The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers held their sixteenth annual Fourth of July Picnic on Saturday. The event, deemed a family reunion of sorts for center right activists and organizations around the state, drew about two hundred fifty people as candidates for state and national offices regaled the crowd with their best stem-winders. All candidates for major office were on hand at this grass roots event, except former Bay State Senator Scott Brown who had no presence whatsoever. More than a dozen state senate candidates were on hand as well, as were several candidates for state rep. Those major offices, governor, U S Senate and Congress in both the First and Second districts, were the subject of a straw poll. G O P gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway won that contest in a romp over rival Walt Havenstein one eleven to forty three after an impassioned speech that, among other things, called on Havenstein to apologize for referring to the Tea Party as “tea baggers” in two thousand ten. Former Senator Bob Smith walked away with a seventy six to forty four win over rival Jim Rubens. Brown received thirty four votes. Smith’s campaign, clearly buoyed by the result issued a statement saying the straw poll was an indication of his grass roots support. With seventy four votes, former First District Congressman Frank Guinta bested rivals Dan Innis who received thirty six and Brendan Kelly who received thirty five. In the Second District, State Rep. Marilinda Garcia posted a solid eighty one to fifty nine victory over former State Senator Gary Lambert. We’ve linked to our complete write up of the day’s events from this news read at Girard at Large dot com.
Hemingway: Defends Tea Party
In other news from the campaign trail, Hemingway is calling on Havenstein to apologize to quote “to every single mother, father, and student who for several years have spent precious time working to promote the ideas of liberty and freedom from government intrusion” end quote for saying this about the Tea Party during a speech he gave at the University of Maryland in 2010. Roll the clip, Dave. Hemingway said Tea Partiers are little more than quote “average citizens worried about the future of our country as it relates to over-taxation, over-regulation and limited liberty who are willing to stand up and work.” End quote. Hemingway charged Havenstein is quote “asking to represent these people that he just showed such complete disrespect to. People say the Republican Party is divided. They actually blame liberty activists and Tea Party Members for that divide. But it is only the Washington Establishment-chosen candidate that refers to fellow Republicans in a sexually derogatory manner.” We’ve linked to a seven minute forty second clip of the speech to give the comments we aired context so you can draw your own conclusions about his intentions.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Please share this on social media, post in your neighborhood
Family and friends of Abigail Hernandez are renewing efforts to find the missing girl. Girard at Large received an email yesterday morning asking us to publicize Bring Abby Home dot com, a Web site run by Paul Kirsch and Amanda Smith, who are friends of Abby’s mother Zenya Hernandez. Several pictures of Abby are on the site and fliers that can be printed and posted in local communities to help raise awareness of her absence and get more people looking are available. Mary Logsdon, the lady who emailed us, is urging people to share the site on Facebook, Twitter and other social media in an urgent plea to others to help find the missing teen who disappeared while walking home from Kennett High School in North Conway, last October ninth. Abby, who usually rode the bus home, walked that day. Sixty thousand dollars in rewards have been offered to those with information that leads to the girl’s whereabouts.
Connors: Complains about media coverage, but not the district that announces nothing to the press
The Manchester Board of School Committee’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee will hold at public hearing tomorrow night on the proposed Manchester Academic Standards at Memorial High School. The hearing starts at Seven P M and is rumored to have some sort of introductory presentation prior to taking public testimony. Advocates of better standards are urging the public to attend.
Naticook Lake: Closed to boats.
The boat launch at Naticook Lake in Merrimack’s Veteran’s Park has closed until further notice due to milfoil proliferation. Town officials will continue to monitor the infestation to determine when or if the launch can be reopened.
Candia Crime Wave: Out of control?
It’s time for our monthly Candia Crime Wave report. Police in Candia issued one hundred sixty one motor vehicle warnings and 9 summons. There were also three arrests in town, one for being a habitual offender, another for second degree assault, and one for disobeying and officer against someone who turned out to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest because he deserted the armed forces! We’ve posted all the details.
