I had sent my previous post to NH GOP Chris Ager and I did get a response back. While he is technically correct, it is still maddening and really bad, Bad, BAD political optics for an NH GOP Officer to rest their endorsement on such a technicality (and yes, I am always running behind and just can’t seem to get caught up). Emphasis is Chris’s:
From “Chris Ager” <chrisager@aol.com>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
Date 3/5/2023 6:46:55 PM
Subject Re: Heads up if you haven’t been told about this alreadyThanks. I’ve talked to Thad and Melissa Litchfield. The bylaws state “when there is a candidate nominated by the Republican Party for that office“. In this case, town elections are non-partisan and thus no candidates are nominated by the party. My job in upholding the bylaws is not in question in my view. Even if one believes this is a poor decision, it is not a bylaw violation.
I have reminded the e board, however, that we should be supporting Republicans at all times.
I appreciate the heads up.
As always, I have my own opinion(s) so I sent a couple back (emphasis now is mine):
On Sun, Mar 5, 2023 at 8:42 PM, Skip
<Skip@granitegrok.com> wrote:
Hi Chris,Thanks for the reply and I’ll add it in as an update.
That said, it’s a REALLY bad case of political optics. Even with adults, elected officials are role models and this one looks like a loophole that’s being taking advantage of.
Back in the day, I forced Alan Glassman (Belknap Chair at the time), remove Alida Milham as a candidate for the State Committee 2 minutes after announcing she was a candidate after I brought up that she had endorsed TWO Dems over a Republican in a local race.
Methinks that better messaging is needed over this but it’s your call.
-Skip
Glassman was perfectly willing to let Millham slide onto the State Committee if I had not said anything and the fact that she ran both R&D in races for years. How do you square those two sets of Principles (answer: you can’t).
One more response from Chris
From “Chris Ager” <chrisager@aol.com>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
Date 3/6/2023 2:02:47 AM
Subject Re: Re[2]: Heads up if you haven’t been told about this alreadyThanks. I must follow the rules. Then the voters get to decide.
It is because local races changed from partisan to non-partisan that these hijinks can be carried out by Republicans who would better fit with Democrats but ran as Rs simply because of the times back then when Dems couldn’t win (and in some cases, still can’t but much less so). With this change, and speaking to that last point, it allowed such R actions to happen without consequences. More importantly, this loophole in the Bylaw has, in part, allowed the Democrats to grow their farm league and now we see where Republicans status sits in the State electorally. That’s why Eric Turer (on the right here) is beaming so broadly as the former Brentwood Dem Chair – he pulled a fast one and Riley fell for it:
Oh, as far as the guy in the middle and just to make sure that he’s a Democrat, here’s the Brentwood checklist (partial, reformatted to better fit here but information is untouched):
