Final results
The official results of Tuesday’s election in Manchester were released late yesterday and they show Mayor Ted Gatsas with a wider margin of victory over rival Joyce Craig than the unofficial results released Tuesday night, which showed Gatsas winning by just seventy five votes. The official and final results show Gatsas winning by an eighty five vote margin, receiving ten thousand forty six votes to Craig’s nine thousand nine hundred sixty one. Thus, he may now be referred to as Landslide Teddy!
In a statement published on her Facebook page before the official results were released yesterday, Craig thanked her supporters and said quote “This was truly a team effort and I am incredibly proud of our honest and positive campaign for Mayor of Manchester. The results are very close and I believe that all the voters who put their faith in me deserve to have their votes counted. In the coming days, I will talk with my family and supporters about next steps.”
We’ll leave that statement alone for now, except to ask which votes weren’t counted.
Craig has until Friday at five to request a recount, which, if had, will likely see both candidates pick up a handful of votes from mis-marked ballots after occupying half of the City Clerk’s Office for the better part of a day at taxpayer expense, taking countless hours of time from volunteers to oversee the ballot counting and dumping a whole lot of dough into the pockets of the lawyers each campaign will have on hand to advocate for their respective candidate’s rights and votes on challenged ballots.
We’ve posted all the results with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com for your convenience.
2015 Nov Municipal General Results (Citywide Races – Official)
2015 Nov Municipal General Results (Ward Results – Official)
Flanagan: Too busy
New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jack Flanagan, Republican from Brookline, announced he has relinquished the post effective immediately. The announcement comes on the heels of his forming an exploratory committee to determine whether or not he would run for Congress in the Second District. Flanagan said the additional demands of exploring a congressional run have consumed too much time for him to honor his role as Majority Leader. Flanagan, currently serving his third term, will continue to represent his district for the remainder of the term.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
On a four to one vote the Executive Council has approved the request by Governor Margaret Wood Hassan to call a special session of the New Hampshire General Court, despite the expressed opposition of leadership in both its chambers. Only District Five Councilor David Wheeler, Republican from Milford, opposed the session.
Speaker Jasper: Not liking Hassan’s call
In a lengthy statement, which we have published in its entirety at Girard at Large dot com, Senate President Chuck Morse, House Speaker Shawn Jasper, Senate Finance Committee Chair Jeanie Forrester and House Finance Committee Chair Neal Kurk were less than impressed with the governor’s actions. quote:
“We had previously told Governor Hassan that we intended to expedite legislation to deal with this crisis as soon as we returned in January. I am disappointed that she has taken this step to bring the entire legislature back to Concord in an attempt to try and hastily push through a solution. What she needs to understand is that we intend to work through the process in a fair and open manner, listening to all stakeholders. A solution to this problem is not something that will be accomplished in one day or even one week. I anticipate the first day will involve adopting rules to allow us to move forward with legislation. At the end of the day, our goal is to do what is right for the people of this state,” said Speaker Jasper.
Kurk said quote
“We need time to work on these bills appropriately, and, as the Governor is aware, we have already dealt with many of these issues in the budget. The state has to be prudent in making sure that all of the services we already increased funding for are actually being provided to our citizens before we consider new spending. Had the Governor not vetoed the budget, we could have realized benefits of the increased funding months sooner.”
Edelblut: Hamers special session
Potential GOP candidate for Governor Frank Edelblut issued a statement saying, in part quote
“This request for a special session to deal with this crisis – and it is a crisis – is simply a knee jerk reaction to a problem we have all known exists. We all know that feet-dragging and politicizing on an issue like this is not real leadership, but that is what we have gotten…What we don’t want to do is start throwing money at the problem without a thoughtful process that ensures we invest in programs that will give us results. There are a number of bills that have been filed for the next legislative session to continue to work on solutions to this problem and a last minute call for the legislature to come together and vote on rushed and un-vetted solutions could simply result in unintended problems.”
Strong NH: With apologies to Shakespeare
Derek Dufresne of Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire, the organization given credit for breaking the budget impasse with a TV ad hammed Hassan for vetoing the budget that included significant increases in funding to battle the heroin epidemic issued a statement saying, in part, quote: “when looking at Maggie Hassan’s responses to the state’s growing heroin epidemic, it truly is a tale of two governors.”
Note: District Three Executive Councilor Christopher Sununu also issued a statement regarding the special session request as well.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next.
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