Dr Frank has often told his audiences “politicians don’t start parades, they join parades.” The Londonderry Old Home Day parade is said to be the biggest parade in NH, but one could easily argue that the Salem Christmas parade can give it a run for its money. Having been a spectator in 2023, I knew what to expect, but some of yesterday’s observations were definitely unexpected and I will share some of them in a moment.
In 2023, I stood at the corner of Main & S Policy with a “Never forget 11/19/21, Chuck Morse” sign as it was shortly after the 2nd anniversary of Chuck voting in the dirty money and Chuck’s hometown is Salem. Not only that, but Chuck had declared candidacy in a statewide race, which was for the Corner Office. The only other statewide race that exists is one for US senator. Daryl Abbas, also from Salem, had since been elected to Chuck’s old seat in the state senate and he was in the 2023 parade with Chuck’s group. I said hi to him and he came to the curb to greet me with a gloved handshake.
Yesterday I was in the parade walking with Team Scott Brown. In the days prior to that, I was telling my peers that it would be great to round up a large group to outnumber that of Team JE Sununu, especially seeing that Salem is the town where Old Man Sununu raised his kids. I got the idea from Lily Tang Williams when she aggressively recruited Milford Labor Day parade company to outnumber Goodlander. Lily is presently out of town spending holiday family time with her in-laws, hence my availability to join Scott yesterday and wearing her signature yellow sweatshirt in some cold and drizzly weather. Anyway, and getting to the observations I mentioned earlier, JE Sununu was nowhere to be found. Maybe he was in his basement in McLean, VA.
Also nowhere to be found was Daryl Abbas, who recently endorsed the Damn Emperor’s brother after his recent local birthday fundraiser soiree. Having previously had a (state)senator that voted at the same school as I did, I hadn’t given much thought to the fact that most Granite Staters do not have a senator that lives in their zip code. Salem had Chuck Morse and now Daryl Abbas. It’s also a red town with red purity. While Salem shares Daryl Abbas with 3 other towns, it’s still a big town that has 8 reps, some of which appeared on a early list of Scott Brown endorsers.
The closest thing I saw to a Salem rep yesterday was a Cadet Vandecasteele, a soldier that was photographed with Scott Brown as he worked the crowd on both sides of the road. It’s unknown(to me) if the cadet is a relative of the salem rep. Either way, Rep Vandecasteele, who seems to not even have a committee assignment, is definitely NOT the alpha rep in that town. I think we can all agree that Sweeney fancies himself the alpha rep. I think he became a selectman not too long ago. Seeing that I am unfamiliar with the cast of characters in the local government of Salem, I can’t speak to whether any of the selectmen were present. There was no float or group in the pre-parade staging area that appeared to be associated with the town government. I joined Clayton and Cyril and his wife for a stroll to the front of the line to kill time and stay warm while waiting for the parade to begin. Scott Brown was number 75 in line and there were several groups behind ours, none being government entities. Oh, I should mention that the sheriff’s office had a place near the front of the line, but I did not see Massahos in person. He might or might not have been there.
We all know how much of a power hungry attention seeker Sweeney is, so it was quite the surprise to not see him at the parade, perhaps even more surprising than the absence of Daryl Abbas and JE Sununu. Wow! I wonder what was more important on a rainy Sunday afternoon for such a big local annual event. I found out several hours later. However, at the suggestion of Nurse Michele, who was driving, we first made a pit stop to check out the famous Tuscan Village, Salem’s 15 Minute city, and have dinner.
After a tasty and insanely expensive dinner with discussion of how much Salem has become unrecognizable compared to 30 years ago, we made the long and slow trip home as one would expect when it’s raining after dark. I have since checked email and found my answer about what Sweeney was doing yesterday. He wasn’t on the clock for the House or his town hall, but for his beloved Granite Solutions. At 12:54 and 8:30pm, he was busy asking for money because of some midnight deadline. I didn’t send him any money. Did you? If I see him in the near future, I’ll have to tell him that I spent his share of my discretionary budget on Tuscan Kitchen. Should I also say “lol?”
