The Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire (RFFNH) is paying Manchester Democrat Rep Alissandra Murray a salary to serve in the New Hampshire House, but she’s not, Rep Murry (D- RFFNH)?
And we’ve no clue where the money truly comes from – RFFNH has no filed 990s I can find, nor do we know how much they are paying Murray. Shouldn’t that be public information?
I’m going to assume it’s dark money, laundered downstream to a state-level franchise of some national special interest that has yet to file its own paperwork or has, and it hasn’t filtered through the system to become publicly available.
We don’t know.
And to be clear (as vodka), there is nothing wrong with downstreaming money to yet another so-called non-profit special interest. It’s all legal. The issue here is whether a State House Democrat can accept a salary from a lobbyist for the sole purpose of being able to (afford to) serve in the legislature (and vote the way they ask).
She is on the payroll. Is that a problem?
The easiest way to answer the question is to say, “Would it be a problem if she were a Republican?” The answer to that is most certainly yes. Would it be a problem if she never disclosed it (which she has not)? The answer is yes. Will the legislature do anything about that? Probably not, though they could try to convince her to admit it and clarify that she should disclose it. But if you have spent any time here, you’ll know that getting the House Ethics Committee to rein people in is hit or miss and mostly miss, but I have a suggestion.
I think she should be made to wear one of those big bright Lobbyist stickers (and maybe not just her) whenever she’s in Concord doing the RFFNH’s business under the cover of Rep from Manchester. I also think it should be required that she indicate on all campaign materials that she is only running becasue a third party is paying her so she can represent … Them.
The legislators and other lobbyists and the people she claims to represent would know.
If they are all good with it, then as you were. If not? Maybe nothing. We’ll have to wait and see.
HT | NH Journal
