Koch Front Group Wants to Purchase Seat in Rockingham Dist. 13

On Tuesday, April 28, there is a special election for the NH House in Rockingham District 13 (Hampstead and Kingston). 

The candidates are Democrat Carol Croteau of Kingston and Republican Dennis Green of Hampstead. 

Carol has a candidate Facebook page, where she lists her background:

Kingston Municipal Budget Committee-current
Kingston Planning Board-Alternate -current
Kingston Conservation Commission 2010-2013, Alternate- current
30 years Community Service
20 year Business Experience
Co-Founder of Bully Free NH
Board Member of Family Mediation and Juvenile Services

Dennis has a candidate Facebook page too, where he refers to himself as a politician. 
He doesn't list his background, just this:

My name is Dennis Green and I am asking for your support in Hampstead and Kingston's upcoming special election for State Representative. I am a conservative who believes in limited government, prudent spending and local control when it comes to our school districts. My constituents can count on me to support a balanced budget and to oppose any sales or income tax. 

That's just a snippet. The entire "about me" is just as nonspecific and filled with ideological talking points. We don't know if he's ever done any volunteer work in his community. He says he's been self employed, but he doesn't tell us the name of his business. Usually candidates are eager to give voters information. Not this guy. 

A broader search turned up his personal Facebook page. He has privacy controls set so that the casual viewer can't see anything - anything but his friends list. And he has friends! They include: Koch subsidiary Greg Moore - the guy who runs the NH chapter of Americans for Prosperity; Yvonne Dean-Bailey - the young woman who attends Mt. Holyoke in MA, but wants to (with Koch help) be the state rep from Rockingham Dist. 32; John Burt - the legislator who berated 4th graders about hot dogs from the House floor; Free Staters Carol McGuire and Shem Kellog; DJ Bettencourt - disgraced former NH House Majority Leader under Speaker William O'Brien; and the former speaker himself, State Rep. Bill O'Brien. 

Carol has received mostly individual small donations. Her largest donation was $500 from the Rockingham County Democratic Committee. She's raised $4,200.

Dennis has raised $2,050. His biggest donation was $1,000 from O'Brien's House Republican Victory PAC. It's important to note that it's the O'Brien wing of the NH GOP that supports Green. This is the furthest right fringe crowd - those who bray about Agenda 21, Sharia Law, and MOAR GUNZ! 

The Koch Brothers want to see Dennis Green get elected. Americans for Prosperity has been canvassing and making phone calls in this district. The guy doesn't seem to have any local support - but he has the support of outside special interest groups who are willing to spend all kinds of money to buy a seat in the legislature for Mr. Unknown Dennis Green. 

If you have friends in Hampstead or Kingston, urge them to get out and vote tomorrow - and to vote against special interest groups taking control of our legislature. 

Last Minute Attacks by Shady Non-Profit Affiliated with Americans for Prosperity

This is one of the mailers that has just gone out attacking NH State Representative Robert (Renny) Cushing. Note the stereotyping, the use of FEAR language (WELFARE CARDS!) and of course the incredibly sexist stereotype of a conservative view of what a low income woman looks like. 

There's also something else noteworthy about this mailer. It references HB 1213, a bill that was held over by the legislature for interim study. The House voted in March to send it to interim study. The roll call vote was 175 to 105. (Some fairly reactionary Republicans voted to send it to interim study.)

There have been a number of subcommittee work sessions on the bill, and it's slated to be brought back to the House floor.  This is a craven scare attack on a legislator that is considered a threat. 

That brings us to Part 2. This mailer was paid for by the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition. Who is the NHAC? It is a group originally formed in 1998, aimed at protecting the so-called NH advantage. The founders:

George Lovejoy - Barrington
Roy Stewart - Bedford
Thomas Colburn - Pembroke
Judith Thayer - Manchester
Siobhan Tautkus - Manchester
Bryan Gould - Concord
Diane Gilbert - Epping
Jim Root - Bristol
Ovide Lamontagne - Manchester


They filed only one annual report with the Secretary of State, and that was in 2000. It listed Lovejoy as the president. The non-profit was dissolved/suspended in 2006, and formally dissolved with the IRS in 2011. It was brought back to life later that year by these folks:

Corey Lewandowski - Salem
Ed Sibeleski - Salem
Diane Wolfgang - Windham
Richard Morin - Salem
Matthew Worthen - Hampstead

Corey Lewandowski is employed by Americans for Prosperity - the Koch funded group that is allied with the far right, the John Birch Society, and the Free State Project in NH.

The NH Advantage Coalition has never filed an annual report with the Secretary of State. NH Secretary of State Corporate Search.

In 2012 NHAC received money from AFP.  Americans for Prosperity dutifully reported the $20,000, as you can see by scrolling down to page 24. Note there is no tax ID number  for the NHAC listed on the paperwork.

NHAC also got money from Grover Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform in 2012. NHAC was given $15,000 to fight for "right to work" legislation. The group used the tax ID number from the defunct original corporation that was dissolved with the IRS.

It sure does look as if on top of never filing annual reports with the Sec. of State, the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition is accepting money with an invalid tax ID number. 

This group is obviously scared witless by a decent and principled legislator - so much that they'll lie and commit tax fraud to try to take him down. 

APF: They Often Call me Freedo

From today's Americans for Prosperity email:

Their friends call them Freedo but their real name is Mr. Koch.



I misread it the first time and went here:

AFP-FSP Twins Separated at Birth

This is Greg Moore, from the NH branch of Americans For Prosperity. AFP is a far, far right political advocacy group, funded by the Koch brothers. Here we see him urging members of the Free State Project (armed libertarians moving to NH to take over and dismantle our state government, then threaten secession - also funded by the Koch brothers) to run for office. 

Carla Gericke is the President of the FSP. 
Mark Warden is a soon-to-be former State Representative, pondering a run against State Senator Lou D'Alessandro. 
Dan and Carol McGuire are Free Staters and state reps, living in Epsom. 

This is from the Free State Project website:

We are not a political action organization. We are not tied to any political party or organization; we do not run candidates for election; we do not financially support or endorse candidates; and we do not oppose or endorse legislation. 

Hmmm. One of these things is not like the other. They aren't a political action organization - they just want to act politically. This doe-eyed disingenuous routine is getting old. 

Note: It's true that they aren't tied to any political party. They mostly run as Republicans, but they encourage people to run as a member of whatever party is most likely to get them elected.


h/t to anonymous tipster
h/t to Tuck at miscellany blue.

The DECIDING VOTE on Obamacare

Scott Brown asserts (not very intelligibly) that Senator Shaheen cast the DECIDING VOTE for Obamacare. He says it's true - he was there! This is, of course, the message that his friends the Kochs dba Americans for Prosperity NH are pushing. 

This is the flyer that Americans solely  for the Prosperous are canvassing in Manchester with this weekend:

OMG! It must be true! Scott Brown says he was there! Americans for Prosperity have fliers that say so! After all, Greg Moore wouldn't lie to us...would he? 

Oh dear. It seems that he would. After all, how could Jeanne Shaheen cast the deciding vote if Mary Landrieu did? That's what Americans for Prosperity is saying in Louisiana:




WaPo

Americans for Prosperity needs to get their story straight. 

But wait! If Jeanne Shaheen didn't cast the deciding vote because Mary Landrieu did, how could Bill Nelson have done it? 



American Crossroads is Karl Rove's PAC. Perhaps he and the Kochs need to get their stories straight. 

Uh oh. It was Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas who cast the deciding vote for Obamacare:




But wait - it was Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio who cast the deciding vote! 



OH NO! It wasn't Sherrod Brown - it was Al Franken!



Or at least that's what the Tea Party Patriots think. We now have 6 "deciding votes." 

But wait - there's more!  Ken Cuccinelli, the failed goobernatorial candidate from Virginia claims that Senator Mark Warner cast the tie breaking vote.

So, let's summarize. Jeanne Shaheen, Mary Landrieu, Bill Nelson, Mark Pryor, Sherrod Brown, and Al Franken each cast the deciding vote on Obamacare, according to a variety of wingnut funders and PACS. According to Ken Cuccinelli, Mark Warner cast the tie breaking vote. Presumably all those deciders were tied, and required a tie breaker. 

Or not. What's really going on here is that Big Wingnut Money is spending lots of it to convince low information voters from targeted states that their Senator cast the deciding vote. 

Thanks SCOTUS!  

Panderers to the Prosperous

Here's what we've all been waiting for:  the America Is For The Prosperous - NH Legislative Scorecard. Greg Moore, who was former Speaker O'Brien's babysitter for a while (to the taxpayer tune of $75,000 a year) is now the executive director of Pasty and Pecunious. They've just come out with their legislative report card, based on 13 key votes. The votes included right to work for less, and of course anything that included a revenue stream was on their shit list.

The scoring key was designed by someone who spent many lonely, acne covered hours playing Dungeons and Dragons in high school:

A = Advocate of Prosperity
B = Guardian of Prosperity 
C = Friend of Prosperity
D = Neglector of Prosperity
F = Opponent of Prosperity

Best of all is A+  =   PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY!  That comes with a trumpet fanfare! 

Al Baldasaro is a PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY.  Almost all Democrat scored F's, even the fairly conservative ones. Those who did not were the Free Staters:

Joel Winters, Democrat and Free Stater scored a 31% - an F.  Sorry Joel. You are an OPPONENT OF PROSPERITY. 

The Free Staters who ran as Democrats in order to fool their constituents scored higher than some Republicans. Convenience Democrat and Free Stater Michael Garcia had a score of 100%. He's an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY. Convenience Democrat/Free Stater Anarchist Tim O'Flaherty scored a 91%. He still qualifies as an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.  

Gene Chandler - lifelong Republican and House Minority Leader scored 92%. He gets an A for ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.  But - Republican David Bickford only scored 40%. He gets an F. He's an OPPONENT OF PROSPERITY. Republican James Belanger scored 67%. He's a NEGLECTOR OF PROSPERITY. Brad Bailey scored an 89%. He's a mere GUARDIAN OF PROSPERITY.  How can this dude even hold up his head in public? The man who wants to be our next governor, George Lambert scored 100%, but it was not a perfect score, so he's only an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY. It must gall him a tad that his buddy, JR Hoell had a perfect score and has won the coveted title of PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY.  

The scoring has nothing to do with missed votes. Republican Ronald Belanger missed 9 of the 13 votes, but he still got a score of 100%. Ronald is an ADVOCATE  OF PROSPERITY. We all know Kyle Tasker missed a bunch of votes this session. Kyle still  gets a 100% score, making him an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.


This scorecard is telling on 2 levels.  These are not people who are thinking about the future of our state. They are thinking about keeping their seats in the next election. 

And any Democrat who gets a high score isn't one. 

What is Wrong With the NH Media: An Illustration

Big press conference today at the LOB, on the subject of medicaid expansion. Good speakers, good experts who gave  good answers to questions. Lots of media.

And what did the reporters from our major papers do the minute the press conference ended?

They raced over to Greg Moore of Americans for Prosperity. As you can see in the picture above, Moore is surrounded by Kevin Landrigan of the Nashua Telegraph, Garry Rayno of the Union Leader, and Norma Love of the AP.

Greg Moore is not an expert on health care or Medicaid. Greg Moore is a shill for a far rightwing group that claims tax free status so they don't have to disclose their donors. (Don't whinge about the IRS, APF. You slithered through - and the last thing you are is charitable. To anyone.)

Some of those donors are undoubtedly paying for Greg Moore's health insurance. During the last biennium his insurance was paid by NH taxpayers, while he worked for disgraced former speaker Bill O'Brien.

This is what is wrong with the NH media. A roomful of experts to talk to, but  they'll break their legs to interview a wingnut who has nothing but propaganda to offer.