Foley: Toppled by scandal
He’s out! District Nineteen State Senate Candidate Jim Foley Republican from Derry, suspended his campaign over the weekend in light of revelations he’d been disbarred from the practice of law over a variety of illegal activity and was less than honorably discharged from the Marines for many of the same reasons. Girard at Large Political Buzz Anchor Kimberly Morin broke the story on her blog at Examiner dot com last Thursday, we carried the story on Friday.
Morin: Devastating expose
While Foley failed to respond our requests for an interview, he told the Union Leader, which allegedly was provided the information we published several weeks ago, that he didn’t recognize the man in those thirty year old documents and indicated he was going to stay in the race saying people have told him that the voters are fair and forgiving. Foley changed his tune on Saturday, calling his history a distraction that would take away from the task of electing a solid conservative in District Nineteen, which includes Hampstead and Windham in addition to his hometown of Derry. Sources tell Girard at Large that Senate President Chuck Morse was among those who went to Foley to tell him to pull the plug on his campaign. Our attempt to contact Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid went unacknowledged.
Baldasaro: Focus remains on current claims that Foleys a Marine.
While Foley, and other news media outlets focused in his disbarment, Londonderry State Representative Al Baldasaro continued to question how Foley could represent himself as a Marine given that he was less than honorably discharged from Officer Candidate School before he was disbarred. He first publicly raised that that point on our airwaves Friday and in subsequent news reports. That, my friends, is what makes what he did almost 30 years ago, theft, identity theft, forgery, lying and more, relevant. We’ve linked to the details of the story and the interview with Baldasaro from this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
Livingston: Reports to school board still a mystery.
The Manchester Board of School Committee meets tonight. With the opening of school and the first several days of it under their belts, you’d think they’d have a more substantial agenda than what appears on paper. Aside from naming room two thirty five at West High School after the dearly departed Richard Maynard, the school’s iconic choral director who passed two years ago, and receiving a report from the Curriculum and Instruction Committee recommending the district proceed with the Junior STEAM Ahead program, there’s a bunch of committee reports quote unquote “if available” and the superintendent’s report, which is where the unannounced juicy stuff always comes from. Superintendent Debra Livingston was scheduled to be our guest this morning, but per an email sent late Friday afternoon, which we saw yesterday, Livingston’s assistant said she needed to cancel the appearance. On a related note, the membership of the Manchester Education Association will begin to vote on yet another contract proposal tomorrow.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
The offending mailer
The campaign of former Bay State Senator Scott Brown is crying foul over a mailing sent by the MAYDAY political action committee and has sent a cease and desist letter. MAYDAY is a so called Super PAC, which raises millions of dollars to support candidates who support campaign finance reforms that would restrict the ability of candidates and organizations to raise millions of dollars. They’ve endorsed Brown rival Jim Rubens and spent a bundle on mail pieces and TV ads supporting his candidacy and attacking Brown. The latest is a mailer comparing Brown and Rubens on a variety of issues, labeling Brown as a former Washington lobbyist, among other things, and that provoked a sharp response from Brown’s campaign to Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig, MAYDAY’s founder. In the letter, Brown Campaign Manager Colin Reed writes that Brown is not now and never has been a lobbyist. He called the assertion a “flat out lie” and demanded Lessig not only stop dissemination of the mailer, but use a media appearance to retract the claim. Reacting to Brown’s letter, Rubens’ campaign said it was evidence that the race was tightening and that the Brown camp was worried that Rubens was surging given a recent poll showing that roughly two thirds of American’s wanted to limit the influence of special interest money in campaigns and government. We’ve posted Reed’s letter and the offending mail piece with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
Havenstein: Disasterous debate.
The G O P candidates for governor had their televised debate on Friday and it was one that front runner Walt Havenstein probably wishes could do over. In response to a question from rival Andrew Hemingway, Havenstein said he’d already paid the nine thousand dollar property tax bill sent by the state of Maryland after officially being declared eligible to run for governor by the Ballot Law Commission. Under state law, to be eligible to run for governor, must have been a resident of the state for seven consecutive years prior to filing. The problem for Havenstein is that he’d lived several of those preceding seven years in Maryland, claiming his home there as his primary residence in order to receive a tax break granted only to Maryland residents.
Hemingway: Clear victor in debate
He said he paid the bill under protest and had attorney’s looking into the billing, saying the Ballot Law Commission said his domicile, (which is a primary residence) was here in NH, not his residence, and that he still believed he legally qualified for the tax break and was a victim of politics. In general, Havenstein seemed barely acquainted with his talking points and spoke on issues in generalities, while Hemingway demonstrated a command of the issues and an ability to respond to questions in detail and with authority. WMUR Political Scoop analyst James Pindell gave Havenstein’s debate performance a “D,” saying it was the worst of the week’s debate series. He gave Hemingway a B plus, saying it was one of the best.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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