State House Dome: Campaign talent fills out Sununu staff

Mar. 7—WHILE WE'RE COOLING our jets waiting for Gov. Chris Sununu to announce if he'll run for the U.S. Senate in 2022 — he says a decision is months away — he continues to bring talented campaign operatives into his office orbit.

The latest is Mark Sanborn, a longtime New Hampshire campaign staffer who most recently served in the Trump administration's Housing and Urban Development office under ex-Secretary and 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson.

Sanborn also has served in the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Transportation and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

Sanborn has joined Sununu's staff as an energy adviser in the Office of Strategic Initiatives. The move is timely, following Sununu's call for a state Department of Energy as part of his proposed budget.

The Sununu office stable now includes campaign vets Benjamin Vihstadt, his communications director; ex-GOP Executive Director Elliot Gault; Legislative Director and campaign aide Christopher Ellms; and Strategic Initiatives Director Jared Chicoine.

Redistricting takes shape

The U.S. Census is more than a month away from supplying New Hampshire with the updated population figures it needs to redraw voting district boundaries for the Legislature, Executive Council and congressional districts.

Wanting to give his Special Committee on Redistricting a running start, House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, already has named its 15 members.

The group is a who's who of New Hampshire political veterans.

As expected, House Election Laws Committee Chairwoman Barbara Griffin, R-Goffstown, will run the panel, but Packard signaled how this group would keep a direct line to leadership by naming Deputy Speaker Steven Smith, R-Charlestown, as vice chairman.

Other Republican members with top credentials include retired Supreme Court Chief Justice and Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham; former GOP State Chairman and Rep. Wayne MacDonald, R-Derry; Executive Departments and Administration Committee Chairman Carol McGuire, R-Epsom; and seasoned campaign operative and first-term Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester.

The Democratic contingent includes ex-Election Laws Chairman David Cote of Nashua, former Finance Chairman Marjorie Smith of Durham, ex-Speaker Pro Tem Lucy Weber of Walpole, Rep. Matt Wilhelm of Manchester, and retired Nashua City Clerk and Rep. Paul Bergeron.

Another member, Rep. Israel Piedra of Manchester, is in his first term but already has shown his legal/political skills.

Piedra joined former House Counsel Paul Twomey recently to make the case in federal court for medically vulnerable legislators to attend House sessions remotely.

Misbehaving in House

Two months into the session, we've had a small pile of House members find themselves mired in controversy.

The latest was Rep. Dick Marston, R-Manchester, who brought the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee to an abrupt halt last Monday after referring to LGBTQ lifestyles as a "deviant sexuality."

Last Friday, Marston apologized.

"As I continue my path toward redemption, I pray that the people I offended can find it in their hearts to forgive me and accept my apology. For the people who are not ready to forgive me, I understand," Marston said. "All I ask is that you not give up on me because I give my word that I continue my progress and guide others to being better people."

Speaker Packard might have been addressing that with his latest admonishment in the House calendar.

"Members are reminded that decorum in committees and decorum during sessions is something we must take seriously, and work with each other to achieve," Packard said.

"This week brought additional reports of behavior unbecoming of an elected official during committee proceedings. At no time is it acceptable to make outlandish statements, or create a disrespectful spectacle in our committee meetings. Our constituents deserve better."

Packard also might have been referring to first-term Rep. Nichole Klein-Knight, D-Manchester, who appeared to pop a marijuana edible into her mouth last Monday while the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee took testimony on medical cannabis legislation.

An exasperated Chairman Daryl Abbas, R-Salem, asked Klein-Knight to cut her video feed so she couldn't be seen for the rest of the hearing.

When the state GOP tweeted about Klein-Knight's actions, she pushed back on social media.

Klein-Knight posted, "Try harder, because that isn't the news today. The news is you support anti LGBTQ+ rights and harbor real disgusting decorum yourselves. Try again."

Property tax update

As the economy continues to recover, lawmakers are looking to increase state spending priorities.

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, won a pivotal test vote, 13-11, on his bill (SB 118) to increase municipal aid to communities by $20 million each of the next two years.

The only condition is that 60% of the aid must be used to offset local property tax increases.

Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, Senate Education Committee Chairman Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard, and Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, broke ranks and voted with all the Democrats to give the measure a lift.

Ricciardi made property tax relief a central theme in her unseating of Peterborough Democrat Jeanne Dietsch last November.

The bill will remain on the table in the Senate, but this means Finance Chairman Gary Daniels, R-Milford, must do his best to try to find room for the $40 million bonus.

Senator's wakeup call

Welcome to the big leagues, Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton.

This was clearly the message Senate Republicans sent last Thursday to their up-and-coming first-term Democratic colleague.

A Senate panel had recommended Whitley's bill reforming the duties of school resource officers (SB 108) come back for revision.

Instead, Senate GOP leaders asked for and convinced the Senate to kill Whitley's bill outright.

Police leaders from Manchester and Nashua had criticized the bill, saying it went too far and could even prevent resource officers from being able to break up schoolyard fights.

After the vote, Whitley responded.

"Today, my Republican colleagues voted to quash efforts to bring law enforcement and child advocates together to discuss how best to protect our school children and enhance school safety, when they voted down any further work on Senate Bill 108," Whitley said.

"That's not the New Hampshire way."

Romney dressed down

While U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney got a black eye after falling in Boston a week ago, back here in New Hampshire the Carroll County Republican Committee was giving its famous summer resident a punch in the gut.

The panel overwhelmingly voted to pass a resolution condemning Romney and six other GOP senators who voted to convict former President Donald Trump at his impeachment trial earlier this month.

The group has asked the GOP State Committee to adopt a similar resolution.

"It's time to have a backbone and stand up for what we believe is right," said committee chairman Frank McCarthy.

Romney owns a large summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro.

GOPer vs. Right-to-Work

Former Senate Majority Leader and lobbyist Robert Clegg has taken on the New Hampshire AFL-CIO as a client opposing the Right-to-Work bill (SB 61)

His Legislative Solutions firm is hosting a luncheon for lawmakers Tuesday at Tandy's Pub & Grill across the street from the State House.

"Republicans have said they want to get regulations and restrictions off the backs of business, and we see this bill that tells private company owners what agreements they may or may not have with their work force," Clegg said. "It's another form of big government we don't need in New Hampshire."

This issue is headed for a very competitive showdown vote in the House later this spring.

Dems on budget attack

Democratic activists hosted virtual news conferences in Durham and Keene to highlight their opposition to Sununu's budget.

"New Hampshire is ranked one of the worst places in the country to go to college," and 61% of Granite Staters attending college leave New Hampshire, said Lily Jackson, a student senator at the University of New Hampshire.

"That's more than almost any other state — and it is likely because New Hampshire has one of the highest in-state tuition rates in the country."

Sununu said his budget would provide the most aid to education in state history. In the wake of declining enrollments, Sununu has proposed merging the two- and four-year college systems, which could bring efficiencies and lower some costs.

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