Dems Push Early Voting; Races Tighten? NH Patch Political Roundup

CONCORD, NH — A Democrat state representative from Dover who has been criticized repeatedly for comments made on social media is under fire again for calling New Hampshire's Republican governor "a white supremacist."

State Rep. Sherry Frost, D-Dover, made the comment on Twitter this week finding out that Gov. Chris Sununu declined a debate invitation from the Nashua NAACP and Black Lives Matter Nashua. Sununu, not unlike U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who is running for reelection too, accepted three debates this cycle. His advisor, Paul Collins, sent an email to the organizers explaining why the governor would not be in attendance.

A screenshot of a press account of the email was shared on social media by Emma Sands, the communications director for one of his opponents, Dan Feltes, who attended the forum. The press account, however, made it seem as if the campaign was calling organizers impartial when they did not.

Sands tweeted, "(Sununu) rejected (Nashua NAACP and Black Lives Matter Nashua) debate invitation because he didn't think they were 'impartial'. Racial equity transcends party lines and your governor shouldn't be afraid to talk about these critical issues."

That is when Frost pounced.

"Think for a minute about what this really means," she said in a reply. "Our governor has a white supremacy problem."

Later, she retweeted the post and said, "Think about the implications of this. Think about what he’s *really* saying here. Our governor is a White supremacist."

Think about the implications of this. Think about what he’s *really* saying here.

Our governor is a White supremacist.@BlmSeacoast @CliftonWestJr @ProgressivesNH https://t.co/jLvUmcxLIZ
— Sherry Frost (@frostnhstaterep) October 3, 2020

Criticism followed.

"Enough is enough with this brand of hate and ignorance," the NH GOP said on Twitter. "This is hardly the first time Rep. Frost has disgraced herself. She must resign and it's time for (Democrats) to condemn this disgusting slander."

The state party noted several accomplishments the governor had made to improve race relations in the state including establishing the state's civil rights bureau, creating a council on diversity and inclusion, passing anti-discrimination laws for schools, increasing funding for the state's human rights commission, and endorsing dozens of criminal justice reforms.

Some anonymous Twitter accounts heaped praise on Frost and criticized Sununu for supporting President Donald Trump. One Democrat from Concord, Eric Gallagher, who is running to represent Ward 6, said she was "great."

But others were mum.

Speaker of the House, Steve Shurtleff, who represents Concord's Ward 1 Penacook district, refused to discuss Frost or answer whether he thought the governor was a white supremacist.

"Speaker has no comment," said Mike O'Brien from the Democrat's legislative leadership office.

In a way, while Shurtleff has attacked Republicans for their comments, it was not a surprise he remained silent about Frost because in the past, he has ignored the decorum — and even criminal acts of his fellow Democrats.

When Frost wrote on Twitter that her GOP colleagues were making her homicidal, he said nothing.

When state Rep. Thomas Katsiantonis, a Democrat from Manchester, was arrested on tax evasion charges, he was also silent.

And when state Rep. Kathy Rogers, another Concord Democrat, pleaded guilty to assaulting a senior citizen, Susan Olsen, a political activist who was working as an election volunteer at a recount, Shurtleff not only said nothing, he showed up in court to lend support to Rogers.

A Legislative inquiry into Rogers admitted assault went nowhere after Shurtleff took to the floor of the House to say, "I don't want to see us go down that slippery slope of every time a member of the other party does something, that the party opposite gets up and says, 'Let's send it to Leg. Administration.'"

Most egregious probably was when Frost targeted a New Hampshire State Police trooper, insinuating he was a racist or worse after a picture of him fist-bumping a Trump supporter at a Black Lives Matter rally in Concord was circulated online. The trooper was being thanked after deescalating a situation between marchers and counter-protesters yelling at each other. Frost was not at the rally but made the comments anyway and called video posted by Patch showing part of what actually happened "white supremacy apologia." If it had not been for that video, other evidence gathered by investigators, and comments by people who were actually there, that trooper would have probably lost his job — for something taken completely out of context by an elected official who did not even see what happened. Shurtleff, who purports to support troopers, having worked in law enforcement himself, having been a police officer and U.S. Marshal, said nothing.

When state Rep. Deb Stevens of Nashua in January insinuated that supporters of Trump would planning to use their guns to "deliberately harm others," the Speaker did not address the comment specifically. He did, however, make nonspecific scolding remarks in the legislative calendar.

Ben Vihstadt, a member of the governor's campaign team, said Sununu had received a number of invitations but agreed to three debates. All the other orgs who sent invitations received similar emails from the campaign, with similar language, he said.

"In our response, we state that due to the large amount of invitations, we regretfully can only accept 'three sponsored *by respected media outlets* with fair AND impartial moderators,'" he said. "It very clearly states the campaign was referring to media outlets when referencing impartiality."

The governor, he added, had been targeted by white supremacists for his efforts to increase diversity in New Hampshire. Along with some of the policies mentioned by the NH GOP, Vihstadt added the establishment of the COVID-19 Health Equity Response Team to investigate the disproportionate impacts coronavirus has had on vulnerable populations, the establishment of a police study commission to reform the state's law enforcement system in the wake of the George Floyd killing, and an executive order implementing more than 20 of those recommendations.

"We will not dignify the vile and contemptible ramblings of Sherry Frost with any comment," he said.

After some prompting at a news conference this week, Feltes said while he did not see Frost's comments, he did not think the governor was a white supremacist.

Feltes' full answer and follow-up questions are below.

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More Polls

A poll by a local firm seems to show at least one race in New Hampshire tightening.

American Research Group Inc. of Manchester released polls for governor, U.S. Senate, and president, and while its numbers were similarly close as other polls in the Senate and presidential race, the gubernatorial poll was closer than others in recent weeks.

After surveying 600 likely voters, ARG's poll shows Sununu with a 52 to 44 percent lead over Feltes — about 10 points tighter than two other recent polls. Libertarian candidate Darryl Perry received 1 percent with 3 percent undecided.

On the Senate side, Shaheen led Messner by a 56 to 40 percent margin with Justin O'Donnell, the Libertarian, not registering any votes but was mentioned in the poll. Twenty percent of Republicans in the poll — about 39, said they were voting for Shaheen.

In the presidential race, former Vice President Joe Biden has a nine point lead over President Donald Trump with 1 percent going to Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian candidate.

Undecided voters in all three polls were in the low single digits. The polls were conducted at the end of September and has a plus or minus margin of error of 4 percentage points. While random, the poll oversampled Democrats by 14 voters with 192 saying they were registered as undeclared voters.

However, while the ARG poll seemed to show Feltes gaining some mo', another poll is more in line with prior polls.

The Saint Anselm College Survey Center at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics shows Sununu with a wide 23-point margin against Feltes. Shaheen also shows a 15 percent lead against Messner. In the Congressional races, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas has an 8-point lead over Republican Matt Mowers while U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster has a 14 percent lead over Steve Negron, a Republican from Nashua.

Biden also has a solid lead over Trump.

The poll has a plus or minus 2.9 percentage point margin of error after sampling nearly 1,150 likely voters — but oversampled registered Democrats by 31 respondents or about 3 percent and all of them in the 2nd Congressional District.

Corky Merch Offered By Dems

Not unlike they have had in the past, state Democrats are selling merchandise in an effort to raise money.

The latest items target Messner: They include a "send Colorado Corky back to the Rockies" hat and "I applied for a Messner Foundation scholarship and all I got was this lousy t-shirt" T-shirt.

Both items are $25 at the NHDP.org store.

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Early Voting … It's Easy

Another big push by Democrats in the state is to get people out to vote early.

The party and its activists have been holding events across the state to encourage voters to not wait until election day.

In Hopkinton Thursday. Kuster cast her ballot in Hopkinton. Executive Council District 2 candidate Cinde Warmington and State Senate District 15 candidate Becky Whitley joined her at the event. Kuster said there were three different ways to vote: In-person, by mail, or by absentee ballot at clerk's offices.

"While you can choose any of these options, what’s most important is that you make a plan to vote now — and that could mean heading to your town or city clerk as early as today to get and cast your absentee ballot," she said. "And once you've made your plan and voted, you're not quite done yet. You also need to make sure everyone in your family and all of your friends have a plan to vote too. Voting is easy in 2020 — and there is simply too much at stake to sit this one out."

Endorsements

• The National Federation of Independent Business endorsed 16 or 24 state Senate candidates this week. Ray Pinard, a member of the organization's leadership council, said the endorsements were based "on voting records and facts demonstrating these candidates understand small business issues and they have the backs of small business owners in the state of New Hampshire." He noted that 2020 had not been an easy year for anyone — especially small business. Pinard said leaders did not seem to understand "the crippling impact" that "increased costs and higher taxes," debated every year in Concord, have on small business. Candidates receiving the endorsements in Patch communities include Denise Ricciardi of District 9 in Bedford and other communities; former state Sen. Gary Daniels of District 11 (Amherst, Merrimack, Milford, and Wilton); former State Sen. Kevin Avard of District 12 representing parts of Nashua and other communities; state Sen. Sharon Carson of Londonderry, Auburn, and Hudson in District 14; District 19 state Sen. Regina Birdsell who represents Windham, Derry, and Hampstead; state Sen. Chuck Morse of Salem and other communities in District 22; former state Sen. Bill Gannon, who is running for the District 23 state Senate seat that represents Exeter and surrounding communities; and Lou Gargiulo of Hampton, who is seeking the District 24 seat.
• U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, has endorsed Feltes and made a pitch for donations for the candidate. "Like Trump, Sununu has given tax breaks to large, corporate special interests and used his position to benefit his friends, family, and donors, while leaving everyone else behind," she wrote. "Granite Staters deserve better."
• Seacoast state Senators Martha Fuller-Clark of Portsmouth and Tom Sherman of Rye are lending a hand to Jeanne Dietsch's reelection effort in District 9, saying she played "a critical role as an outspoken advocate in support" of a new energy agenda for her region and the state as well as her work preventing the further contamination of the PFAS in drinking water. Sherman, who is a doctor, said she understood that improvements in public health depended on achievements in public policy.

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