Now that’s partisanship

Yes folks, the guv did appear on Bill Maher’s HBO show th’other day. And, yes, he did tell BM that “I’m assuming” the indicted ex-prez is guilty in the NYC hush money case. And, yes, he actually said just a short while later, in response to the question of whether he’d support the indictee, that he would vote for him if the indictee happens to get the GOP prez nod and runs in ’24.

Sununu and Maher: Sane or not sane?

“I’m going to support the Republican. Does that really surprise you? That a Republican governor and a lifelong Republican would support the Republican (nominee)?” How do you spell “discerning”? BTW, BM wasn’t too thrilled about the guv’s stand on voting for the indictee.

“My friend George Will told me, ‘You gotta have Chris Sununu on because he’s aggressively sane.’ That’s not sane,” he said.

The good old days?

In case you didn’t notice, former NJ guv (and bridge-closing expert) Chris Christie was in town th’other day. And he made some noise, as is his wont, by keeping it 100% about nunuther than the ex-prez he spent so many years sucking up to.

Speaking at St. A’s Institute of Politics, CC talked about the indicted ex-prez’s bid for another term, and waxed a little nostalgic about his own 2016 bid when he basically tore apart Marco Rubio with a debate soundbite about MR’s own soundbite-level stump speech. That was when they were both on the debate stage in NH, and MR fumbled through his statement, saying the same thing about Prez Obama four times without stopping. So CC jumped at the opportunity, pointing to the Fla. Senator and saying, “There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.” A cringefest for MR if ever there was one.

So CC insisted to the folks at St. A’s th’other day that “you better have somebody on that stage who can do to him what I did to Marco, because that’s the only thing that’s gonna defeat Donald Trump. And that means you have to be fearless, because he will come back, and right at you. Because it’s not going to end nicely, no matter what, his end will not be a calm and quiet conclusion.”

For all the truth and/or reality in that statement, there are a coupla things ya gotta remember about that 2016 GOP battle royale NH primary.

First, MR finished fifth in a field of eight legit contenders. But CC — who pinned his hopes on NH, BTW — finished behind him, at sixth, and he ended his campaign a day later. The MR campaign kept ticking for another month and half before its batteries ran out.

“He’s very busy. Too busy for little people like me, I guess.”

— House Majority Leader Jason Osborne after being asked by WMUR’s Adam Sexton about his relationship with the guv.

Licensing limbo

The guv seems to have bitten off more than he can chew this time — and we’re not talking about anything to do with presidential ambitions.

In fact, judging by the bipartisan response of the House Finance Committee, the guv’s proposal to take-no-prisoners when it comes to getting rid of a slew of licensing requirements in NH, he could probably use some Bromo Seltzer about now.

Turns out that the plan — a longtime dream of certain libertarian-minded folks in Concord (the Josiah Bartlett Center) and beyond — to dump a need for licenses in 34 professions, including foresters, licensed nursing assistants, radiologists and court reporters, was met with a resounding “nuh-uh.”

In fact, members of the House Finance Committee who were reviewing the proposal in their budget haggling either had cold feet about the entire thing, were balking at what it would cost the state in revenue, or both.

So they balked at 31 of the 34 license removals.

Of course, there were some pretty intense lobbying efforts on behalf of many of the professions affected and even the guv himself predicted there’d be some, shall we say, hesitation in response to the proposal, but batting 3 for 34 seems a little more robust a reaction.

BTW, around the same time House Finance was losing sleep over the licensing stuff, the full House voted to OK establishing two new licenses for musical therapists and recreational scuba divers to catch lobsters.

Go figure.

Turning up the speaker

You may not have realized, but the NHGOP has finally gotten a new Republican National Committeeman, nunuther than Bill O’Brien, the former House speaker who, shall we say, burned a few bridges during his tenure. But he always had a way of bouncing back.

O’Brien: He’s back

Anyway, the BO’B election to the post puts an end to a rather embarrassing situation that took place back in Feb., when newly elected NHGOP chair Chris Ager tried to convince his executive committee to put the legendary Corey Lewandowski in the job.

No dice, they said. For obvious reasons that seemed to have escaped the new chair. So what does CA do for an encore? Why, he taps another cuddly, loveable guy. Must be sending some kind of message.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

For those keeping track, the latest St. A’s NH prez poll showed the ex-prez with 42% among GOP voters, with Ron DeSantis at 29%. The guv? He was third, at 14%.

Wait a minute: Did the NH Senate GOP actually vote for a bill that would actually require a political party (in this case, the Dems) to seat delegates from NH at their convention?

Interesting that Jay Ruais has managed to clear the GOP field with his bid for the Manch. mayoralty. (Oh that’s right — it’s a nonpartisan election.) Then again, Victoria Sullivan and Rich Girard are two-time losers.