Democrat Dirty Tricks Behind Illegal Anti-Sununu Mailer, Complaint Says

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Democratic dirty tricks are making national headlines as Election Day approaches, and they’ve made their way to New Hampshire with illegal campaign mailers targeting Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Sununu.

State Rep. Joe Sweeney, R-Salem, has filed an election law complaint over two mailers with no sponsor disclosures delivered in Thornton and Salem. He is asking the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to identify the funding source of the mailers, which were sent by a Democratic mail shop in Massachusetts.

Sweeney points to $128,310 in payments to Journeyman Press from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during September and October 2024, along with $23,695 from Kamala Harris for President. Federal Election Commission records also show Journeyman Press received past payments from the Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster congressional campaigns.

“Neither piece carries the ‘paid for by’ or sponsor statement required by RSA 664:14,” Sweeney wrote in his message to the Election Law Unit. “Both were mailed under USPS Permit #730 at Manchester, which USPS records list as held by The Journeyman Press” in Newburyport, Mass.

“The permit holder should have the records of the customer who ordered and paid for the mailing,” Sweeney added.

Identifying the customer behind them is the central request in Sweeney’s complaints.

Asked about the complaint, the Attorney General’s Election Law Unit told NHJournal, “We have received the complaint, and it is under review.”

The mailings attack Sununu on the issue of artificial intelligence, including donations his campaign has received from tech and AI lobbyists. They urge recipients to call Congress and support S. 3557, the States’ Right to Regulate AI Act.

The glaring problem: Sununu isn’t in Congress.

Sweeney alleges violations of state and federal disclosure requirements. Federal rules require disclaimers on political committees’ public communications, including those that do not expressly advocate a candidate’s election or defeat, and on certain advertising by other spenders. Whether those requirements apply here is among the questions investigators would have to resolve.

The controversy has a familiar New Hampshire precedent.

During the 2022 GOP NH-02 primary, voters received mailers without any disclaimers promoting Republican Bob Burns as the pro-Trump candidate in an attempt to help him win the party’s nomination.

Investigators subsequently identified House Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with the Democratic House Majority PAC, as the client behind the operation.

Reynolds DeWalt, a New Bedford, Mass., printing company, produced and mailed the pieces. The firm that placed the order entered into a settlement with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office that included a $40,000 fine.

Burns defeated Keene Mayor George Hansel in the GOP primary, then went on to lose to Rep. Kuster by 11 points.

Now, another potentially illegal Democratic campaign trick is drawing scrutiny.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Alaska Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were directly involved in finding and recruiting a retired teacher from Petersburg named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to appear on the U.S. Senate ballot in the race against incumbent Republican Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan. Peltola was aware of the effort, according to her former campaign manager, Elisa Rios.

Sweeney’s state complaint specifically invokes the attorney general’s handling of the 2022 case, when the office publicly warned voters about anonymous mailings before the primary.

“Because the general election is November 3, I ask the Unit to act on this before Election Day,” Sweeney wrote. “I have both original mail pieces and will provide them, or anything else the Unit needs.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.