Now that filing time is over, it appears that Lily Tang Williams has 12 opponents in the September 10 primary for Annie Kuster’s seat.
Most of them are unknowns and it’s my opinion that the only serious threat is Vikram. Unlike the executive council seat being vacated by Ted Gatsas, I’m not going to waste energy attacking all of them individually, but there are two exceptions. Vikram certainly deserves an article on why to not vote for him, but I hope to see one written by someone with skills superior to mine. The other happens to be a late arrival that’s not only a Nashua local, but she lives in Ward 2.
That’s the question and I’m here to answer that. Adam Sexton has introduced her as a former rep, but makes no mention of how long the Newmans, along with one or more of their ilk, have had a stranglehold on Ward 2 over the past several election cycles. I’m going to surmise that Elenore Casey Crane(ECC) is one of the vestiges of the Tea Party Movement from long ago. While her dates of rep time in office is unconfirmed at this time, it appears that she was the 2013 opponent of our mutual Alderman, Richard Dowd.
Alderman Dowd did not have an opponent in 2015 or 2017, according to the records I viewed, and had viable opponents in 2019 and 2021, as I noted here.
What was ECC doing all that time? Supposedly working some gig for Councilor Kenney, who represents the parts of NH furthest from Nashua, but to that I say, “yeah, whatever.” She certainly was not a rep candidate in the past 2 elections because I was recruited to fall on that sword in 2020 and came back for a 2nd helping in 2022 just to be a good “team player” and fill the hole in the slate. More on being a team player in a moment. I filed my own candidacy against Alderman Dowd on the last day of filing time last year because neither of his previous two opponents nor ECC wanted to step up and do it. To the previous opponents, I say “fair enough,” as they both had a full plate of responsibilities, both public and private. ECC was certainly free to decide whether or not to run for office just like anyone else, but waffling until the last minute is not being a team player. “But wait, there’s more,” one often hears in those late night infomercials.
The night before the last day of filing time was the NRCC monthly meeting and no higher office candidates had RSVPed to stump. ECC waltzed into the ballroom, quite late I should add, with an “I have arrived” attitude. Former Rep Pete Silva, the NRCC chair, was gracious enough to give her a few minutes of mic time at the end and the stump speech was very lackluster. She implemented some name dropping that included Councilor Kenney and former Ward 1 Rep Tom Lanzara and then went into full blown attack mode without even saying “Lily Tang Williams” or “Colorado.” ECC found it necessary to cite the length of residency required to be eligible for a senate run, but most voters who show up for a NH primary already know that 2024 is one of every 6 years without a senatorial race in Washington. She also didn’t mention how active Lily has been over the past 2 years since her primary loss to Burns. She’s been fundraising
and building recognition by way of opportunities that are not exclusively political. You, the reader and the voter, have opportunities to ask her about that at her next meet and greet in nearby Hollis on Monday June 17, which is open to the public.
I will finish by going back to the team player thing. While I’ll be clear that I was in no way entitled to ECC’s support as a candidate for alderman or as a two time rep candidate, I find it interesting that she never even reached out to me or even greeted me at the polls. Maybe she secretly supports Alderman Dowd and the Newmans. Hopefully not. Whether or not you, the reader, vote in Ward 2, I’m here to say that ECC is trying to siphon votes off of Lily when the one she should be attacking in the primary race is Vikram.
