Garth Brooks has friends in low places. The 1990 hit spent four weeks at number one (Country Chart) and won a bunch of awards. Someone else who has won a lot of awards is Jason Osborne, but the current Republican majority leader has friends in high places.
You’ll have heard by now, more than likely, that the NH Attorney General’s Office has finally passed judgment on the lousy campaign finance habits of Joe Sweeney, the Committee to Elect House Republicans, and Majority Leader Osborne. You know, because the press, which I’ve heard from several sources, is beholden to leadership, at least on some stories, in exchange for access, refused to report on the matter until it was closed.
But is it closed?
Jim Kofalt has taken over as the treasurer of the Committee to Elect House Republicans (CTEHR). He inherited the mess left to him, but I expect him to maintain balanced books, on-time reporting, and help allocate the donations responsibly to benefit Republican House Candidates.
But before his ascension to that role, we can’t be so sure. There is still money unaccounted for, but the AG has rendered its judgment, and it’s not only pathetic, it’s illegal.
The Committee to Elect House Republicans, Joe Sweeney, and Majority Leader Osborne were not required to comply with the law.
Mr. Osborne, for example, was fined $2000.00. I like Jason. I think he has a tough job herding cats and running that circus, and I could never do it. It’s thankless, people will hate you for it, and maybe some of it is deserved, but if I violated the reporting law for as long as that, by law, the fine would be around 41,000.00 dollars.
Update 2. This vast sum is apparently accurate. The fine occurs for each missed report, and at one point, Jason reoroteldy had as many as 16 of them overdue, each accumulating fines. *Each at 5.00/day.
II. Any person who fails to file any report or statement on the date on which the report or statement is due under this chapter shall be subject to a daily fine of $25 for every weekday for which the report or statement is late and until the report or statement is actually filed, except that candidates for the general court shall be subject to a daily fine of $5 under this paragraph.
Candidates for the general court – five dollars per day.
Following the letter of the law, Jason’s personal filing failures (all of them accumulated and overlapping) would amount to *8,197 weekdays at $5.00/day, which is $40,985.00.
He got fined 2K. That’s a 96% discount.
Friends in high places.
The CTEHR paid a 1500.00 fine on an accumulated late filing fee on multiple reports of an estimated $4425.00, which is a 66.1% discount. Rep Sweeney’s Granite Solutions racked up enough days to owe $3,875.00, but only paid $500. An over82% discount.
I’m not saying this isn’t a habit of the AG’s office with people in elected office. Governor Maggie Hassan liked to take illegal campaign contributions from Unions that she was forced to return, but I can’t recall anyone ever getting fined for that. And it wasn’t just unions or for state offices.
There are numerous examples, and we’ve covered more than a few, and it’s almost always Democrats. Our beef here, especially with the CTEHR, is that Republicans donated money, some of which still can’t be accounted for, and not even the forensic audit can tell us where it went.
We also expect leadership and those around it to set the example, and there’s no excuse for not doing that. If we are the party of law and order and the Constitution, we need to try harder and do better.
That the left is doing the opposite, advocating and defending lawlessness and chaos (as well as systemic ignorance and stupidity), with little or any accountability from their own side, makes that more challenging.
I’d love a world where only Dems end up in our woodshed, but we’re not a political party mouthpiece. We’re here to defend our shared founding values, the Constitution, and the Republic, and sometimes Republicans need a public voice to speak for them about the behavior of other Republicans.
In part because for a long time, Democrats from Massachusetts used to come here and run as Republicans to win seats in the NH House. Often, it is the result of a Republican standing with Democrats in opposition to individual liberty, small government, and low taxes. And you might get called out for a bad vote, but you’ll also get called out for good ones.
And then there’s this business. Being a leader of anything means you set the example, and that makes you a target. Over on X, one Rep said, of the controversy and the fines, so nothing was stolen? As if this were much ado about nothing.
First, the law was broken, and we are not the party of two-tiered justice. If you don’t like the law, you don’t break it; you make a case to change it. Second, there are still sums unaccounted for (CTEHR), so “stolen” is a possibility, as are lost, mismanaged, and that matters to donors whose money it was, given to help elect House Republicans.
New treasurer Jim Kofalt has his work cut out for him, as for justice, maybe Joe and Jason should find a way to donate what they should have been fined by the AG, to the Committee to elect House Republicans.
Editor [update 2]: Turns out the issue was my understanding of the math and the law as it relates to the fines. I may also not be counting enough days, having left out weekends. But if they accumulate for each instance where a report was not filed, you could easily accumulate a significant sum in successive years, missing every required report, which appears to be the case.
I retract my previous apology and will stand on these numbers until viable contrary information comes my way.
