About GraniteGrok Not Being Allowed into the NH GOP Annual Meeting Two Weeks Ago…

Well, I thought that the posts I put up over the past few days made some points and let our readership why they didn’t see any live reporting from the NHGOP annual meeting or afterward. I figured that was that – that event was over. Then I got a surprise call.

This past Saturday, the Grandson went to a Birthday Party at the Summit (Laconia) with a LOT of first grade and younger kids to celebrate one of his classmates’ 7th birthday. And with three indoor pools, I followed the Grandson around, so I got wet, especially when he wanted to go down one of the slides and wanted me to catch him.  All in an afternoon’s work.

The party part happened afterward and that’s when I saw I had missed a call.  I called the number, but on the second ring, the fire alarm went off.  So all the adults and about 40 kids went, “Really?” No screaming, no running around, no panicking by kids – parents quickly collected their offspring, got them quickly into their jackets (remember, it was -17 F outside due to that artic blast), and filed out calmly but with steady speed.

And THEN we were told that while it was a real alarm, it was a “humidity problem” with the sprinkler system – all back in. The party resumed, and I called the number back again.

It was Chris Ager, the new NH GOP Chair. He called to let me know (and found out he had called Steve as well when Steve and I talked) that we should never have been kept out. He also said that it would never happen again – any event that the NH GOP has, GraniteGrok can always enter to cover like any other media or press, local or national.  We discussed how it happened.

It was a quick call (I was at a kid’s birthday party, after all), but Chris Ager also followed it up with an email (emphasis mine):

—— Original Message ——
From: “Chris Ager” <chrisager@aol.com>
To: “Skip” <skip@granitegrok.com>
Sent: 2/4/2023 11:18:04 AM
Subject: Saturday NHGOP meeting

I heard Grok was not allowed into NHGOP meeting last week.   I can assure you that as long as I am Chairman, the Grok will be treated the same as all other press and given press passes to all NHGOP events that are open to the press.

If there is an issue, please call me directly.

Chris

You know, he didn’t have to do either – reach out by phone or by email. Standup guy, and it was appreciated.

Thanks!