I’m not going to pester Attorney Lehmann and the acting Senate clerk with an RTK request for all people with admin access to the FB page known as “NH Senate Republicans,” nor will I discourage anyone else from doing so if they so desire. For the sake of this article, when I say “NH Senate Republicans” (NHSR), I mean the caucus’s social media officer. As Howard Pearl’s opponent in this upcoming primary, I pay attention when someone is talking about him, in person or online.
On August 10, the NHSR posted a graphic promoting Howard to present him as “reelection-worthy,” to use the Seinfeld parlance that Elaine Benes uses when interviewing her gentleman callers. The graphic has 3 bullet points selling his candidacy to voters in Allenstown, Barnstead, Canterbury, Chichester, Deerfield, Epsom, Loudon, Northfield, Northwood, Nottingham, Pembroke, and Pittsfield.
The first one is “sixth-generation farmer,” which might or might not be important to the voter, and I can’t begrudge voters who see value in that. Furthermore, without deep-diving into rabbit holes, I will give Silas Pearl (1805-1868), Levi Pearl (1831-1913), Laroy S Pearl (1853-1935), and Charles Amos Pearl (1884-1968) the benefit of the doubt that farming was their occupation just as much as it was for Cecil Victor Pearl (1921-2005).
The second bullet point says “state senator,” which appears to be the “incumbent argument.” Most of us have already heard of “the incumbent advantage,” and advocates of moving the primary’s date have often called it “the incumbent protection plan.” When Doris read my earlier article, titled My Decision To Primary Howard Pearl, she said, “nice article, best of luck against the republican senate primary protection league.” The institution she was referring to was the apparatus that spent six figures in protecting Senator Gannon in 2024 from then-Rep Emily Phillips.
I am not Emily Phillips, and I mean that respectfully; I am not a legislator and therefore have no voting record to attack. An incumbent, such as Howard Pearl, does have a record to answer to, which leads to the third talking point: he is being called a “tax fighter.” How laughable! (Insert desired emoji or meme here.)
A real tax fighter would NOT vote for new or more taxes, but one must assume that Howard Pearl identifies as one and the NHSR goes along with it in the same manner that the Bow HS athletic department goes along with men pretending to be women on teams playing their girls’ soccer team. I’d like to point out 3 of Howard’s votes that were in favor of a NEW TAX.
On 5/2/24, Howard voice-voted to adopt a Consent Calendar that contained a new “public records tax.”(HB1002)
On 3/18/25, Howard voted OTP in Finance for a “telecommunications surcharge,” as Kevin called at the mic in its introduction, in other words, a TAX.(SB255)
On 1/7/26, Howard voted in a roll call in favor of a paint tax.(HB451)
Do those things sound like the traits of a tax fighter? I think not! I decided to explore what the NHSR said about other senators with assaults on the NH Advantage in their rap sheets. On August 9, they posted a graphic featuring fellow paint taxer Rochefort with a caption including the words “no sales tax ever!” Newsflash: a paint tax is a sales tax. On August 21, Denise got her turn being featured in a posted graphic that came with a caption saying she will never let the Dems pass an income or sales tax. I will give the benefit of the doubt that it’s understood that such a commitment is contingent on not becoming a “Senate from Hell 2.0” as we had following the election of 2018. With that said, I still must point out that Denise voted with Rochefort and Howard Pearl, Tim Lang, McConkey and all the Dems for the paint tax.
Not every Republican senator seeking reelection has been featured in a post by the NHSR this summer, so I’m sure Lang and McConkey are patiently awaiting their turn to be presented as real Republicans. Furthermore, it’s important to remember that McConkey has been wanting to raise the tolls for a long time. His constituents might seldom or never use the Everett Turnpike or 93, but they should be reminded that tolls are also taxes.
