State House Dome: Secretary Scanlan goes to Washington

Apr. 19—SECRETARY OF STATE David Scanlan made his inaugural voyage to Capitol Hill this past week to testify to a U.S. Senate panel about New Hampshire's experience in the vortex of artificial intelligence attacks in American elections.

The National Association of Secretaries of State tapped Scanlan to speak to the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law.

The session was titled, Oversight of AI: Election Deepfakes.

Scanlan spoke about a robocall that used an AI-generated version of President Joe Biden's voice to urge an estimated 5,000 to 25,000 registered Democrats not to vote in the Jan. 23 presidential primary.

The stunt failed, of course, with New Hampshire recording the highest election turnout for an incumbent president's primary in modern history — despite Biden not being on the ballot.

"These are challenging times for secretaries of state, election administrators and voters," Scanlan testified.

During his testimony, Scanlan gave a shout-out to a New Hampshire House-passed bill (HB 1596) that would outlaw deepfakes in elections within 90 days of an election unless a prominent disclosure made it clear that the message was not authentic.

"While not currently a provision in this bill, election officials should be similarly protected to help maintain their credibility as individuals who maintain free and fair elections," Scanlan said.

This bill faces a public hearing before the Senate Election Laws and Municipal Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

Election officials need to be nimble to respond to the latest ways bad actors try to suppress the vote, Scanlan said.

"Attempts to impact the outcome of elections through misinformation and disinformation are nothing new," Scanlan said. "We experience this all the time when hotly contested political races resort to negative campaigns.

"However, over time, the tactics change, and rapidly changing technology that is easily accessible is our new reality. AI deepfakes are just the latest significant challenge facing election administrators," he said. "Malicious and illegal attempts to suppress the vote or manipulate the outcome of an election need to be quickly recognized, stopped, and prosecuted."

Other speakers before the panel led by Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, were Zohaib Ahmed, CEO and co-founder of Resemble AI in Santa Clara, California; Ben Colman, CEO and co-founder of Reality Defender of New York, and Rijul Gupta, CEO of DeepMedia of Oakland, California.

Growing the grassroots

First Congressional District Republican candidate Hollie Noveletsky's campaign issued a memo this past week declaring it has led the field in "grassroots" fundraising since she got into the race in October.

"Since declaring her candidacy for Congress, she has outraised her closest Republican opponent by over $130,000 in the past two quarters. This shows that Granite Staters have overwhelmingly backed Hollie as the conservative outsider who will defeat Chris Pappas, and they are speaking with their financial support," the memo began.

"That strength continued last fundraising quarter as Noveletsky hauled in over $100,000 in grassroots donations while her opposition failed to raise $50,000."

A spokesman for former Executive Councilor Russell Prescott said that by any metric, his campaign has outraised Noveletsky.

Through two quarters, Prescott has raised $664,000, loaned himself $450,000 and has $513,000 cash on hand.

Noveletsky has raised $302,000, loaned herself $65,000 and has $236,000 cash on hand.

So Noveletsky has received about $237,000 in outside donations, and Prescott has $214,000.

"This is nothing more than political spin that voters have no interest in hearing about. By every metric, from fundraising to grassroots support, Russell Prescott continues to prove why he's the front-runner in this race," said Derek Dufresne, general consultant for Prescott's campaign.

"He outraised his opponents this quarter and has more than double the cash on hand of his closest opponent. He's remained respectful with the other Republicans running, has been laser-focused on the issues voters actually care about, and has held Chris Pappas accountable for his failed record."

The latest report for the third major candidate, Derry businessman Chris Bright, was not available.

Bright previously disclosed he had raised about $100,000, loaned his campaign $45,000 and had roughly $47,000 in the bank.

Pappas staffs up

U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., has tapped office communications staffer Kristen Morris to manage his campaign for a fourth term this fall.

Before joining Team Pappas, Morris worked on the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Coos County beef

Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, is determined to reverse a decision by the Northern Border Regional Commission to ignore a bid by Coos County for a grant in support of its 911 dispatch service.

Last year, Kenney worked with Business and Economic Affairs Commissioner Taylor Caswell to lobby the NBRC, after it declined to support the program's previous bid.

Caswell said the commission agreed to alter its criteria to give the program a better shot in future rounds, but in recent weeks Coos County was ruled ineligible to file an application.

Caswell said he already has reached out to North Country officials to help appeal that decision.

Kenney added: "We have got to get this done."

Gov. Chris Sununu said the state should consider "leaning" on the federal delegation, because the commission is a creation of Congress, and New Hampshire members have proved good at landing local projects.

Senate Dem battle

As reported on social media, the decision by Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat has spawned a primary already for her District 15 Senate seat.

First term state Rep. Angela Brennan of Bow and three-termer Rebecca McWilliams of Concord already are in the hunt.

The deep-blue district consists of Concord, Bow and Hopkinton.

Translation: Republicans can apply, but their odds of success aren't good.

Klobuchar returns

Plans were in the works for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to return to the Granite State this weekend to stump for the Biden-Harris ticket.

Klobuchar finished a very competitive third in the 2016 Democratic primary narrowly won by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. Pete Buttigieg came in second.

The schedule had Klobuchar kicking off an office opening in Nashua on Saturday and meeting with voters at a bar in Manchester.

Fish and Game pick

An unprecedented hearing over a personnel complaint against Fish and Game Commissioner Susan Price of Moultonborough heightened attention on the high-stakes search to find a replacement for outgoing executive director Scott Mason of Stratford.

State law gives the 11-member commission a uniquely powerful role in determining the administrative head. They recommend a replacement, who is then voted on by the governor and Executive Council.

If the council rejects the person, the commission must make another recommendation.

In the past, Col. Kevin Jordan, who brought the complaint against Price, has been a fan favorite for this post.

In the past, the process has had a Rubik's Cube quality: You aren't sure of the solution until you get there.

Price expressed interest in becoming the interim head if a permanent replacement isn't found by the time Mason's term is up in August.

Others on the commission have their own experiences, and the search could identify capable candidates outside New Hampshire.

The complaint against Price must be wrapped up next month.

Two of the commissioners are coming up for reappointment in June — Paul DeBow of Plymouth for the Grafton County seat and Albert DeRosa of New Durham, who represents Strafford County.

2nd CD candidate on roll

Vikram Mansharamani of Lincoln has collected an impressive group of early endorsements for his 2nd Congressional District Republican run.

Many were precisely the type of establishment/mainstream GOP leaders he was unable to pull in when he ran in a tough 2022 U.S. Senate primary that included nominee Don Bolduc of Stratham and former Senate President Chuck Morse of Salem.

Bolduc joined the Mansharamani chorus, and though he doesn't live in the district, it's a big pickup .

Mansharamani endorsed Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary, as did Bolduc.

Other Vik supporters include House Majority Leader Jason Osborne of Auburn; ex-U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Rye; former Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Vailas of Bedford; Kathy Edelblut of Wilton (wife of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut); Patty Humphrey of Chichester (wife of former U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey); former House Deputy Speaker Pam Tucker; Nixon Peabody partner Phil Taub; Key Auto Group exec Anthony DiLorenzo; Tuscan Brands CEO Joe Faro of Salem and Manchester entrepreneur Jeremy Hitchcock.

"Republicans of all factions are joining Vikram's campaign. He is clearly the candidate who can unite the party and lead us to victory in the Second Congressional District," Osborne said. "We need a conservative outsider with real world experience to fix the mess in DC."

In the first 72 hours of the race, Mansharamani said he raised $200,000.

Firefighters for Warmington

The Concord Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 1045 endorsed Democrat Cinde Warmington's bid for governor.

The group credited Warmington with spearheading an effort to fund a landmark cancer screening pilot program for firefighters through the Governor's Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery.

"On the Executive Council, Cinde Warmington has been a fierce and reliable advocate for firefighters," said union president Justin Kantar.

Burgum returns

North Dakota Gov. and 2024 presidential candidate Doug Burgum returns to New Hampshire Thursday night to speak at the Cheshire County Eisenhower Dinner as a surrogate for former President Donald Trump.

The event at the Best Western Ballroom starts at 6:30 p.m.

A parade of support

While the Biden-Harris Campaign Committee continue to open offices across the state, the Trump team is all about public displays of affection for the ticket.

The Sunday edition will be a Trump Parade in Rochester that kicks off from the Fairgrounds at 12:30 p.m.

Carlton Cooper is chairing the event.

Shorter vesting nixed

In the fall, a commission studying the state retirement system unanimously recommended a change to allow public employees to become "vested" into the pension system in a shorter period of time.

Currently they must complete 10 years of service. A House-passed bill cut that to five years.

The state Senate recently rejected the bill.

Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, who served on the commission, said the idea appeared to have some merit.

But it lost favor in the upper chamber when some city and town administrators opposed it on the basis that it could worsen the workforce shortage.

The argument was that under the current system, some public employees may be motivated to stay in their jobs longer in order to get vested into the system.

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