Packing NH Hits Nashua Democrat

After hitting a Concord state Representative with a mailer about the purchase of a police armored vehicle, a new pro-gun political action committee is now hitting another Democrat, this time in Nashua, for her votes on spending and state budget increases.

Packing NH has targeted District 13 state Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua, with a new mailer reporting that she helped to institute more than 100 new taxes and fees, as well as voting to increase state spending by nearly $2 billion during her six years in the state Senate.

State Rep. J.R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, one of the organizers of Packing NH, said the group is supporting candidates that stand “to support, defend, and protect the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution and natural rights” while also highlighting whether candidates were fiscally responsible. He stated that the handful of candidates they were targeting in this cycle had also worked to re-write HB 1264, a bill that would have allowed citizens of other states to carry in New Hampshire, based on the rights they had in their home states. Hoell said it was important for the gun ownership movement to stress “universal reciprocity” when it came to 2nd Amendment rights.

“If you’re good in your home state, it’s good anywhere else, just like a marriage license,” Hoell said, adding that it was about rewarding “goods states” and having more people carrying more firearms which ultimately made communities safer.

Instead of allowing an up or down vote on the bill, Hoell said representatives re-wrote the bill as a study committee about gun control, infuriating the bill’s sponsors.

Hoell said along with Lasky and state Rep. Steve Shurtleff, D-Penacook, who also hopes to be come speaker, the group targeted state Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, and state Rep. Edward Butler, D-Harts Location.

Hoell said that group wasn’t involved in the federal cycle but would have also targeted Republicans like Scott Brown, who he deemed was not acceptable on gun ownership protections, if Brown were running for a state office.

The group also made a donation to Doris Hohensee, the Republican challenging Lasky, who Hoell said was great on both gun and fiscal issues.

District 13 was the only state Senate race the group got involved in, he said.

The 2014 election cycle has been mired by all kinds of mailers that were borderline libelous, full of negativity, and revealed personal issues about candidates running for office that most voters didn’t know, although it doesn’t appear as if the election will become as damning as the 2012 cycle.