Although Tea Party incumbent Frank Guinta has been exposed for violating campaign finance regulations and lying about $350,000 he illegally took from his parents, causing senior New Hampshire Republicans, including Senator Kelly Ayotte, to demand he resign, it still looks like he'll be the GOP nominee for the notoriously swingy NH-01 congressional seat. (Obama won the district against McCain 53-46% and then beat Romney 50-48%.) Dan Innis, then a first-time candidate and a former dean of the University of New Hampshire Business School, came close to beating Frank Guinta in the 2014 Republican primary. This time, when he takes on Guinta again, he won't be a first-time candidate. Innis is likely to be one of several Republicans challenging Guinta. Another Tea Partry imbecile (the ex-deputy speaker of the state House), Rep. Pam Tucker, is probably running. And the 2010 candidate whom Guinta used the illegal campaign cash to beat, Rich Ashooh, says he's running again. Landscaper Jamieson Gradert is in too. I guess everyone was encouraged when New Hampshire Republican Party chair Jennifer Horn publicly stated that Guinta can't be trusted. And when the right-wing Union Leader ran its now infamous six-word editorial:As usual-- and as expected-- the DCCC has been re-recruiting all kinds of loser candidates to run in 2016 with promises that it will be a good year for Democrats. First and foremost Denny Heck's right-of-center Recruitment Committee is looking for New Dems and Blue Dogs, the worst garbage the Democratic Party has to offer. They specialize in trying to lure back the dreck that lost in the last cycle, usually because of an inability to motivate Democratic voters to go vote-- due to wishy-washy stances, grotesque inauthenticity and fealty to rich campaign donors rather than base voters. Several defeated incumbents have already turned them down-- like John Barrow (GA), Joe Garcia (FL), Dan Maffei (NY), Steven Horsford (NV) and Ron Barber (AZ)-- but they have some really unsavory characters they're looking to get behind again: Brad Schneider (IL) and Pete Gallego (TX) being two especially bad standouts. One incumbent Heck's conservative committee is NOT recruiting-- and remember, both contemptible former DCCC chairs Steve Israel and Chris Van Hollen are members of the committee-- is Carol Shea-Porter, the only progressive incumbent who lost a seat in 2014. The DCCC has been trash-talking her and looking at alternative candidates like a centrist gay New York carpetbagger and Wall Street shill-- no, not Sean Eldridge, this one spells his first name differently: Shawn O'Connor. But like Sean, Shawn is liberal on LGBT and other social issues and more GOP-lite/conservative on anything that concerns the legitimate interests of working families. O'Connor is part of the "Third Way" movement. "The leaders of both major parties, seeking political advantage, have presented voters with a dangerous false choice that has paralyzed our nation," he wrote on Forbes.com.
House Republicans want to cut income taxes on the wealthiest Americans from 39.6% to 25% and turn Medicare into a voucher program which could leave some senior citizens without critical medical coverage. At the same time, Senate Democrats want to increase federal taxes by another $1 trillion dollars (when many in New York City, for example, already pay 54% of their income in federal, state and local taxes) adhering to an orthodoxy that more federal spending will automatically drive growth and job creation. America needs to return to its entrepreneurial roots so that we can grow our way out of this crisis. A rebirth of American small businesses will slash the unemployment rate while substantially increasing tax revenues without raising rates.
Despite what DCCC bosses in Washington want, though, New Hampshire Democrats already have a candidate they love, former and future Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter. Like Jeb Bush and John Kasich, O'Connor worked for Lehman before it went belly up and collapsed the U.S. economy. He doesn't talk about Lehman in his résumé, instead focusing on his work on the board of the Red River Theatre in Concord as the qualification he needs to carry New Hampshire Democrats' banner into the 2016 congressional race. Saturday, at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention, Carol officially announced that she's running, much to the delight of NH-01 activists and much to the chagrin of shithead losers like Israel, Heck and Van Hollen back in Washington. This, in part, is the letter Carol sent her supporters as she was announcing.
During my three terms serving the good people of New Hampshire's First District, I never forgot that public office is a public trust. I’m running again because I have the experience, the competence, and the integrity to serve the rest of us and to fight against special interests. I never take money from corporate PACs and DC lobbyists, so, to quote Shirley Chisholm, I am "unbought and unbossed"-- and, I might add, unbreakable! That’s why I have won most of my races in a district that is only 26% Democratic. Even before my time in Congress, I spent my professional life serving others. Although I had never run for a public office before, I ran for Congress after I volunteered in New Orleans during the Katrina disaster. I knew President Bush and his political allies had failed America in so many ways, and that was not acceptable to me. I wanted to provide honest service to the people. It was a great honor to be the first woman ever elected to federal office from NH, and I kept my promise to serve the rest of us. I worked hard to pass legislation that helped troops and veterans, families, small business owners, working men and women, senior citizens, and students. I believe that affordable education creates prosperity, that renewable energy is key to our economic and national security, and that sending manufacturing jobs overseas hurts American workers and small businesses. I believe that investing in infrastructure, fostering job creation, and fair pay are good business decisions and good moral decisions, and that we can reduce the debt without dismantling essential programs.The current Republican-controlled House of Representatives obstructs legislation that will help average Americans and bows to special interests instead of focusing on job creation and good government. My Dad, who was a Republican, never forgot the power of good government to transform lives. He served in WWII, and then America thanked him with the GI bill for college so his children were raised in the middle class. (I thought of Dad and his generation when I cosponsored the new GI Bill of Rights for this generation, now law.) My Mom and Dad worked hard, raised a family, and served their community. My parents paid their taxes and when they retired, received Social Security benefits and Medicare. It was a contract. My parents supported these programs when they worked, and used them when they retired. My parents lived the American dream, and so have I. Now, we must work to keep America the land of opportunity and fairness for your children and mine.
Blue America endorsed Carol's candidacy within moments of her announcement. If you'd like to help her replace Guinta, who voted against the Iran deal two weeks ago and for defunding Planned Parenthood last week, please consider making a contribution through ActBlue.