called for your defeat in the primary. In the meantime, feel free to take tactical advice from the Democrats. It has worked so well for you thus far.
On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Belknap County Republican Committee,
David E. Strang
Treasurer, BCRC
Well, that was a series of broadsides, wasn’t it? I realize there’s a whole of bolding going on there but Hough opened himself up for it. He should have quit right then but instead, he picked up a bigger shovel:
On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 02:42:52 PM EDT, Gregg Hough <gregghough2020@gmail.com> wrote:
Treasurer Strang:
Your response in which you state is on behalf of the Belknap County Republican Committee is frankly the most unprofessional representation I have ever seen from a Sanctioned Republican body. Your brazen, baseless, incendiary accusations and conspiracy theories are beneath the position in which you hold and the Committee in which you represent and ultimately the New Hampshire Republican Party as a whole.
I sir am a sitting New Hampshire State Representative but more importantly I am a Republican and a resident of Belknap County and as such I have every right to ask, beg, or demand action and accountability from my party at any level. Instead of asking me outright about any of your claims you simply engage in this sophomoric approach.
Let me be clear in answering each of your accusations.
Accusations? Rather, observations of your action and quoting your own words
- Attendance – I have a full-time job that requires my presence 40 hours a week. Also, my shift is generally from 1pm – 10pm. I serve at the NH House of Representatives where I serve on 2 separate and standing committees. This has been further complicated by the House Fire of April 7th, 2021, where I lost my home, most of my belongings, and my mother-in-Law lost her life in the fire, that day I was in session at the NH House. Also, while holding all these responsibilities together my father’s wife died 6 weeks after the fire, I have had to take care of him since he is in poor health a diabetic and 81 years old, and I developed cancer a month or so later. Also, I have been faithfully attending my responsibilities as a member of the Belknap County Delegation. I also have started a chapter of the NHGOP in Laconia, the Laconia Republican committee in which I serve as Chair. I point out all of this because I am not always available to attend, and I go when I can.
- Contribution– I bought tickets to the event hosted by the BCRC that replaced the Mount Washington Cruise, even though I couldn’t attend as I was bringing my daughter to college in Texas on that date. I have bought and sold tickets each year to Representative Beans 4th of July event, as well as bought plenty of raffle tickets and other like things and my wife has worked those events as well. I have contributed plenty to the BCRC in fact the amount I have contributed financially far surpass the support the BCRC didn’t give my campaign, so you are incorrect in your arrogant allegations.
- The Fuss I created over my wife.- Your short sightedness and poor memory speaks of your loyalties. Literally my wife worked to get the lot of you elected to the BCRC and you folks had the audacity after all she did to make that happen for you to give her a hard time because she didn’t change her party affiliation quick enough for you. She worked at that time 1 ½ hours away from home and was gone in the morning before the sun came up and home after the sun came down and on Fridays, she worked in the schools cleaning kids’ teeth through a grant program she put together through the state with private dentists to help sponsor and donate time as well as supplies and was given a national award for, so getting to city hall was problematic during business hours. She has attended several meetings. Also, my daughter was applying at that time to the US Naval Academy Annapolis and required a recommendation from a US Congressman or Senator. As our US Delegation is all Democrat, she didn’t want to change her designation until after that process simply because our daughter is more important to us than listening to the Executive Committee pontificate at the meetings. Again, you are wrong!
- The big warning – You had weeks to call me at any time about anything, yet you called me literally 2 minutes prior to the delegation meeting that was called by the quorum pertaining to gunstock. You say to me in your official response email, “how’d that work out for you?” and “I told you so”. Then you say I “joined with a leftist group” and that I was “in collusion with a leftist group” You are a Stupid man who sees conspiracies under every rock, and that will soon be proven.
- The Democrat – Again you can’t seem to follow reality. I warned in the tribunal set up by the Executive Committee and Skip Murphy of the dangers of his constant writing and video recording of BCRC meetings and said sooner or later the enemies of the Republicans would use this information against us. You all ignored it, and it continues. Hepburn’s piece was proof of my warning months ago!! Yes, I know who he is, the communist operative from Gilford. He actively hounds all Republicans in social media, and the newspaper and I have personally gone round after round with him in social media. He is garbage and I am defending the Republican brand; it is you and your allegiance to Murphy that is in question! He is actively attacking Republicans; you know, the people you and the rest of the executive committee vowed to protect when sitting in my basement asking for support 2 years ago. You have done zero to honor your promises to the Republicans in this County, and you actively engage in pitting Republican against Republican. Republicans are not monochromatic like Democrats. We all aren’t mindless followers and although any Republican can choose which party platform planks, they may follow, you as a Republican Committee charged with handling the affairs of the Republican Party don’t get to pick who’s Republican enough. The fact that there are some 15,000 Registered Republicans in Belknap County and your Committee has like 50 members is a joke! If your committee was not incompetent, none of the attack on me or the other republicans would have been tolerated but you enjoyed it and allowed it to happen and you bring in the Grok to help facilitate your personal vendetta.
- Disloyal and Traitorous – I honestly wonder what color the sky is in your world! How am I not loyal to the conservative cause? My voting record is exemplary. My ratings over two years are 95.5% and 100%. What you are referring to is obviously Gunstock! The truth comes out, you’re mad at me because you did a garbage job, and everybody knows it. Throwing slings and arrows at me doesn’t change that fact one bit. I certainly don’t take advice from Democrats, and your insinuations are fantasy.
The rest of your response is utter nonsense and since I have not heard from the rest of the BCRC executive committee as you claimed I would. I can only assume that you in fact speak for them as you claim. As such I will make this chain available to every Republican in this County and State so they may see just how un-hinged and ineffective you and the BCRC leadership is. Maybe for your next useless speaker you could find someone who could explain to you how not to screw up an election year!
Representative Gregg Hough
Ah, just the same schtick – from a personal animus make public to people who couldn’t care less. I’m betting that I’ll reach more folks than your email list will. And they most likely will look at it and go “TL;DR” (too long, didn’t read). As opposed to ‘Grok readers that deliberately come here to read our stuff.
Sidenote: or, if you haven’t, sign up for our Daily ‘Grok to get our daily email digest – look at the top right corner of this page!
And Strang is right – not much self-awareness in how he aided, knowingly or unknowingly, in achieving the Democrat founded Citizens for Belknap PAC results – truly, the epitome of Lenin’s definition. Nice to see who Hough just called “useless”:
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: david strang <davidstrangmd@yahoo.com>
To: Gregg Hough <gregghough2020@gmail.com>
Cc: PAUL TERRY <revpaul51@verizon.net>; Norman J. Silber <njs@silbersnh.com>; Marc Abear <sea1mra@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 07:30:50 PM EDT
Subject: Re: [The Laconia Daily Sun] Steven Hepburn: Vote out the old vanguard, insert moderates in upcoming general electionOne more thing Gregg. I will be happy to inform Cmr. Frank Edelblut, Lily Tang Williams, Karoline Leavitt, Don Bolduc, Kevin Smith, Thad Reilly and a myriad of others that you, a former Republican member of the NH House consider them a “worthless speaker.” Your true colors are showing.
I’m quite sure that Brendan Smith of the Weirs Time, who spoke this past Wednesday at the BCRC, will be quite happy to hear that he is useless.
