Though I’m neither a resident nor a paid member, I wound up on the Rockingham County Republican Committee (RCRC) email list some time ago after buying a raffle ticket. It’s important to mention that this Candidate’s forum was scheduled weeks ago, with more than one announcement or notice.
At 12:25 pm on Wednesday, the RCRC sent an email with the subject line “Change to this eve’s RCRC debates,” so I opened it because I had planned to attend. After the “Dear Republican friends” greeting, the first paragraph said the following:
“The good news is that our county commissioner debates for this evening are still a go. Unfortunately, due to an emergency, we’ve tweaked our plans for the Senate District 23 primary between incumbent William Gannon and challenger Emily Phillips (pictured above). Instead, we will hear each campaign tonight make their pitch as to why their candidate is the best person to serve in the state senate.“
“Oh no,” I thought because that Senate primary debate was my reason for going. I sent Emily a welfare check text with a screenshot of the email and an “Is everything ok?” She replied that the emergency was in Senator Gannon’s family. His father-in-law was hospitalized for a heart attack. Not much detail on that situation is available to me, and I support respecting family privacy. However, without knowing WHEN the unfortunate medical event occurred and WHEN the RCRC was notified, it’s hard to be sure if the change announcement email was sent in a timely fashion. What I do know is that it was not made known who Senator Gannon’s spokesperson would be.
As regards another Emily, etiquette expert, Emily Post, I wonder what she would say about how Senator Gannon and the RCRC chair handled the situation. As for the latter, I’m interested in the job he did as the moderator or emcee, depending on his actual role. Based on personal observation in the past, I find it customary that when one contestant sends their regrets at the last minute, a statement is read by the event host at the BEGINNING. Even if the decision to be absent is premeditated, some etiquette must be followed.
While I haven’t thoroughly researched the matter, I will cite a local example from last year. The League of Women Voters sponsored a candidate night at the Nashua library for six candidates seeking three particular seats on the Board of Aldermen. Ward 1 incumbent Tyler Gouveia had a committee meeting and therefore couldn’t attend, but his opponent attended. Both Ward 6 candidates attended. As for Ward 2, Alderman Dowd, my opponent, had a committee meeting, hence his absence. For a variety of my own reasons, I RSVPed NO before the deadline and took advantage of their offer to read aloud a 2-minute statement. Alderman Dowd’s statement was read first, perhaps because he was the incumbent, but either way, both our statements were prepared in advance as we were both absent. Tyler Gouveia’s statement was also read at the beginning.
Suppose for a moment that the panelists asked the present candidates the questions and waited for the end to read the statements of those not in attendance. And suppose Tyler Gouveia’s statement had nothing to do with his accomplishments while in office but was 100% trashing his opponent. THAT, dear readers, is what happened tonight!
The moderator called on Emily Phillips first. After that, Senator Gannon’s campaign manager was called up to the mic. Instead of touting Gannon’s accomplishments, this guy went into lies and smear talk in the image of that $100,000 series of mailers lying and misrepresenting Emily and footnoting parliamentary procedure stuff. There was also some rude innuendo about Emily’s (ordinary domestic)responsibilities in her personal life, implying that the position was just too much for her. Rebuttals were not allowed, and many of the attendees left the building despite other stuff being left on the agenda.
Tonight’s event was a clown show disgrace. I’m hoping someone recorded it, but I’m guessing recording is forbidden, as it usually is at GOP events elsewhere. I strongly encourage the paid members to “move to vacate the chair,” if that’s the correct term like Marjorie & Co. did to McCarthy.
I will close by reporting that Emily took the high road, tweeting “get well soon” wishes for Senator Gannon’s father-in-law and a very flexible invitation to reschedule a proper debate.
