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In today's Times, there is an excellent story about Americans for Job Security, the secretive political operation that gets away with spending millions on political ads without disclosing the source of its funds by expoliting weaknesses and loopholes in campaign finance laws, and also because neither the FEC nor the IRS are diligent in enforcing the laws regarding campaign finance and poltiical activity by "non-profits".
David Carney is a long time "consultant" to AJS, so he is prominently mentioned. Something I didn't know about Carney is that he is a principle of Crossroads Media, a political media company. I had never heard of Crossroads, but thought, hmm, Carney was a consultant to Sean Mahoney, Mahoney did lots of tv ads but little grassroots activity. Coincidence?
If you look at Mahoney's July quarterly report at the FEC website, Mahoney paid Crossraods Media, as of the end of June, $336,000 for advertising. In addition, he paid Norway Hill, another of Carney's companies, nearly $20,000 in fees. This does not include anything spent starting on July 1, 2010, and if you were watching tv in the last four weeks before the primary, you know that Sean Mahoney was buying a lot of tv time.
Mahoney, publisher of Business NH magazine, said, "I've spent countless nights worrying about how to make payroll the next week, how to make rent the next month."
Here's one place to look, perhaps: At last count, Mahoney had lent his campaign more than $900,000 from his own pocket.
Will. Not. Be Tempted. To. Rhyme. Last. Name. With. Obvious. Character. Trait. (Repeat)
("A loving relationship between two people, entailing rights and responsibilities recognized by the state." No charge, Sean. - promoted by elwood)
I kind of like Sean Mahoney, personally. We've only talked a couple of brief times, but I've followed his career and the things he's done, and I think he's an okay guy. Of course, it takes a lot for me not to like someone because I appreciate most people. I wouldn't vote for him for Congress -- certainly not against Carol Shea-Porter -- but wouldn't mind seeing him on something, like, perhaps Portsmouth City Council someday. Maybe.
I did like his father a lot, who I would talk with frequently about business matters when I was in the NH State Senate. I forget exactly what specific issue it was that we first discussed, but I remember we disagreed rather heavily. But after that we teamed up frequently on some things, and had three or four lunches -- he paid, in those days I didn't have to fill out any forms about who took me to lunch. He was a pleasant fellow who was widely respected.
I've disagreed with Sean Mahoney on many of his views, which I find kind of poll-oriented in his effort to get elected to something. I mean, he has all this money in his bank account, but he probably feels a little unfulfilled at this point of his life, so he wants to get a new title. So, he's hired his pollsters, some staff, filed a few forms, put a lot of ads on TV and radio, and now he stands a chance to join the Washington Republican Club. That would be even better than owning a golf course for young up-and-coming millionaires.
The first district GOP primary was so boring before Sean Mahoney got into it.
Just an observation on my part - not connected in any way whatsoever with the following excerpt from a Rich Ashooh press release about a phone smear campaign against Frank Guinta:
Negative and deceptive phone calls erroneously blamed on Ashooh Campaign
Third party illegally using campaign number to place calls, complaint filed with NH AG
..."We have become aware that a negative and deceptive telephone campaign has been launched which gives the appearance that the Ashooh campaign is the source of the calls. We unequivocally deny any involvement with this activity and call on the perpetrators to cease and desist immediately.
"This activity is not only improper it is also illegal and we have notified the New Hampshire AG's office. They are reviewing this issue for possible criminal prosecution. We encourage anyone who receives one of these illegal calls to contact the AG's office directly at 271-3650.
The majority of New Hampshire voters firmly support Roe v. Wade, but you'd never know it from the rhetoric in the Republican primary for the 1st District Congressional seat. As the battle between Frank Guinta and Sean Mahoney goes down to the wire, both candidates are pandering to the party's radical right by accusing their opponent of being insufficiently pro-life.
The initial salvos are being fired by surrogates. The Mahoney camp claims Guinta’s record on abortion is at odds with his "stump rhetoric" and points to several votes in the New Hampshire House they claim are contrary to a pro-life position.
They trotted out an endorsement from Ed Holdgate, former president of New Hampshire Right to Life:
Some 10 years ago when Frank Guinta kept casting pro-abortion votes in the NH House, Sean Mahoney was marching in the January snow with hundreds of us at the annual Concord March for Life.
They're too chicken to go after Boomers and seniors - they know it'll cost them votes. Instead, New Hampshire Republican candidates for federal office are gunning to loot Gen X-ers and Millenials and the disabled, who they think are paying less attention.
Frank Guinta:
When it comes to reforming Social Security and other programs, he would consider creating personal accounts and increasing the retirement age.
"Everything has to be on the table," said Guinta.
Sean Mahoney:
"But the younger generations, they need to understand there should be other options. Your retirement age may be later in life than your parents' were."He also said younger people should "be able to have a private option, take some ownership over your own retirement."
When questioned about a recent adjustment made to his financial disclosure filings -- to include a personal savings account of between $250,000 and $500,000 not previously listed -- Guinta defended himself, calling the mistake a simple error.
...But others said the error could hint at an ethical misstep.
"This is a golden opportunity for us to beat Carol Shea-Porter and I want to make sure we have a nominee that is free of ethical concerns clouding their candidacy," Mahoney said. "I think we're doing ourselves a disservice when there are still questions that remain around candidates."
According to the FEC site, Mahoney twice failed to file required reports - at all. Twice the FEC sent notices by Western Union to Mahoney to tell him he had not filed a report despite prior notice. How can a candidate forget that he is supposed to file an FEC report? It isn't like Mahoney doesn't have the money to hire someone to do his reports. He just didn't follow the law.
The FEC ended up fining Mahoney $9,000 for the '02 campaign. That might sound small, until you look at what other candidates were getting. The release that announced the fine listed 34 fines for other candidates and committees - the average fine was $984. In other words, Mahoney was fined nearly ten times the average of the others, which tells you that the FEC thought Mahoney's violations deserved more than the slap on the wrist typically given.
(Oops - meant to promote this yesterday. - promoted by Dean Barker)
What IS it with election time that brings out the worst in politicians? What is it that we want to sound either so fluffy and puffy that we don't say anything that we believe, or we want to appeal to the lowest common denominator so we take "positions" and use "buzz words" that our pollsters say we should emphasize in order to get votes?
Bill Binnie, who if you don't have a television or a Republican mailbox you might not know is running for United States Senate, is saying don't believe the facts about his business career which indicate that he has found a step-by-step way to become wealthy in the global market: 1, move your businesses over the border, 2, pay less for less, 3, and since you don't have to deal with big bad unions or pay those horrible American wages, you can increase your profit margin on what you sell and make more money. Then you can pay for full page ads calling The Union Leader unfactual in reporting the facts. Follow all that? It's Binnie Business 101, and he's trying to get permission to offer a startup class beginning in January.
Then there's this former Manchester mayor guy, who explains that he just forgot his $250,000 bank account. Yep, I understand. But for me, if I misplace a $20 bill I fret about it all day. Was it in that pocket, or this one, or did I leave it in that draw, or in my glove compartment? I guess though if you've got a lot of money and don't live paycheck to paycheck like regular folk, you can misplace and forget about a quarter of a mill. I'm still looking for that $20. If I see the mayor dude I'll ask where his favorite hiding spots are, and that might give me a clue where to look.
The Seacoast Republican Women hosted a candidate forum last night in Portsmouth. The doubleheader began with the six GOP candidates for the 1st Congressional District seat, followed by 90 minutes with the six GOP U.S. Senatorial candidates. My observations and impressions follow.
General
Atmosphere: Large, enthusiastic audience. The moderator stressed the event was "educational and informational" in nature and discouraged confrontation. The candidates followed her orders. No fireworks.
Format: The questions were provided to candidates prior to the event, eliminating rude surprises. No questions from the audience. Included a "lightning round" featuring litmus test questions, limited to almost unanimous simple yes/no answers.
The candidates: The lesser known candidates (Congressional candidates Peter Bearse and Rick Parent; Senate candidates Dennis Lamare and Gerard Beloin) were more spontaneous, more thoughtful, less guarded, and less scripted. They, of course, have no chance to win.
The right-wing echo chamber has latched onto Sean Mahoney's "Bridge to Nowhere" shtick. Friday night, Mahoney and his web video were featured on the Fox faux business channel. (You can watch the videos on Mahoney's You Tube channel). But as the truth about the historic bridge preservation project comes out, Mahoney is struggling to mold his original hyperbolic rhetoric to the facts.
Mahoney concedes "when it came to this bridge, it was really [a] historical preservation project... This was not a transportation project." If he's conceding the project has value other than for cars and trucks to cross the river, doesn't that negate all the histrionics over fact that "it doesn't go anywhere?"
Mahoney concedes jobs were created to repave the bridge.
Mahoney states a preference for the "local community" raising money for the project through a bond issuance. So it's an absurd waste of taxpayer money in one case, but appropriate in the other?
Host David Asman repeats Carol Shea-Porter's response that "...the local community and the people of both political parties who reviewed this project supported it" and then asks, "Is that true, Sean?" The correct answer is "yes," local voters overwhelmingly approved the bridge repair in March. So here's how Mahoney answered: "The reality is that my opponent Carol Shea-Porter has voted over 95% of the time with Nancy Pelosi..." Nice.
The Republican candidates in the first district congressional primary are coming to blows. Jeb Bradley, who cutely says he has not endorsed Sean Mahoney but has his bumper sticker on his car, called for Frank Guinta to resign if Guinta could not prove that he held an account with over $250,000 in it from which Guinta lent his campaign money. Guinta used to work for Bradley, but in '08 Guinta endorsed Johnny Stephen in the congressinal primary, which may explain both why Guinta's web site omits his employment by Bradley from his bio, and why Bradley has it in for Guinta.
Guinta should not be elected to congress. He was a do nothing mayor of Manchester marking time for his next political race. His flight from a bar fight a little over a year ago without either calling the police to report an assault on an alderman or an ambulance for a fellow whose leg was badly broken raises judgment issues. He really does need to answer these question about why he failed to report this account in prior financial disclosures, and show that the loan money was a personal loan. But if the press is going to cover Bradley's attacks on Guinta for his FEC problems, they should take a look at Sean Mahoney, too.
The arched stone bridges of the Contoocook River Valley of New Hampshire are the earliest examples of dry-laid masonry vaults that became the dominant form of stone construction for engineering structures in New England during the 1830s.
The largest and oldest single concentration of arched stone bridges ever built in New Hampshire is in the town of Hillsborough which has five of the historic gems. The bridges are registered as historic structures by the Historic American Building Survey and have been recognized as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, the second in New Hampshire, after the Cog Railway.
$150,045 in stimulus money was awarded to the Town of Hillsborough to preserve and maintain the one bridge, the Sawyer Bridge, that will no longer support vehicular traffic and will now become home to a small garden park for picnicking.
Sean Mahoney says there's a problem. "It doesn't go anywhere... The politicians in Concord asked the politicians in Washington for $150,000 to pave a real 'Bridge to Nowhere'. He issued a press release. He made a web video. He got a write-up on Andrew Breitbart.
It's a cheap shot that tells you more about Sean Mahoney than all of his position papers and web videos ever will.
Those tax-and-spend Republicans are at it again! 1st Congressional district candidate Sean Mahoney
wants to cut government spending...stopping payment on the so-called stimulus law, which has failed to create jobs, and using the money to pay down the federal debt.
He repeats it like a mantra, over and over on the campaign trail.
His plan raises middle class taxes.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $288 billion in tax benefits. These benefits include the Making Work Pay tax credit (which provides up to $400 to working individuals and $800 for working married couples this year), COBRA Continuation Coverage Assistance, and tax incentives for businesses. The benefits cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans.
$65 billion of these tax benefits have not yet been spent.
Sean Mahoney's plan to cancel the stimulus eliminates these tax benefits and raises middle class taxes. So much for "common sense solutions."
(Bumped, because you know it drives the UL crazy. - promoted by Dean Barker)
It's UNH, but I'll take it. Our Carol is showing significant gains, and currently beating every credible challenger. She's ahead of Guinta by 5, ahead of Ashooh by 8, ahead of Mahoney by 9, and ahead of Bestani by 11.
But of course, the pollster can't help himself from punditry:
It's a dramatic change from April, when the poll showed Shea-Porter trailing every major Republican candidate.
"Carol Shea-Porter seems to have benefited from staying out of the limelight for the last several months," said Andy Smith of the UNH Survey Center.
That's completely wrong.
Carol's House work has been extremely active, and the false hit jobs run against her by her rivals and their media enablers have been non-stop in her district. What's been out of the limelight, mostly, is her actual campaigning, which is par for the course for her at this time of year. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what the numbers show when her campaign is in full gear.
Adding: What's so funny about the timing of this is that I literally have seven or eight different, and positive, items about CSP in my to-do box, and am so behind on them I was going to put them in a round-up tonight. But now I'm going to let these numbers sit for a while, and post the roundup tomorrow.
Earlier this year, Sean Mahoney made headlines by loudly resigning his RNC Committeeman position in alleged response to Michael Steele's profligacy in running the RNC.
Yet, Sean Mahoney and Michael Steele still have something in common.
After the full video was made known, and Shirley Sherrod cleared of the phony hit job that had destroyed her career, the former posted* on the website of the person who did it, and the latter is holding an RNC fundraiser with him.
* No, I'm not going to link. You can search for it if you want; the datestamp on the post is "Jul 21st 2010 at 8:43 am".
From what looks like the UL's attempt to smooth out his problems preparatory to an inevitable Guinta-felling endorsement, Sean Mahoney unveils a new unfunded government mandate:
(Mahoney) also said naturalized Americans should be required to speak English.
How French of Mr. Mahoney to advocate mandating language use!
Back when Republicans cared about winning the Latino vote, right-wingers such as (gasp) then Texas governor George W. Bush opposed the reactionary English Only movement.
From another stellar release from Harrell Kirstein:
The latest FEC report from Mahoney's campaign shows he raised a mere $125,000 thus far in the campaign, while he has spent nearly $500,000.(fec.gov) The extreme burn rate of close to 400% is being sustained by an $800,000 loan Mahoney made to his campaign.
And that's just this cycle. The full release (below the fold) details the deficit spending Mahoney did on his other failed bids from years past.
A nearly 400% burn rate with other people's money. Fiscal conservatism!
Compare that to the legendarily frugal use of campaign resources of non-self funder Carol Shea-Porter who, moreover, does not take business PAC money.
The Republican candidates for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st District have eagerly embraced the House's new Tea Party Caucus, as veteran Republican lawmakers warily weigh the risks.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives Administration Committee approved a request by Rep. Michele Bachmann to form the Tea Party Caucus.
Tea party enthusiast Bachmann claims the caucus "would do nothing more than promote the timeless principles of our founding, principles that all Members of Congress have sworn to uphold." Others aren't so sure.
By creating the caucus, Bachmann is forcing House members to choose whether or not to officially join the movement. It's a decision that Politico says is causing heartburn for lawmakers.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter raised more money in the last quarter and has more cash on hand than any of the Republicans hoping to unseat her in November.
...Both Guinta and Mahoney have loaned themselves money. Guinta has loaned his campaign $245,000 - including $125,000 in the last quarter - while Mahoney has loaned himself $801,000.
Tweet it. FB it. Spread the word.
The best path forward for defeating someone working for the rest of us is for self-funders (or in Guinta's case, wannabe self-funder?) to dig deep into their own pockets.
(LOL! When I suggested that Kathy ought to expand on her comment, I never dreamed DiStaso would do it for her! - promoted by Dean Barker)
John Distaso has an update in the Granite Status on line tonight about Sean Mahoney's contradictory statements regarding raising the Social Security age (will post link tomorrow having problems right now). Yesterday, Mahoney, in a faux-ny effort to sound vigorously independent of
DC Republicans, sent a press release trumpeting the news that John Boehner could not count on his vote to raise the retirement age to 70 for people 20 years out -which according to my math would be less than 50. However, at a debate just one month ago, Mahoney was videotaped proposing to increase the retirement age.
When DiStaso called Mahoney on the flip flop, Mahoney engaged in classic double speak, claiming the inconsistent statements were entirely consistent. He asserted that what he meant at the debate was that people who had paid onto the system for a 'long period of time' should not gave the age raised. But when you drill down into the interview, Mahoney once again descended into gobblygook.
