FOUR FOR FOUR!!!

The last of the special elections, I think, have ended. The democrats claim 3 while the republicans claim 1. The union republicans claim 4 which tells the story. Peter Leishman from Peterborough won 60-40% against the republican who was backed by a personal endorsement from the speaker and Free State organization.

The speaker’s very arrogant and strange leadership team has said the reason the republicans are not winning these special elections is because all the republicans are out working while the democrats are not, people that dumb should not be in public office. So I guess in our progressive age (tongue and cheek) when you lose your job it is done by political affiliation. This is typical of the current house leadership trend of arrogance by ignorance.

The most disdainful of all the speakers’ actions is the game playing with the house over calling special sessions and posting that “you will not get paid for this day”. It would be different if we had something to do; but, just to call a session to see if you have enough votes to override the governors veto for right to work is a good example of the lack of respect for the house political process, respect for the house members and the voters of NH. More and more house members, at least those with common sense and respect for the voters and each other, are quietly walking away from the speaker.

The speaker is bringing down the Republican Party and effort in NH, plain and simple. Many think by sticking by the speaker they will all go to heaven when they die and I don’t have the heart to tell them heaven is not where any of them are heading.

What the speaker is doing is trying to manipulate the house republicans by not paying mileage for his call of the special sessions hoping that those republicans that live up north or on the other side of the state can’t afford to keep making these 100 or so mile trips at their own expense. This is one of the speaker’s most despicable acts towards the house members. This is causing more and more private conversations of a removal vote.

The reason we keep mentioning a removal vote is more and more people are talking about it. We are almost at the point where if you’re a republican and want to get re-elected you better stand up and be counted because you the voters are sending them a message and that message is, “you better change direction or the new group of elected officials will have to make the changes we failed to pursue”.

The democrats do not have clean hands in this fight either. I was told that they attacked the AFL-CIO for not backing a democrat in the Seabrook district 14 race and supported a union, republican, firefighter who is a member of the AFL-CIO. Well the only people who own the unions is the members and since being viciously attacked by the republican leadership is organized like never before and fighting back. The democrats might have forgotten they treated the unions badly when they were in power, they may have forgotten but the members haven’t; the dems are no longer in power and might have a hard time making a strong comeback if they don’t recognize this. The rule of thumb is do not attack the unions talk to them, negotiate with them that is how it works.

It appears that more and more political groups, labor included, understand that the next election will be about candidates and issues and not about parties. Matt and I started the discussion during the last election when we defined what an independent republican is. That is candidates that care more about what is right for our constituents and not the party.