Guv Returns More PAC Money, Dems Nail Brown on Hypocrisy, Big Straw Polls, Endorsements

Governor returns $$$

Kevin Landrigan of the Nashua Telegraph reported yesterday that Gov. Maggie Hassan has returned another union political action committee contribution after the NH GOP filed another complaint about the governor’s friend’s committee fundraising.

In a statement, Jennifer Horn, the party’s executive director, also called on Attorney General Joseph Foster to recuse himself since he served on Hassan’s 2012 campaign finance committee, as noted in a story on Exeter Patch from two years ago.

The NH GOP and its supporters along with the New Hampshire Democratic Party, and its supporters, then, as they sometimes do, engaged in an amusing Twitter war of comments. Someone pass the popcorn!

Hassan hits the airwaves

Meanwhile, Hassan’s re-election campaign posted its first television ad on Granite State stations, highlighting her bipartisan work to move the state forward. The ad, entitled “Problem Solver,” highlighted some of the governor’s accomplishments during the last 18 months.

In a statement, Marc Goldberg, Hassan’s campaign manager, stated that she had “helped put New Hampshire back on the right track by restoring the traditions of hard work, collaboration and common sense problem solving in Concord. In contrast to the dysfunction and gridlock in Washington, D.C., Governor Hassan has a proven record of working with Republicans, Democrats and Independents to find common ground and get things done to expand middle class opportunity, help innovative businesses create jobs and keep our economy moving in the right direction, without an income or sales tax.”

The NHGOP has filed a right-to-know request about the ad since it was filmed in the governor’s office, even though state law prohibits public employees from using government property for “electioneering.”

A busy NHDP

The state Democratic Party has been busy, busy, busy, as Professor Hinkle says at holiday time. Press contacts have sent out 13 statements in six days, according to our count.

Some of the highlights?

Well, GOP gubernatorial candidate Walt Havenstein has been a big target, with the Dems calling him a “failed CEO” who “drove SAIC into the ground” and is backed by job killers like Mitt Romney and Chris Christie, whose state is 48th in private sector job creation, who is also linked to “extremists” like Rick Perry. The Dems also highlighted Havenstein hypocrisy “cashing in” on the Affordable Care Act when he was a CEO but not supporting coverage from people in need via Medicaid expansion.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has also been the brunt of criticism with a fact check memo attacking his attacks against U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a memo noting that he was in-state tuition before he was against it (phoning John Kerry), and making fun of his green screen television ad where it looked like he was in a cabin when he was actually in a television studio.

The party is following up its emails with personal, one-on-one phone banking, with women contacting other women.

Straw polls are fun!

And both Andrew Hemingway, a candidate for governor, and former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith, got some campaign love earlier this week, winning the Nashua Area Federated Republican Women’s Straw Poll.

Hemingway received 62 percent of the vote in the gubernatorial category while Smith received 54 percent, beating Brown by two-to-one and Jim Rubens, another candidate, by a three-to-one margin.

The Smith campaign called the win “stunning” and stated that it showed a hint of “oncoming winds of change.” Hemingway is following up his win with a gun fundraiser and county-by-county campaign trips during the next two months.

Brown focuses on border control

Brown continues to hammer away at Shaheen’s previous votes including a vote against a bipartisan bill that would have sent thousands of National Guardsmen to Texas four years ago. Brown along with 12 Democrats voted for the bill but it missed the 60-vote threshold by nine votes.

“Because of President Obama and Senator Shaheen, we have an immigration crisis on our hands,” said Colin Reed, Brown’s campaign manager. “Rather than fix the problem, she has made it worse by opposing efforts to secure the border and by supporting amnesty for young illegal immigrants which has encouraged more people to come here in violation of the law. Scott Brown believes that the National Guard can help alleviate problems at the border by providing security and humanitarian assistance to people in need.”

This week, the campaign also noted that only one of Shaheen’s 67 bills has been approved during the last five-plus years that she’s been a Senator and has yet to hold a public town hall meeting during this election cycle.

Brown is also holding town meetings around the state, the campaign noted.

Meanwhile, the incumbent …

… has sponsored a bill to expand contraception coverage for those who served in the military and their relatives.

This week, the campaign called Brown “a phony candidate and now we know even his ads are phony.”

The campaign also chastised the candidate for joining Perry and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in opposing bipartisan immigration reform that is also supported by New Hampshire’s other Senator, Kelly Ayotte, a Republican who has endorsed Brown.

Rubens: Brown, Shaheen too cozy with Wall Street

Online campaign finance reform data can be your friend and the only candidate in the race backed by the MaydayPAC, the anti-SuperPAC SuperPAC, focusing on campaign finance reform, is using the information to his advantage.

Rubens, a Republican and former state Senator, noted that both Brown and Shaheen voted for Dodd-Frank, which protected big banks and put taxpayers on the hook for more bailouts if another collapses occurs. Both have also taken big money from Wall Street, with Brown netting $3.4 million in donations while Shaheen has banked about $1 million.

“Brown and Shaheen voted to stick taxpayers and the entire US economy with the tab for the next financial meltdown,” said Jim Rubens, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate. “While Dodd-Frank fattened Brown and Shaheen’s Wall Street campaign funders, it hurt New Hampshire home buyers and New Hampshire’s small business economy. Caught in the net of 30,000 pages of pending Dodd-Frank regulations, New Hampshire’s community banks and their small business and home buyer customers are less able to make and obtain loans. Wall Street banks can afford the $1,000 an hour lawyers to manipulate the regulatory process; New Hampshire’s small business community cannot.”

Rubens also launched a new radio spot targeting career pols and opened a campaign office in Manchester.

Martin’s for Market Basket

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Andy Martin has been pitching his campaign to Market Basket associates and customers who have been boycotting the chain ever since the firing of CEO Arthur T. DeMoulas in June.

Martin said he is the only candidate in the race who has stood up and supported the workers while accusing Brown of being backed by the same “private equity pirates” who are at the heart of the stalemate.

Martin recently cut footage for a television ad outside of a store in Manchester and spoke to the workers afterwards.

“I looked into the faces of the protesting workers and I was humbled by their humanity,” Martin stated. “They are ordinary people in the godly sense of the word. They are caught up in something much greater than they can probably understand.”

Martin is producing two ads with the footage – one highlight the struggle of the Market Basket workers and the other attacking WMUR-TV for “news bias.”

NH UL goes with Marilinda

The New Hampshire Union Leader, in a relatively early endorsement, came out full steam for state Rep. Marilinda Garcia in the 2nd Congressional District primary battle.

The endorsement noted, “Garcia is the kind of candidate Republicans should be nominating because she is a sharp, thoughtful conservative who can articulate her positions with a depth of understanding and a breadth of appeal that few candidates possess … We have found Garcia to be a rare candidate who does not talk in soundbites, but rather prefers to explain her positions.”

In a statement, Garcia said she was “tremendously honored” to get the endorsement.

“The Union Leader’s support demonstrates our shared commitment to limited taxation, fiscal responsibility, and less government interference in our daily lives,” she said. “It will help ensure that the people of New Hampshire have such a voice in Washington. This endorsement is a reflection of the growing local support that my campaign’s message is attracting.”

Sample ballots are online

If you don’t know who to vote for or would like to see a sample ballot ahead of time, visit the Secretary of State’s Office’s website.