State House Dome: Trump critic, longshot hopeful has spotty record; Edelblut bows out

Sep. 3—A LONGSHOT presidential candidate who filed a lawsuit in Merrimack County Superior Court to knock former President Donald Trump off the ballot in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary has quite a back story.

The lawsuit claims Trump should be disqualified because he encouraged an "insurrection" on Jan. 6, 2021, which would make him ineligible to appear on a ballot, under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Texas Republican John Anthony Castro has been identified as a lawyer in many news accounts, but he is not licensed in any of the 50 states.

On his firm's website, Castro acknowledged that he is a "third-party designee," which authorizes him to practice federal tax law across the country though he doesn't have privileges with any state bar group.

Castro has his critics.

In 2022, Bryan Camp, a professor at Texas Tech University School of Law, gave Castro the "Norm Peterson Award," named after the character on the sitcom "Cheers" who in the show's early years was a sleazy tax accountant who regularly gave "really bad tax advice."

The award is given to anyone who takes a position in a tax case that is "so crazy that it could only have come from Norm," Camp wrote on his website. Past winners included an adviser who told Trump to deduct the costs of maintaining his hair.

"Mr. Castro gets the Norm Peterson award for his advice to a bunch of U.S. taxpayers working in Australia. They had all signed closing agreements with the IRS promising not to claim the Section 911 exclusion for foreign earned income," Camp said.

"Mr. Castro convinced at least 20 of them to renege on the closing agreements. Those taxpayers are all in Tax Court now, facing additional taxes and penalties."

Other interesting bits from Castro's background:

—CIA surveillance: On his personal Twitter account in 2022, Castro said he was under surveillance by the Central Intelligence Agency "at the behest of Donald Trump." He included a video of what he described as attempts to bug his car.

—Cash rich or not so much: He told the Federal Election Commission that he had loaned his campaign $20 million, yet American Express sued him, alleging he owed $53,000 on his credit card. Castro has vigorously denied the claim.

Castro said he is a "federal tax attorney," Trump's administration was behind the surveillance because big businesses were upset over the advice he had given his clients in Australia and the case at issue was pending in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The American Express lawsuit is like a business dispute. With the value of stock I have, I'm definitely liquid up to $20 million," Castro added.

Trump's ballot backers

The two Republicans running for governor are opposed to any attempt to knock Trump off the ballot.

Former Senate President Chuck Morse was the most forceful. He created a petition on his website for citizens to sign urging Secretary of State David Scanlan to reject any such effort.

"Let me be clear: President Trump absolutely belongs on our First in the Nation Primary ballot, and efforts to keep him off the ballot are in stark contrast to our proud New Hampshire presidential primary tradition," Morse said.

"Dave Scanlan is a bright man, he is someone who only looks at the facts," Morse said. "I trust it is going to prove out that this candidate (Trump) is on the ballot."

Without mentioning Trump by name, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte said, "We must leave it up to the voters to decide our elections at the ballot box."

Ayotte's big fundraiser

As we first reported on social media, Ayotte raised more than $500,000 at her first fundraiser in Derry last month. The campaign believes its the largest haul for any New Hampshire candidate for governor from a single event.

More than 100 attended, including some Republicans who backed Morse's U.S. Senate bid in 2022.

Leading hosts were Dick Anagnost, Matt Connors, Andy Crews and Anthony DiLorenzo.

Other major attendees included House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry; Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn; and Trump Super PAC executive and 2022 congressional nominee Karoline Leavitt of Hampton.

Edelblut takes a pass

You could make a good case that Ayotte and Morse could both benefit from Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut's decision to not run for governor in 2024. He made the announcement in a Sunday News op-ed.

The conservative Wilton Republican nearly knocked off Chris Sununu in the 2016 GOP primary for governor and would have been a player had he entered this race.

Edelblut isn't picking sides.

"There will be strong candidates in this race; leaders who will fight to preserve the live free or die spirit of New Hampshire," Edelblut wrote.

"I encourage everyone to get involved, support candidates who will respect the people and the Constitution of the state of New Hampshire."

As the better-known and likely better-financed candidate, Ayotte remains the early favorite. Edelblut's preemptive exit reinforces that.

At the same time, this allows Morse to go after all the Anybody-But-Kelly constituencies, which could include Trump devotees still sore over Ayotte's 2016 snub of the former president.

Binkley's NH run

Republican presidential candidate Ryan Binkley, 56, said there is a good chance he will qualify for the second presidential debate Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

During an interview Friday, the successful Texas business executive and pastor said he has reached the threshold of individual donors to his campaign.

He's jumpstarting his campaign activity with ad buys here and in Iowa to help him get enough support in early state polls to qualify.

Binkley is the president, CEO and co-founder of Generational Equity Group, a mergers and acquisitions and business advisory group headquartered in Texas.

He is also the co-founder and lead pastor of the Create Church, based in Richardson, Texas.

Binkley said he believes his views will resonate in New Hampshire, one of the most secular states in the U.S.

"We are broken financially and we are broken culturally," he said.

"We are buying votes today with our children's credit cards and it has to stop," Binkley said.

To date, Binkley has spent nearly $2 million of his own money on ads and said he's got enough money on hand "to get me through New Hampshire."

Binkley will be at New England College on Sept. 13 for a town hall forum to be broadcast on C-SPAN.

New workforce report

The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute has released a thoughtful issues brief on state's workforce crisis.

The report found the drop in the labor pool was not uniform across the state.

The workforce declined the most, by percentage, in Coos County (4.1%), according to the report. Other rural counties that had relatively large declines included Cheshire (2.6%) and Grafton (2.1%). The state's four southeastern counties had the smallest percentage decreases, the report said.

Lack of access to child care and affordable housing limit workforce growth here, the report said.

Dem knives out for Sanborn

Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley called for House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, to step down from chair of a high-powered commission on casino gaming after Attorney General John Formella announced his office had begun a criminal investigation into her and her spouse, ex-State Sen. Andy Sanborn.

She did that voluntarily on Friday, a decision endorsed by House Speaker Packard.

Bedford Town Councilor Michael Strand, a Democrat speaking for himself, said she has a right to due process.

"However, if these allegations are true, Representative Sanborn must resign from her elected position immediately and retire from any active career in public service," Strand said.

"Serious questions must now be asked about both her and her husband's voting record during their time in the statehouse and senate, and any conflicts of interest uncovered. The public trust must be restored."

Once Andy Sanborn seeks a public hearing to challenge the move to suspend his charity casino license indefinitely, it likely will happen within 30 days.

"This is a pretty straightforward report," said one state official close to the investigation. "I'm not sure what the defense would be."

Sanborn could try to limit the length of a license suspension or ask the lottery agency to allow another individual or vetted casino business to take over his Concord casino operation.

Formella isn't talking about it now, but he will have plenty to say during the charity casino commission's proceedings about what needs to change.

Formella views the existing state law and rules as very weak and in need of fortifying if the state is going to properly police this legalized gambling.

Challenging PragerU

The state Board of Education could take up PragerU's proposal to offer course credit for its videos at its next meeting Sept. 14, and opponents are staging a media call Wednesday.

Among those taking part will be Sarah Robinson and Linds Jakows, of Granite State Progress; AFT-NH president Deb Howes; NEA-NH president Megan Tuttle; James McKim, NAACP Manchester president; State Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright, D-Nashua, and Carisa Corrow, of Educating for Good.

"Advocates for an honest and inclusive public education are seeing a disturbing trend of proposals from Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut that weaken Granite State public education standards and jeopardize honest, inclusive public schools," Robinson said.

Education Chair Andrew Cline said that while PragerU has produced some videos with a conservative bent, those associated with this proposed course are objective.

Council at food bank

The Executive Council is on the road again Wednesday, meeting at the New Hampshire Food Bank in Manchester.

The council will host a food drive, and Gov. Chris Sununu will sign a proclamation marking September Hunger Action Month.

Despite the state's healthy economy, an estimated 7% of all New Hampshire residents, including 8.5% of children, do not know when or where to get their next meal.

DNC deadline comes, goes

The latest extended deadline for New Hampshire's political establishment to bow to the Democratic National Committee came and went last Friday.

The DNC has demanded that the Legislature and Sununu repeal the state's first-in-the-nation primary law and permit no-excuse absentee ballot voting.

DNC officials have warned that if New Hampshire doesn't yield, they will move the state's 2024 primary from the group of early events.

Sununu called the demands "extortion," and a bipartisan team of state and federal officials joined forces to condemn the DNC's actions and insist New Hampshire will stay first.

Dem hopefuls up north

Both Democratic candidates for governor, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord, will speak at the Coos County Democratic Committee's "RISE UP! ENGAGE! VOTE!" event Sept. 17 in Jefferson.

"Both candidates seem to be committed to connecting with voters in even the most rural, faraway regions of our wonderful state, and we appreciate that they are joining us to help rev up the voters in the North Country," said Kathleen Kelley, chair of the resource committee.

Polling in this race is still early, but Craig's 31% unfavorable rating in the University of New Hampshire Survey Center sample last week was noteworthy.

The -9% net for Craig (22% positive to 31% negative) is the lowest number any nominee of either party has had in the past 12 elections.

The closest would be GOP nominee for governor Walt Havenstein, who in 2014 who was at -1% in April 2014.

Craig has time to improve her standing and has some polling points going for her.

In June she led Warmington by 5% in a Public Policy Polling survey, 20% to 15%.

In August she led her opponent by 15% in the Emerson College poll, 30% to 15%.

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