August 19 is a busy day on the calendar. It’s Veto Day, and both chambers convene at 10 am. Also at 10 am, the executive council meets at Cranmore for Kenney’s turn to host in their roadshow series. Later that day (5-6pm) is the 23rd anniversary Nashua Goes Back to School event at Holman Stadium.
I glossed over the title and the article’s first 2 sentences, which said “Nashua Goes Back to School (NGB2S), Nashua’s unofficial kick-off of a new school year, is Wednesday, August 19 from 5:00 – 6:30 PM at Holman Stadium. Come and meet your principal, receive a bag of school supplies and then visit with over 40 community organizations who provide programs and services for students and families.” With the 3rd sentence starting “there will be free (popcorn and snow cones)…,” I had enough and closed out the tab, dismissing it as Cloward-Piven and Bernieish free stuff probably coming from some shady money trail that started at YOUR pocket.
Because I didn’t finish the article, I missed the latter part of the 3rd sentence, which was “…and music by DJ Carryl Roy…” If you don’t vote in District 12, you might not know that Carryl Roy is Sen. Kevin Avard’s opponent. She’s on the Hollis school board, and her campaign profile mentions being a DJ.
Was she given special treatment because she’s the candidate preferred by the mayor, the NTU, and the rest of Nashua’s ruling class? You tell me, but this isn’t the first time a candidate has been boosted with extra attention that’s conveniently scrubbed from politics.
Freshman Alderman Amber Morgan, who was endorsed by the mayor, is a florist, and she got some supplementary attention from WMUR that I mentioned in a previous article.
Neither story mentions the candidacies of Carryl or Amber, so there’s no rational reason for Scanlan to require paperwork. Were there any other NH florists participating in the Petal it Forward program? If there were, WMUR didn’t mention them.
Now consider all the DJs that are available in Nashua. Why was out-of-towner Carryl Roy selected? Ward 7 rep candidate Avalon Lewis, who previously ran and lost by a slim margin, later became the moderator, is also a DJ. I emailed Avalon to ask if he knew about such a business opportunity, and he said he didn’t know about the event.
Because the article says “Nashua Goes Back to School is funded through community donations. The Greater Nashua United Way serves as the 501 (c) (3) fiscal agent, but no United Way funds are used for this event,” it appears to be safe from RTK inquiries. That means the DJ, among other people and businesses providing goods or services to the event, gets to hide in secrecy when it comes to whether or not they were compensated and how much, or just given free advertising as event sponsors.
Something interesting about the article on Nashua Goes Back to School is that it makes two other references to music, one of them being “live performances with the students from the Nashua Community Music School” in the same sentence that mentions Carryl Roy. The other is near the end, where it says “The event continues to reflect the research which indicates students are more successful and less likely to drop out when they feel connected and supported by others in their community, the lunch lady, a coach, a peer, a scout leader or a music lessons teacher.”
Readers outside District 12 might not know that Kevin is a musician and his resume outside the Senate is robust with gigs and charity fundraisers for music schools.
I called attention to Carryl Roy’s gig to some like minded people and one of them said “So, are they going to pick and choose who gets free stuff? They need people to know what “free services” they can get to keep the high paid specialist administrators working. All the people without kids in the system should show up,” which nails it, in my opinion, regarding the event’s mission.
Another response was “The question is: will republicans and MAGA types and their children attend? I recommend not; there are too many other ways to have fun, socialize, and get goodies.”
I agree with that Carryl Roy critic, but someone should take one for the team by attending and ambushing her with some tough questions, preferably with like-minded witnesses present or with the video camera running. The Scaers’ mission, should they choose to accept, is to do that.
