Taking sides

As is his wont, SOS Billy Gardner gets his back up anytime anyone even hints at the thought of changing things when it comes to voting, especially in NH.

This go-round, he’s got his sights set on HR 1, legislation making its way through Congress that SOSBG calls “an unjustified federal intrusion” into NH’s voting process that “will damage voter confidence, diminish the importance of Election Day itself and ultimately result in lower voter turnout.”

He made his claims – which, fortunately had no mention of biblical plagues, at least not yet, during a virtual hearing of the US Senate Judiciary Committee.

The upshot of his appearance: He tried his best to put himself front and center in a national debate over expanding voting rights — or, in some cases, just maintaining the rights people already have. And he seems to have succeeded.

The interesting thing is that, ever since 2017, when he was apparently eager to appear before the ex-prez’s trumped-up “voting rights” commission, he seems to inserting himself forcefully on the GOP side of things. OK, “seems to be” is a little wishywashy. He is inserting himself forcefully on the GOP side of things. Which is certainly his prerogative.

And SOSBG has — ever since 2017 — become not only one of the GOPers favorite SOSes, but one of their favorite Dems, too.

That’s because SOSBG was a registered Dem in the 1970s when he first became SOS. Although has anyone asked him lately whether he still is?

“Corey Lewandowski has been keeping him updated, and he’s been asking about it for a long time. So, hopefully, we’ll get an answer for the people. We’ll get an answer for him.”

– Windham Selectman Bruce Breton, the ex-prez’s self-styled election fraud watchdog on the vote recount brouhaha going on in the town. You don’t have to guess who the “him” is he’s referring to — just check out the photo.

The running man

Just to keep you up to date on the whereabouts and activities of Rye resident Scott Brown — the former ambassador to New Zealand, former GOP senator from Mass. and former defeated US Senate candidate in NH — let’s take a quick look.

Apparently, SB still feels the love for his former home state, at least when it comes to some of his favorite activities — road races and other athletic events.

According to The Boston Globe, SB — a longtime triathlete — realized that there was a possibility that Guv Charlie Baker might not move soon enough to allow such events, so he reached out to Mass. officials about his concern — and, lo and behold, CB just upped and removed restrictions.

Unfortunately for Mass., the decision came a little late for some races in Mass. — in fact, at least three were moved to NH because of Bay State restrictions. Dual loyalties?

Oh, and BTW, just to round out the SB update: After he left as the Trump ambassador to NZ, SB was named president of New England Law in Boston, so even tho he lives in NH, he’s back in his second-favorite state. At least that’s what Granite Staters were led to believe.

Early Halloween Alert: Be on the lookout for Dave Ridley, the Free Stater who’s decided to turn to nonviolent resistance in protesting the feds’ bitcoin raid last month in Keene. In his words, he will, “accoutrement an historically accurate Gandhi costume” (ed. note: decide for yourself — above) and walk from Keene to the fed. building in Concord to air “the peoples’ grievances against Washington.”

Ya gotta believe

There’s something almost quaint about the NH Log Cabin Republicans.

After all, the group, which just named ex-state senator Dan Innis as its new chair, is still pushing to get the GOP to move into the early 21st century when it comes to marriage equality and finally recognize its existence in the party platform. That goes for the NHGOP and the national party.

Well, maybe not recognize the existence of marriage equality — that might be a bridge too far. But what he wants to do is get the party to just get rid of the part of the platform that essentially condemns the idea of gay marriage by stating it’s an institution that only belongs to heterosexuals. In other words, if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.

“That’s just the best way to go about it,” Innis said. “It’s time, and I think more Republicans are on board with that than ever before.”

Quaint, isn’t it?

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Does anyone know what is the price of a US Supreme Court appeal of a lower-court decision backing Dem reps who challenged the decision to bar remote access to House sessions?

It is pretty interesting that both Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan have jumped on the anti-Afghanistan withdrawal bandwagon. Guess it isn’t exactly a profilein-courage moment, then.

Is there a point to the House bill that would make Daylight Savings Time the year-round time zone of NH, but only if Maine and Mass. follow suit? What about Vermont, Conn., and RI … and NY and NJ? You get the idea.

So ex-NJ guv Chris Christie says he’s mulling a prez run in ’24. If you’re interested, the over-under is 7% — the total he got when he tried the same thing in the ’16 NH primary.