Sanborn Launches Bid for House Speakership

CONCORD, NH — It’s a safe bet that more political drama can be expected at the Statehouse later this year as State. Rep. Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, has announced that she is mounting a run for House speaker later this year. Sanborn said in a press statement that it was time for “new Republican leadership” and time to “rebuild and reestablish the Republican Party” and the core values of New Hampshire.

“Republicans in the NH House and across the state have been disappointed with a number of policies the current leadership advocated for, which went against our caucus’ agenda and platform,” she said. “They are also disappointed in how the House has been managed, with a very small number of people making decisions without input in a ‘top-down’ style and inner circle mentality. We can fix this and I plan to do just that.”

Sanborn currently represents Hillsborough 41, a floterial district that represents both Amherst and Bedford, and previously represented Henniker. Current House Speaker, state Rep. Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, according to the Legislative Communications Office, plans on running for reelection.

Political drama in Concord again?

The announcement by Sanborn to run for the speakership raises the question of whether or not there will be the political drama that occurred two years ago, assuming the Republicans can hold the House of Representatives in what is already a volatile campaign season.

Back in the fall of 2014, she was one of three candidates running for the speakership against former House Speakers Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, and William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, but ultimately dropped out of the race after her husband, state Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, was stricken with a stomach illness.

During the Republican caucus in mid-November 2014, O’Brien won by four votes over Chandler after a number of political insiders – including U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, who was expecting a tight re-election race and was well aware of how Democrats used O’Brien as fodder to win back the House in 2012 – intervened in an attempt to derail his effort. Two weeks after the caucus vote, O’Brien named Chandler as his speaker pro tem, in an attempt to bring the caucus together and dampen concerns by some of his supporters. The speakership was presumed to be O’Brien’s since Republicans had a 79-vote majority and his opponent, state Rep. Steve Shurtleff, D-Penacook, didn’t have the votes to win.

But the next day, one of Chandler’s supporters, Jasper, jumped into the race – a mutiny, as some described it at the time – and with the votes of Democrats, was able to win the speakership on the third ballot, with O’Brien falling four votes short.

Liberty Republicans were furious at the outcome and there were rumors that O’Brien might primary Ayotte this year. Former state Sen. Jim Rubens, R-Hanover, is currently challenging Ayotte in the primary and Aaron Day of the New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus and Stark360 PAC, is mounting an indie effort for the general election.

When Jasper tossed Sanborn from budget committee

After Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, released her 2016-2017 biennium budget proposal, the skirmishes began in Concord, with various proposals being floated. The budget consisted of primarily three versions – Hassan’s original proposal, which was effectively dead-on-arrival; a compromise proposal; and a version that didn’t raise taxes at all. The ensuing arguments were, essentially, about 2 percent of the state’s spending, or about $200 million.

In the spring of 2015, during all the wrangling, Laurie Sanborn was tossed from the House Budget Finance Committee by Jasper after questioning tax increases, the priorities set in the budget, as well as stating she would not be voting for the compromise proposal. Hassan vetoed the compromise budget that was approved the House and Senate, the Legislature overrode her veto, but Hassan did sign the state’s capital budget. Each side then worked to keep the state running until a compromise could be worked out.

After that, more drama ensued after the veto, which was supposedly due to business tax cuts, more haggling and wrangling, and then, a signed budget which didn’t look much different than the compromised version that was held up for months.

Fast forward to this week, when Jasper disallowed Americans from Prosperity New Hampshire from holding its candidate pledge events in a Legislative Office Building committee room even though both liberal and conservative orgs have always been allowed to use the facility for events in the past, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Jasper said that rooms “ought not to be politicized,” according to the newspaper, with Greg Moore, the org’s state director, countering that even former Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth, allowed AFP-NH and other political orgs to use the rooms.

In her letter to galvanize support for the speakership, Laurie Sanborn stated that with “a total team effort, thoughtful and strategic leadership, and the right people in place, we can achieve many positive things for the people of New Hampshire,” but first, that required “a new conservative leader who has demonstrated the skills, leadership and principles to rebuild our party.”