Nothing starts a conversation like a blog that questions the appropriateness of “party leaders” names appearing on mailers paid for by one candidate in a primary of several.  Maybe not?

In this case it was necessary.

And, to play into my lede, there was a good deal of conversation at the link above and over on the Grok Facebook page, with regard to what, in these circumstances, would violate what by laws and how the perception matters, regardless of whether it violated any by laws or not.

In the end, I decided to go with this response to clear things up.  Readers are welcome to pursue the links provided and ask questions at their own town committee meetings…

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Chris Christie is coming to “town” again on July 31, 2014.   One of the big names on the Host committee for that Big Republican NH Christie event, is Bedford NH (r)epublican Bill Greiner.

Bill Greiner is many things, most of them bad if we are talking politics, but he was also a Co-Chair for “Republicans for Nyquist” in 2012.  That “Nyquist” is Lee Nyquist, the Democrat challenger to Republican State Senator Andy Sandborn.  Nyquist could have given Democrats the leverage to claim a majority had he won.  So nice of Bill to support him instead of the actual Republican in the race.

So Greiner supports Democrats and is on the host Committee for the upcoming Chris Christie event.  That is interesting.  It is also interesting because Lee  Nyquist’s campaign manager for 2012 was Democrat Kevin Hodges.  Remember him?

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WMUR has an article up about how Carol Shea-Porter always raises so much more campaign money, even though she doesn’t like that part of the gig. (Except for her first win, when she ran on vapors and benefitted from a Democrat wave election, she has not had to work hard to raise enough money.)

Sorry.  Shea-Porter is not some fundraising wunderkind.  If she were she’d have a leadership PAC and share that gift with others of her kind.  She doesn’t and she isn’t.

If you allow me a moment I will explain in very few words why she continues to accumulate campaign money.

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I just read Steve’s post on Bill Greiner, and I am SO Confused.

• NH House Minority Leader Gene Chandler famously said “Anyone with an R after their name is a good Republican” – so does that make Bill Greiner a Good Republican?  I’m supposed to think so (at least I’m TOLD to think that way).
• NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn said this:   “That means starting today we must agree to respect our differences and work toward our common goals.”  and “There is room for our Party for every kind of Republican as long as you are a Republican.”  And this:

If you believe, as I do, in a Constitutional Government, I want you on our team.  If you believe that limited Government leads to unlimited opportunity, as I do, then I want you on our team.  If you believe that the First and Second amendments are placed at the beginning of the Bill of Rights on purpose for a reason, that Obamacare is an assault on our Freedom and Prosperity, if you believe, as I do, that our Constitution was written not to limit your Freedom but to limit your Government, then I want you on our team.

“Then I want you on our team” – Er, Gene and Jennifer?  What about those that go both ways?  Like Bill Greiner?  I am SO Confused. 

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After the U.S. Senate voted down a bill that would attempt to reverse the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling, Governor Hassan thought she’d add her 2 cents in a ridiculous facebook post:

Once again it is clear she never bothered to read the Hobby Lobby case or the SCOTUS ruling.  Once again she continues to treat women like stupid cows who cannot purchase their own birth control.  Birth Control is not a critical health service.  Even if a woman needs to use Plan B because she had unprotected sex, she can easily buy it over the counter at most pharmacies across New Hampshire.   Remember, having sex and using birth control are both choices, as well as buying Plan B.

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Jeanne Shaheen made a big show of releasing her tax returns, but I’m not all that impressed.  Shaheen is a one-percenter who has been in the US Senate for almost six yeas now.  Comfort is not an issue.   She will never have to think about her cable bill, or electric bill, or what she must manage to keep food on the table.  These will never be concerns for Jeanne Shaheen.  This makes the exclusion of certain fiscal facts related to her tenure in the US Senate, unacceptable.

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Caught at The Corner:

The line in his [LeBron James] return-to-Cleveland statement that resonates most with us denizens of the North Coast is the following:

“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.”

Contrast that statement with Barack Obama’s obtuse, insulting, and dispiriting 2012 observation:

” You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Rumor has it LeBron’s a better basketball player, too.

In the case of Obama, other people DID make it happen for him – and IMHO, on a silver platter. And let’s add the erstwhile Fount of the Progressive Work Ethic, Senator Elizabeth Warren (who beat Scott Brown in his last campaign for US Senate): 

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Jim Foley is running for New Hampshire State Senate.  His campaign recently paid for mailers to advertise a free event that claims to be in honor of some former NH State Senators from his State Senate district.

The Treasurer listed on the campaign funded mailer is Jim McEachern (still listed as the Derry GOP Town Committee Vice Chair).  Foley, the candidate, is sill listed as the Derry Town GOP chair.   I’m guessing they’ve both stepped down to run for office, and or run alongside the campaign for office, yes?  No?

On a related note,  Bruce Breton, Windham GOP Town Chair, is the first name at the top of the mailer, in a list of persons happily honoring former NH State Senators Arthur Klemm, Bob Letourneau, and Jim Rausch.  I don’t think that is all of the former State Senators from the district so are they really honoring State Senators or just the ones who are endorsing Jim Foley for their old State Senate Seat?   Advertised on a campaign mailer.   Paid for by …’Friends of Jim Foley.’

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Lois Lerner of the IRS is the most famous example of a Federal Agency who has been weaponized by the Obama Administration (even, according to random posts I’ve seen, more than Tricky Dicky – disgraced President Nixon (R) or one termer President LBJ (D)) and we have been SO treated by the arrogance of the new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen over the public’s right to know.  And Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA, has had to undergo questioning over more documents / emails that have gone missing – another hard drive crash (allegedly).  And now, we have yet another agency that has the same case of the hard disk flu – Federal Elections Commission (FEC, where Lois Lerner was before going to the IRS ) (reformatted, emphasis mine):

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday made yet another request to the federal government for details about a crashed hard drive that may have contained information allowing criminal charges to be brought against a federal official.  Issa’s newest letter concerns the hard drive of April Sands, a former employee at the Federal Election Commission who resigned in the spring after admitting to violations of the Hatch Act. That law puts restrictions on the ability of government officials to conduct political activities while on the job, or from government offices.

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A lot of the politicos, chief amongst them was Bush II, use the PC phrase “Religion of Peace” when talking about Islam, but then we see actions that belie that phrase (but again, that’s what happens when Political Correctness becomes a religion itself).  Well, thanks to a gaffe (read: truth spoken when not concentrating on the smoke and mirrors) by a Hamas (a terrorist organization according to the US – and part of the Palestinian Government) spokesperson, we now know better (while Israel is now beating the snot out of them after having endured years of incoming rockets from Hamas and like minded “militants”)

Reformatted, emphasis mine:

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri is not helping advance his organization’s cause.

Zuhri became the focus of criticism when a clip of him advocating for civilians to act as human shields in order to protect Hamas militants and assets exploded on the internet. A MEMRI TV translation of Zuhri’s appearance on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV showed him talking up the “character” of Palestinians who “defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood.”  “We in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinian homes,” Zuhri advocated.

Well, with their blood?  That sounds absolutely delightful, eh?  Don’t worry – it gets worse and confirms what has been said of the Palestinians. 

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