State House Dome: Shadowy group dropping big cash for favored GOP lawmakers

Sep. 4—A SHADOWY Arlington, Virginia, special interest group has made a big down payment on electing constitutional conservatives to the State House in Concord.

In 2020, Make Liberty Win made a foray into legislative races here and elsewhere after getting big donations from conservatives across the country, including $50,000 from House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn.

This time the group has spent $275,000, just on the primary.

That's six times more than all 424 legislators together will get paid their first year in office.

Typically, a well-known incumbent can win a House race for $2,000 or less, though many spend more.

According to campaign finance reports, Make Liberty Win spent more than $18,000 on billboards promoting five House GOP candidates, including $10,338 alone on Rep. Tina Harley of Seabrook.

Other billboards went up for Rep. Thomas Kaczynski and candidates James Connor of Rochester, Cyril Aures of Chichester and Clay Wood of Pittsfield.

Make Liberty Win spent another $256,000 for mail and field literature backing 70 House Republicans and three Senate hopefuls, Rep. Peter Torosian of Atkinson, Lou Gargiulo of Hampton Falls and Rep. Michael Yakubovich of Hooksett.

Each candidate got at least $2,588 worth of literature dropped on their behalf. The Senate hopefuls and many seeking House seats got twice that much help.

GOP leader apologizes

House Majority Leader Osborne apologized for using a racial epithet referring to Black people on a Libertarian web forum 11 years ago.

Osborne, 33 and living in Ohio at the time, used racial slurs while drawing comparisons between sexual abuse of children and lynching.

"If someone says to you that they support lynching a (racial slur), and in fact they really are stimulated by the thought of lynching a (racial slur), would you associate with that person?" Osborne wrote.

"Would you tell people about it? If you say that having an idea that lynching (racial slur) is good is not the same as having an idea that (expletive) kids is good, then that is the source of the disconnect there."

Kathleen Cavalaro, a Democratic candidate for state rep in Rochester, first found the comment and posted it on Twitter. Democratic operatives shopped it with media outlets.

Osborne didn't recall writing the post.

"I was a different person 10 years ago, who would not have understood the impact of that type of comment. And given the context, the goal of the post was to condemn racism and pedophilia. This is not how I communicate today, and I would never condone such a statement now. I am not the first person to have written something in the past that they deeply regret, and I will not be the last," Osborne said.

Gov. Chris Sununu called the comments "horribly inappropriate and wrong," adding Osborne's remorse and apology were "certainly warranted."

House Democratic Leader David Cote of Nashua urged the House leader to punish Osborne.

"It's become clear to me that Speaker (Sherman) Packard has lost control of his majority leader and should terminate Representative Osborne's role as a member of House leadership."

Osborne said he's staying put.

"Out of the numerous inappropriate comments made by members during my tenure as majority leader, I have never called for anyone to resign, or be removed from their position," Osborne said.

Democrats resent the effectiveness of the House GOP caucus, Osborne said.

"Democrats have been looking for any and all reasons to have me removed. They see how successful our team has been at blocking their attempts to raise taxes, grow government, stop educational opportunities for disadvantaged kids, and give more money to special interests," Osborne said.

Sherman seeks UFO vote

You have to have a sense of humor if you're seeking elective office.

Democratic nominee for governor Tom Sherman of Rye kept that in mind, marking Saturday's 57-year anniversary of the "Incident at Exeter," a widely reported UFO sighting by a number of citizens, including two police officers.

"Dr. Sherman will work with federal partners to provide as much transparency as possible around UFO sightings in New Hampshire," the campaign said in a statement.

"The campaign has not ruled out the possibility there's a connection between UFOs and time travel, given how intent far-right Republicans seem to be on restricting women's rights and dragging us back to the past."

They're baaaack

It's the end of August, so like the swallows returning to Capistrano, lawmakers will be headed back to the State House.

Not coincidentally, the ban on mileage reimbursement for trips to Concord during the summer has ended. When legislators aren't paid to show up, the State House corridors become empty bowling alleys.

Study committees are ramping back up. State Sen. Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard, is chairing a weekly group looking at replacing the Site Evaluation Committee.

A report is due by Oct. 15. The panel will recommend disbanding the SEC and folding it into the new Department of Energy while making the Public Utilities Commission the final authority on such matters.

A study of the state's teacher shortage also began last week.

"The big shortage is really in paraprofessionals," said House Education Committee Chairman Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill. "When private employers are begging for people to start at $26 an hour and we're paying these people $12-to-$14 an hour, there are going to be a lot of vacancies."

Fenton, 'liberty' candidate

Bitcoin millionaire Bruce Fenton of Durham hasn't gotten much back on his investment in the U.S. Senate race, but he's stepping up the rhetoric in the closing days.

"I want gay married couples to be able to use Dogecoin to buy fully automatic weapons to protect their marijuana plants," Fenton said.

"That's what I mean when I say freedom. I don't care what religion, race or gender you are. I want maximum freedom for every individual."

Ruckus at Fremont event

A Q and A session for state rep candidates at the Fremont Town Library got wild last week.

People needed passes to attend, and some town officials said they weren't allowed to be there.

Incumbent Rep. Dennis Acton, R-Fremont, and candidate Laurence Miner boycotted the event and invited voters to visit with them at a local ice cream shop.

Fremont resident Keith Stanton assisted with organizing the session and defended it.

"The room had only 41 seats. We restricted it to four candidates, two meeting directors & 35 'questioners.' Passes were issued to every candidate, and 3 supporters; the rest of the seating was held for interested voters," said Stanton, 72.

"One of the candidates, felt it was his right to mob the meeting with his supporters. That person was told, 'No, reserve the room yourself tomorrow, and have your own meeting with your own rules.' Two candidates pulled out. We had a very cordial and productive meeting with the people who did attend, and the resident questioners."

Emily Phillips and Rep. Josh Yokela, R-Fremont, were the two who stayed for the session.

Rebuild NH gives their nod

Rebuildnh.com, the leading voice against Gov. Sununu's actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the 139 candidates they were endorsing in this election.

Chairman Andrew Manuse said all have pledged to support liberty-loving legislation, act within the Constitution, and promote the rule of law.

The group created an online tool to enable voters to search by community for candidates that have their seal of approval.

Senate primary to watch

There's no question the GOP primary in the State Senate to watch is in District 16, where Reps. Michael Yakubovich, R-Hooksett, and Barbara Griffin, R-Goffstown, are squaring off.

The winner is likely to face Manchester Alderman-at-Large June Trisciani, who the Union Leader first reported is mounting a write-in campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Give Griffin most of the men and women "in blue" vote now that she has the endorsement trifecta of the NH Police Association, the NH Troopers Association, and the Manchester Police Patrolman's Association.

Yakubovich went into Griffin's backyard to try to match her by getting the backing of Goffstown Reps. Claire Rouillard and Fred Plett.

Planned Parenthood score

The Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund put out its own legislative scorecard for 2021-2022.

"In New Hampshire, abortion is still safe and legal before 24 weeks. However, as the only state in New England without proactive protections for abortion rights, we know the future of abortion legality will depend upon each election and who holds power in Concord," said Kayla Montgomery, vice president of public affairs.

AFP's pre-primary grades

The fiscally conservative Americans for Prosperity has their fans in Concord scrambling to the web site to advertise they received a gold star from the group.

Several dozen House members, including Speaker Packard, got 100% scores. The highest-ranking state senator was retiring Sen. John Reagan of Deerfield, who got 90%.

The highest-ranking Democrat was Rep. Edith Tucker of Randolph, a state Senate hopeful, who came in at 42%.

YDC victims fund

Attorney General John Formella will present revisions to his plans for operating the $100 million YDC Victims Fund at a special meeting of the Legislative Fiscal Committee on Tuesday.

Committee members had criticisms of an earlier draft Formella put together last month.

Dem mailer still unknown

At the end of last week, the AG confirmed that Reynolds DeWalt, a New Bedford, Mass., print shop, had produced an election mailer about GOP 2nd Congressional District candidate Bob Burns of Pembroke.

They determined that DeWalt is represented by the Elias Law Group, which has represented national Democrats in election lawsuits across the country.

"Reynolds DeWalt and Elias have both refused to disclose to the Attorney General's Office the name of the person or entity responsible for the mailers," the AG updated.

The probe continues into whether the mailings violated election laws.

To review: Vikram unhappy

GOP Senate hopeful Vikram Mansharamani didn't like this newspaper's coverage of his book, "Vikram Means Business," in the Union Leader last week.

The Lincoln businessman thought it should have highlighted its detailed policy views, which he says have no peer in this race, and omitted that he is mired at 5% in independent polls.

"Storyline got lost here. This is not a book about my run. This is a book about my ideas to help get America back on track. It's based on opeds I drafted for @UnionLeader and @ConMonitorNews and @NewHampJournal and @ConwayDailySun. @KlandriganUL obviously didn't read it," Mansharamani posted on Twitter.

Vikram's campaign leaked their own internal poll to another outlet last week, claiming he's in solid third place with 9% support.

For the record, we read the book. All 78 pages of it.

What's the last 78-page book you read?

This book — "not about the Senate race" — mentions the Senate and this race 12 times.

We quoted from the book — twice.

Full disclosure: In my spare time, I'm reading an installment in the great murder mystery series from Elly Griffiths that stars Dr. Ruth Galloway, an English archaeologist.

It's 362 pages.

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