Put your money where your mouth is

Apparently, the Energizer gubernatorial candidate, aka Ed Commish Frank Edelblut, just can’t stand it when he’s not in the news for a media cycle. This time he tried to capture some of the spotlight after UNH officials announced that they would be mandating that all of the employees on its Durham campus be vaxxed by 12/8.

The UNH folks said they were complying with the Biden executive order requiring federal contractors to do just that.

A reminder: UNH, a research university, receives some big bucks from Uncle Sam — in fact, the $161m the university received last fiscal year is more than the state of NH provided in support.

Nevertheless, FE decided it was important to toss in his 2 cents about it and sent out a press release saying that UNH caved to “pressured overreach” by the feds on the issue. And that he himself was “deeply disappointed that the University of New Hampshire was put in a very difficult and untenable situation with unwarranted pressure from its federal partners.” He went on to say that “institutions of higher education should not be imposing vaccine mandates.”

Sorry to deeply disappoint you again Mr. Commish, but just about every private college in NH already has a vax mandate.

So it’s come down to this

Yes, for all intents and purposes — notwithstanding any official announcements — the 2022 campaign is in full swing. Which means you’ve now been given fair warning that the season of exaggeration, bluster, confabulation and occasional outright fabrication is upon us.

Consider Guv Sununu’s rather high-pitched observation during an interview on Jack Heath’s radio show th’other day (the “they” he’s referring to are the members of the congressional delegation):

“The more they screech on their Zoom calls, the more frustrated people are with their delegation. ‘It is not working, it isn’t working, people just want you to do your job, do your job.’” Sure, it’s likely that most “people” want election officials to do their job. But it’s also just as likely that they absolutely have not heard and have no idea what the “screech” charge is about. Except when you take a nanosecond to remember that three of the four-person all-Dem delegation are women and the other is a gay man. Dog whistle anyone?

No one said subtlety was a strong suit for the guv.

On the other side of the two-headed coin, consider the recent crowing by NH Dem Chair Ray Buckley — who, considering the outcome of the Nov. 2020 election, is looking for signs of some kind of reputation renovation, both for himself and the NH Dems as a whole.

Following the election of Harrisville Dem Andrew Maneval to the Cheshire County House seat left vacant after the death of Doug Ley of Jaffrey, RB sounded like a man trying to make 12-year-old Scotch out of lemonade. The election, he said, was “another clear rejection of Chris Sununu and the New Hampshire GOP’s agenda — an agenda that is totally out of step with Granite Staters.”

OK, OK, let’s take a breath here. Sure, AM won the race by a 2-1 margin over Dublin GOPer Rita Mattson. But it’s fair to say, in fact it’s imperative to say, that the outcome was never in doubt, considering that the seat was held by the aforementioned DL for five terms before his passing, and the other seat in the district has been held for just as long by Dick Ames, another Dem. Ten years. Solid Dem.

But, just like imaginary Zoom screeches, you gotta keep filling that media vacuum.

Mask mania

The anti-everything wing of the NHGOP House caucus — unfortunately, the vast majority of its members — finally went completely around the bend, and they may have reached the point of no return and rejoined the rest of the human race.

The last straw came late last month at an exec session of the House Finance Committee. Because of the foresight and raised consciousness of House Speaker Sherm Packard, there was no virtual option for members to attend, so Dem Rep Kathy Rogers of Concord — who has been undergoing chemo treatment for uterine cancer — was forced to attend in person.

And, as anyone who has undergone cancer treatment or knows of anyone who has undergone treatment understands, it makes you particularly vulnerable to any kind of infection. So KR simply asked her “colleagues” on the panel if they would put on a mask as a sign of respect and understanding of what she is going through.

She actually provided all members with a mask with a written message: “Your heartfelt willingness to wear a simple mask goes a long way towards protecting me from catching an infection that could put me back into the hospital. You are allowing me to continue to serve through a simple gesture — for that I am eternally grateful to you.”

So what would you do in a case like that?

Well, guess what: None of the GOPers wore a mask during the session. (All the Dems did, BTW.)

The icing on the cake was that, when the meeting ended, Auburn GOPer Jess Edwards hailed KR’s “courage,” and they all got up to give her an ovation.

Remember, these were the same folks who couldn’t muster the courage to wear a mask, out of concerns for the health of a colleague, for one hour.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

Doesn’t it seem like there’s a dripdrip-dripping in polling numbers every time there’s word of some kind of failure or flaw in the state’s Covid vax efforts and datagathering?

Speaking of which, the guv acknowledged we’re in yet another Covid surge, so you may be excused for wondering why the state is joining the 10-state suit challenging the fed’s vax mandate for companies that get fed $$$.

It’s safe to say that every single member of the NH congressional delegation was breathing a sigh of utter relief after word emerged that the bid to beef up bank reporting requirements to the IRS is likely dead, at least for now.

Add the name of Dem rep Maria Perez of Milford to the looong list of state pols who tweet before they think, this time for using a phrase that has been condemned as calling for the destruction if Israel.