The blogger in question has posted a highly edited and highly contrived “hit” video.

These videos are the snuff films of New Hampshire Politics.

Shame.

Here’s a little background on the movement to “CRASH” Carol Shea-Porter events.

I’ll start with Neil Rowland who goes by the name of “Rowland” on this site.

Last Spring Neil began posting a lot of comments under my column and on the discussion board of NH INSIDER. Neil lives in Fremont (not far from me here in Raymond). We’re practically neighbors--that alone raised my interest level.

Neil is also the webmaster of NH Citizen, a libertarian leaning political site. Let me point out immediately that Libertarians I know wish Neil would move to Idaho or someplace where he won’t embarrass them any longer.

Last spring Neil’s comments below my column went from nasty to obscene.

It was obvious to me that Neil wanted to make a name for himself by attacking Carol Shea-Porter and to a lesser extent me. Nothing new there, but I also picked up enough cues to keep an eye on the situation.

My policy is to never edit or delete any comments, but Neil became so obnoxious that I called him one day. When I did he handed the phone to Peter Bearse, who is running for Congress as an independent against Carol Shea-Porter. Peter and I had a civil and productive conversation. Neil has been heavily promoting Peters candidacy from day one.

After the phone call,  Neil called the Fremont police to complain about me. I found that out by reading a webpage Neil titled “Chaz loses it.” I’m honored that Neil thinks he’s tough for standing up to me, ( read it yourself if you care to) but if someone calls the police about me, I have to call them too!

Anyway I explained the situation to the police and they laughed along with me. I told them that I can handle myself, but I did have concerns that Neil’s actions could escalate or trigger some nut case to do something stupid. After all, its an election year and passions are very high.

Within days Peter Bearse and I got together not once but twice to discuss grass root politics. He dropped by my home both times. I told Peter that if anyone on a campaign I was running acted as Mr. Rowland does, he would get no second chance.

I also signed Peters petition to get on the ballot in November and joked that he would take votes away from Republicans so I hope he does well.

Peter and I get along fine.

Not long after these events, Neil Rowland posted a comment here at NH INSIDER to the effect that someone should slap Carol Shea-Porter. That thread was getting closer to recommending violence.  I think that someone, perhaps NH INSIDER had to pull it down.

Mr. Rowland also has dedicated a web page to disrupting Carol Shea-Porter events. He has exhorted people to “crash” her events. I’ve seen him in action. In Epping I witnessed Neil shoving video cameras in people faces. He stuck one in mine as a matter of fact.

When Carol Shea Porter appeared in Raymond a few weeks ago Mr. Rowland was not there, but Peter was. So were about eight people who were insufferably obnoxious. Shouting, interrupting and insulting not just the Congresswoman, but a panel of people representing various non profits, banks and a few government agencies.

It was embarrassing to me because Raymond is my home town. I didn’t recognize any of the rude folks and noticed license plates from as far away as Connecticut with political bumper stickers.

There have been more incidents but you get the picture.

So now we have a loud mouth “caught” on camera hollering and badgering our Congresswoman and her staff all the way into a parking lot. I know for a fact that the man has been treated fairly. His concerns have been heard.  But fairness isn’t what this video is all about.

The video is of course featured at NH Citizen right now.

If anyone can watch that video and not figure out what is going on there then they are just as ignorant and low slung as the blogger who posted it.

The Union Leader’s John Distaso wrote the  headline above and of course he is right.  Everyone knows that Republicans intend to throw whatever they can at Carol Shea-Porter. Already we are seeing huge amounts of money being spent on TV ads that distort her record. Robo calls are doing the same. It's going to get real ugly.

The NH Press and Electronic media have been wondering if Carol Shea-Porter can raise enough money to wage a media campaing that wil be as successful as her grass roots campaign.

Now all doubts have been dispelled.

This of course is bad news for Jeb Bradley and John Stephen. Not only did they both lag behind Carol Shea-Porter in fund raising, but they are locked in a very expensive primary. As September nears, both will likely deplete their funds. Already, Jeb Bradley is pumping his own money into his campaign.

The silence is deafening.

Right now activists of all stripes are gearing up for home stretch of election 2008. People are coming in from around the US to work on the presidential campaigns. Party activists are aware of how much hard work lies ahead. But you wouldn’t know it by reading NH INSIDER.

Instead of working for their candidates, GOP bloggers appear to be consumed by their own agendas.

My best guess is that what’s happening at NH INSIDER is a reflection of what’s happening in the GOP across NH. Personal agendas have trumped co operation. Moral is low and only the most hard core activists are getting involved.

Of course, this makes me happy as heck. I spend the bulk of my political time organizing. Lot’s of phone calls, meetings and all the other stuff that wins elections.

If my opponent isn’t out there working to match my efforts I have no complaints. 

Just click:

http://www.bluehampshire.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=E7E7CC5A206F720AF4AF1C2A43BBC4F6?diaryId=4552

As the 2008 election draws ever closer, New Hampshire voters will be seeing lots of political activity. Former Governor Jeanne Shaheen has been out talking to voters and running positive television ads describing the issues she will champion in the United States Senate, such as reducing gas prices, fixing the economy and brining our troops home from Iraq. Unfortunately, Republican operatives, hiding behind a front group named Americans for Job Security, have already spent over $250,000 attacking Shaheen on radio and in the mail, and they're employing the same sort of behavior that has prompted outrage among New Hampshire voters in the past. Shaheen is the top target for Republican attacks this year, and she'll need as much help as possible in responding: www.jeanneshaheen.org .

AJS is a non-profit organization that claims to be a trade association, yet according to a 2004 Washington Monthly story, it does not list its members. While political committees and candidates by law must disclose their contributors, groups like AJS pretend that they are engaging in "issues advocacy", educating the public. But a 2004 Texas Observer article (appropriate entitled "Meet the Attack Dogs") called AJS what it really is: "one of the nation's most vicious campaign hit teams, a secret outfit whose reach spreads all over the American political system. It specializes in attempted assassination of political careers under the guise of issue education...."

Furthermore, to qualify as an issues group, AJS must be independent of any campaign or candidate. Yet AJS has a long record of running attack ads in election years in states from Alaska to Texas to Minnesota to New Hampshire, and has a history of connections to the Sununu family and Republican politics. In 2002, for example, it ran over $1 million in anti-Shaheen ads. Its executive director at the time was longtime Sununu family confidante David Carney, who previously had run the draft Sununu effort. Benjamin Ginsburg, the attorney for the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, served as legal counsel to AJS. Former NHGOP executive director Steve DeMaura currently runs AJS.

AJS and people associated with AJS have a history voters should be aware of. For example, according to a report by the New Hampshire Attorney General, in 2002 Republican operatives discussed forming a committee to make "independent expenditures" in that year's primary elections. I stress the term "independent expenditure" because under the law, independent expenditures cannot be coordinated with candidates or their agents. One operative was quoted in the report stating that David Carney, at the time an aide to Republican gubernatorial candidate Gordon Humphey, told the others he could get $10,000 from the Republican Gubernatorial Association to help pay for calls encouraging Democratic voters to vote for Governor Shaheen's primary opponent. That plan did not go forward, but Carney was forced to apologize for baselessly accusing Governor Shaheen's campaign of anonymous telephone and postcard attacks on Humphrey, which were in fact arranged by Republicans.

In 2004, Norway Hill, a company owned by Carney, paid workers to obtain petition signature to put independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader's name on the Granite State ballot. When asked by reporters about the effort, Carney claimed that Norway Hill had undertaken the effort at the behest of a group called "Choices for America", and that Norway Hill's activities were a donation to Choices for America. However, Choices for America representatives told Federal Elections Commission investigators that they had no knowledge of Norway Hill. The investigators concluded that Norway Hill had made a prohibited in kind corporate contribution to assist the Nader campaign. Unfortunately, the FEC commissioners stunningly decided to turn a blind eye to its own investigators' recommendations, letting Norway Hill off the hook following individual $2,000 payments made by Carney, his wife and a business associate to Norway Hill, and reported the payments as donations to the Nader campaign.

AJS itself has been the subject of several investigations. Last year, Public Citizen, a campaign finance watchdog group, filed complaints with both the FEC and the IRS against AJS. In 2002, the Alaska Public Offices Commission ruled that AJS violated state campaign laws. In 2004, AJS paid fines in Oklahoma for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (there they go with phones again!). And last week, the New Hampshire Democratic Party filed a complaint with the FEC because the AJS radio ads against Shaheen violate federal election law.

So, here we are, in 2008, and Americans for Job Security is running attack ads against a political candidate during an election year, yet claiming that it is not trying to influence an election, and refusing to release the names of its members or its donors. The difference this year is that New Hampshire voters have shown that they are tired of Republican operatives and organizations that refuse to play by the rules. The 2002 phone jamming conspiracy nearly bankrupted the state Republican Party. The harassing phone calls made by the National Republican Congressional Caucus in 2006 were the final nail in the coffin of Charlie Bass's failed re-election bid. It is time for the New Hampshire Republican Party and Republican candidates like John E. Sununu to show New Hampshire voters that they have learned their lesson, and that they reject the tired old tactics of past campaigns. They can do that by demanding that AJS disclose who its members are, where its money comes from, and that it stop its attack ads.