State House Dome: Bolduc says he needs to get past 'general' stereotype

Oct. 16—SENATE REPUBLICAN nominee Don Bolduc said the most-asked question he gets on the campaign trail is how his personality as a retired brigadier general would translate to Capitol Hill, where junior senators are often better off seen than heard.

"There are many people who don't know me, that judge me as a heartless general who stands up at the position of attention and follows orders," Bolduc said in his closing at the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce forum.

This is why he brings up volunteering with his wife, Sharon, during the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver Meals on Wheels in Manchester.

During an interview, Bolduc said he needs voters to know that he was a military leader who cared about the physical and mental health of his troops.

"I tried to get words like compassion, empathy and humanity in the dialogue of leadership traits in the military, but they were considered by the leadership as being too soft terms," Bolduc said.

Later he added, "When you have not brought home 72 service members of your own, when you have looked these families in the eye, you realize compassion, humanity and empathy are huge qualities we need that will make a difference."

Bolduc said he differed with his leaders about the Army's approach dealing with servicemen and women with "mental injury."

"I was removed from service for that. I was asked to retire because I did not follow their approach," Bolduc added.

'Reformers' call out Bolduc China connection

The Sunday News obtained a letter sent to Bolduc's campaign calling on the candidate to drop his top political adviser, Rick Wiley, because his firm lobbied on behalf of a company with ties to the Chinese government.

Dan Weeks of Nashua and Betty Tamposi of New Castle pointed out Bolduc has been tough on China.

Last week, Bolduc embraced legislation to prevent any company that gets money from the CHIPS Act to build any facility in China for the next 10 years.

In 2018, ZTE Corporation, a Chinese telecommunications company with part ownership ties to the Chinese government, hired Wiley's lobbying firm, Black Diamond Strategies.

Wiley was listed as working on the account for a few months, and ZTE paid Black Diamond Strategies at least $480,000 to lobby on regulatory issues.

ZTE admitted to violating U.S. sanctions when it exported American equipment to Iran.

"Mr. Wiley's work for your campaign clearly poses a serious conflict of interest, and the only appropriate course of action would be to remove Mr. Wiley as the senior advisor of your U.S. Senate campaign," Weeks and Tamposi wrote.

Bolduc campaign spokesperson Kate Constantini said disclosure reports were incorrect that Wiley ever lobbied for the firm and dismissed the request.

"Senator Hassan's campaign must be really getting desperate if they're trotting out liberal activists to talk about campaign staff. With priorities like these, no wonder Hassan is viewed so unfavorably by her constituents," she said.

Wiley said the campaign did not receive this letter before it was leaked to the Sunday News.

A former Democratic nominee for Executive Council, Weeks played a prominent role in Hassan's campaign ad casting her as an "independent" voice in the Senate.

Tamposi is a former staffer in the George H.W. Bush administration's State Department.

Since then, she has sided at times with Democrats such as when she led a group of Republicans for Jeanne Shaheen in her 2020 reelection campaign.

NH Dems: Tulsi Gabbard should stay home

2020 Democratic presidential candidate and ex-Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced last Tuesday she was leaving the Democratic Party.

The Bolduc campaign said the following morning that she would campaign for him in New Hampshire.

Gabbard joins Bolduc for a town hall forum Sunday in Brentwood and Monday a meet-and-greet in Laconia and a town hall forum in North Conway.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Republican congressional candidate Karoline Leavitt of Hampton announced on Thursday that Gabbard will co-host a press conference with her on energy prices.

The event is at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Estey's Country Store in Londonderry.

Bolduc said he doesn't agree with Gabbard on some key issues, but both are outsiders dedicated to changing the status quo.

To no one's surprise, Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said Gabbard won't help these GOP candidates win on Nov. 8.

"Tulsi Gabbard is a Vladimir Putin apologist who has pushed conspiracy theories and stood with dangerous tyrants over the United States," Buckley said in a statement.

"By campaigning with a pro-Putin, extreme conspiracy theorist like Gabbard, Don Bolduc is making only more clear how out of step he is with NH."

In response to the Leavitt event, the Democrats put out their response in English and Russian.

Big surplus last year

The unaudited report of New Hampshire's state budget has come out for the year that ended June 30.

It will be a few months before auditors confirm these numbers, but they identified the year ending with a surplus of $361.3 million.

Some other takeaways from the report:

—Lapses: State agency management and probably the workforce shortage together resulted in much more unspent money being returning to the treasury than predicted.

Legislative budget writers in the spring of 2021 instructed agency heads to lapse $64.8 million last June 30; the total amount unspent returned to state coffers was $108 million.

—Education Trust Fund: In some past years, the state's general fund has make up for a shortfall in the education fund that pays out state aid to public schools.

This past year the education fund finished $108 million in the black.

—Legislative specials: During the 2022 session, lawmakers added to last year's budget spending totaling $65.5 million, which included $50 million for municipal road and bridge projects.

Birth father rights bill up for debate

The House Judiciary Committee Tuesday is to vote on whether it endorses the concept of legislation that would give a biological father the right to ask a judge to block a woman from having an abortion (HB 1181).

The House shipped this anti-abortion bill back to committee for further study.

Whatever position the House committee ends up taking, the entire topic has to start all over again as a new bill in 2023.

House GOP rakes it in

The Committee to Elect House Republicans drew a good crowd to its fundraiser last Tuesday at the Tuscan Kitchen in Salem.

Tickets were $100 apiece with sponsorships up to $5,000 each.

The lead sponsor? Former Secretary of State and potential 2020 presidential candidate Mike Pompeo. Novel Iron Works was also on the masthead of the event.

Dashboard for COVID spending in public schools

Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut announced his agency has a new dashboard to provide transparency for how the state has spent a record $650 million the state and schools has gotten from federal COVID-19 relief programs.

Jessica Lescarbeau, COVID-19 education grant administrator, said the iGrant dashboard includes spending details for all school districts and breaks it down by geographic region and spending purpose.

One obvious conclusion is school districts are still waiting for reimbursement from the second phase of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER).

While districts have approval to spend 99% of the $130 million in these grant funds, they have only been reimbursed for 55% of those requests.

The federal law requires the second phase of ESSER has to be spent by next Sept. 30.

Scanlan praises election workers for homework

Secretary of State David Scanlan signaled out election workers who have attended the most training sessions his office has offered in this election cycle.

The state held 18 training sessions on ballot procedures and election laws.

While they were not mandatory, 241 clerks and deputies attended them.

The top four attending the most were Newport Town Clerk Liselle Dufort (11), Northumberland Town Clerk Melinda "Min" Kennett (10), Merrimack Town Clerk Diane Trippett (10) and Langdon Town Clerk Diane Collins (9).

Scanlan named another two dozen who had showed up for at least seven sessions.

"Our office appreciates the dedication of our local clerks, particularly those mentioned above, in ensuring New Hampshire elections are well-run and instill confidence in our voters," Scanlan said.

Insurance Department goes to college

The New Hampshire Insurance Department and New England College announced a first-of-its-kind college course on the industry, which debuts in the spring 2023 semester.

The four-credit course will include the chance for students to do an internship at the agency for additional credit.

A team of state insurance experts will teach the course.

AARP NH poll review

Next Wednesday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, AARP-N.H. will do a deep dive on its recent poll.

NHIOP Executive Director Neil Levesque will join AARP-N.H. Executive Director Christina FitzPatrick for the 11:30 a.m. event.

Bob Ward with Fabrizio Ward told reporters last week the percentage of voters who listed abortion as a top issue was the highest he had seen in all the state's he's worked in this cycle.

Matt Hogan of Impact Research said late-breaking events on the trail will influence voters more than most states since New Hampshire doesn't have either early voting or voting by mail.

Sex ed on council agenda

Count on Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, D-Concord, at the next council meeting Wednesday to try and take off the table and pass a sex education grant the Republican-led council put on the shelf a month ago.

For a decade, these federally funded programs have operated in Manchester and Claremont, cities with some of the state's highest rates of teen pregnancy.

Supporters note parental consent is required for their students to participate in the program.

Councilor David Wheeler, R-Milford, has led the opposition to the grant with backing from Councilors Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, and Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield.

Wheeler said the program promotes youth promiscuity.

The Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts developed the Get Real curriculum.

Heath goes off on Dems

"Good Morning New Hampshire" radio host Jack Heath unleashed a stinging commentary Friday aimed at Sen. Maggie Hassan and U.S. Reps. Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster, all three D-N.H., who declined invitations to debate their GOP opponents on his program.

"We want New Hampshire campaigns with New Hampshire candidates who don't forget where they came from," Heath summed up.

"What I'm seeing now, for the first time in my life, are candidates who want to campaign like they're not from New Hampshire. It's like they're full-time Washington, D.C., multimillionaire politicians all of a sudden; and that's not New Hampshire."

The first Hassan-Bolduc debate, one of three that Hassan said she'll take part in, goes off Tuesday in Center Conway, sponsored by the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council.

There is no live audience for this 9 a.m. event at the old town hall building, but it will be livestreamed at the Valley Vision Facebook page.

Kevin Landrigan is State House Bureauu Chief for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at klandrigan@unionleader.com.