The truth about Shaheen- Sununu Senate Race
Friday, September 21, 2007 at 07:25AM by Marshall Cobleigh
Jeanne Shaheen's real record as Governor shows that almost all of her major decisions were based on polling results not heartfelt decisions about what was really in New Hampshire's long term best interest.
Political Polls do not tell us how to solve complex problems.
Political polls only tell us what's currently popular not what is in our best long range interest. Remember Shaheen's almost six years of weekly press releases against sexual predators. The facts are that when asked in her friend Mandy Grunwald's polling data, people almost 98% opposed sexual predators. So Shaheen came out against them incessantly. That is not leadership, That is not facing up to the real problems a governor is faced with, but it sounds good and the polls said it was popular, so she repeatedly advocated her oposition to sexual predators. The question is do you want real leadership or simply pandering to poll results!
Michael Beschlos said in his book "Presidential Courage- Brave Leaders and How They Changed America" "Thru out our history at times of crisis and urgent national needs, it has been important to summons the courage to dismiss what is currantly popular and to do what is in America's long term interest."
Jeanne Shaheen's entire career has demonstrated a slavish relience on pollitical polling and ignoring our long term interests.
Jeanne Shaheen is a nice lady but she has a failed record on the major problems she faced as Governor:
1. She took no action to solve our court ordered school funding dilemma.
2. She increased state spending substantially during her reign.
3. As a result she fought vigerously for a NH sales tax to pay for her profligate spending increases.
4. Shaheen forgets to remind people that during her previous Senate campaign she repeatedly stated "I support President Bush's goals for regime change in Iraq. I believe all options should be on the table, including the use of military force."
5. As State Senator Jeanne Shaheen's friends in the building trades, construction workers, pipefitters, and other labor unions should remember vividly her again slavishly following the polls and fighting vigorously along with Congressman Ed Markey against their over 3000 jobs constructing the Seabrook Plant.
6. If you read her press releases during her political career she will be remembered in addition to her numerous blue ribbon study commissions primarily for following Mandy's polls and opposing sexual predators. Who do you know that was for them?
Unlike Jeanne Shaheen, John E Sununu is a true leader, recently named one of the 5 brightest United State Senators. He couragously fought his own party's President Bush winning important modifications of the Patriot act to protect our civil liberties. He has been a leader in fighting to protect small business and to preserve NH's environment and our personl freedoms.
Jeanne Shaheen would face an almost daily quandry in the US Senate because there are way too many votes to conduct a political poll on each vote. She would not be able to do what was popular yesterday on all of the subjects that come before the Senate. Heaven knows she might for something that is in America's best interest, but is currently unpopular.
With John E Sununu we have a Senator who understands complex legislation and does what he believes is right for our long term future.
NH and America do not need a US Senator who does not have the common sense to ignore the political polls. Real common sense is to keep John Sununu in the senate because he will do what he believes is right whether it is popular or not.
Reader Comments (8)
Recently, the smokestacks to the historic papermills in Berlin were toppled amist unfortunate injury. The images of falling concrete and smoke also clearly demonstrate I think another important issue in the upcoming Senate race. The end of papermaking in Berlin and the continuing loss of jobs in northern New Hampshire.
Your post attacks former Governor Shaheen and her record more specifically, education, state spending and an attempt at a sales tax. The question for you Mr. Cobliegh was Governor Merrill any different? Perhaps you might be willing to discuss the work Governor Shaheen did in issues like electric deregulation, education (ABC plan) and successfully creating jobs and economic development by hosting the state's first overseas trade mission.
Your post states John E. Sununu is a "true leader." Perhaps you might be willing to explain how you arrive at this statement. I'm confident the residents of Berlin that have lost their jobs and their homes would also like to know the policy positions of Senator Sununu on the following:
1. The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the construction of the NAFTA Superhighway and what this means for the Northeast and New Hampshire?
2. Whether Senator Sununu supports legislation like electric deregulation and how exactly he would bring lower or at least competitive energy prices to northern New Hampshire.
3. "John E. Sununu has been a leader in fighting to protect small business." Where exactly are these businesses? How many jobs are you talking about? Has Senator Sununu ever hosted or even attended a trade mission to access and develop new markets and business for New Hampshire?
Thank you.
In his press release the next day Representative Hunter stated: "This 12 lane highway which is already under construction in Texas, will fast track thousands of cargo containers across the U.S. without adequate security. These containers will move from Mexico, a country with a record of corruption and involvement in the drug trade, across a border that is already porus and insufficently protected."
The legislation including the amendment, I understand, is now in the U.S. Senate for their consideration.
"With John E. Sununu we have a Senator who understands complex legislation and does what he believes is right for our long term future."
If this is the case than how will the Senator vote on this legislation? And is this vote right for New Hampshire?
"Almost 10 months ago, when I began laying the groundwork for my campaign for the U.S. Senate, I was motivated by a deep desire to change the direction of our country. Under the incompetent and arrogant policies of the Bush Administration, we have become enmeshed in a bloody civil war in Iraq with no end in sight. We have seen the United States lose moral stature around the world as revelations about abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere have come to light. More Americans than ever have no health insurance and those who do have coverage face exorbitant costs.
As a country we have gone backwards, not forward, in the effort to protect our environment and achieve greater energy independence. And we have seen ideology trump science when it comes to important issues like federal support for vital stem cell research.
Unfortunately, John Sununu has been a cheerleader for these misguided policies of the Bush Administration. He is a rubber stamp for Republican leadership that is badly out of touch with the American people. That is why John Sununu is acknowledged to be the most vulnerable incumbent in the U.S. Senate, and that is why it is time to replace him with someone who can effectively and fairly represent the people of New Hampshire."
Jeanne Shaheen is in a strong position to be the next senator from New Hampshire," says Bob Smith, the former senator from New Hampshire.
Smith was a member of the U.S. Senate until 2002, when he lost the Republican primary to John Sununu. Sununu went on to beat Shaheen, then a three-term governor, in the general election. Last week, Shaheen announced that she's running for a rematch with Sununu in 2008.
This election is shaping up to be a lot rougher for Sununu than the last one. Several polls this summer have had Shaheen beating Sununu by double-digit margins. Pointing to Harry Truman, Smith warned us to be wary of reading too much into polls. "I don't believe that anybody should ever be counted out based on a poll," Smith said.
In several recent interviews, Sununu has emphasized his electoral prowess, noting that he beat an incumbent senator and then an incumbent governor in order to win his seat. Smith didn't put much stock in that, either.
"There's a huge difference between 2002 and 2008," Smith said. "If I was the incumbent senator, Mr. Sununu, I would not be looking back, resting on my laurels."
New Hampshire is a whole lot less conservative than it was when he started running in the 1980s, said Smith, who has retired to Sarasota, Fla., but keeps a home in Tuftonboro that he visits in the summer.
And Sununu's task isn't just convincing independent voters that he's their man. Smith thinks Sununu has to woo a Republican base that, on the whole, is disenchanted with its representatives in Washington and what they've done on spending and immigration.
"Republicans across the country - and I talk to a lot of them every day - are very disenchanted with the party," he said. "The Republicans have let down their party and let down the country. They lost the majority because they didn't stick to their principles."
Smith, who briefly left the Republican Party to mount an independent presidential campaign in 2000, said he's a Republican now but declined to say if he preferred Sununu or Shaheen in the election. There is "no love lost" between Smith and the man who toppled him in 2002, Smith said, but he had warm words for Shaheen.
"I think she's an excellent politician. I think she is a good person, I know her very well, I like her," he said. They worked closely on security issues after Sept. 11, and Shaheen attended his retirement party in 2003. Sununu did not.
Smith said he has no plan to return to politics but hasn't ruled it out.
"Maybe I'll come up and run against Sununu in the primary - tongue in cheek," he said. "You can print it if you like, but say he laughed when he said it."
Marching on
We caught up with Steve Marchand on Shaheen's Madbury lawn Sunday. The Portsmouth mayor and recently-dropped-out Senate candidate was on hand to give his well wishes to the newest Senate candidate.
Marchand said he's not sure what's next for him. "I'm 33 years old," he said. "I've got time."
"People have asked 'Is it a difficult decision?' It depends how you mean," he said. He'd invested quite a bit in the race but thinks Shaheen has the best shot at beating Sununu in 2008.
"Do I think I could beat John Sununu? I do," Marchand said. "But this race is too big to not line it up with the person that can get the job done the best and would do the best job down there."
At last count, Dartmouth Medical Professor Jay Buckey was staying in the race, while Bow activist Katrina Swett hadn't said if she will stay in.
Evolving regrets?
We asked Shaheen Sunday if she regretted her 2002 position on Iraq. As a Senate candidate then, she supported the impending war, as did Sununu.
Standing on her lawn, Shaheen said: "No, I think I represented the position of most of the American people. We believed what President Bush told us when he said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he was a threat to the United States. Clearly, if I knew then what I know now, I would not have supported it."
Doug Hattaway, a communications consultant helping out with the campaign, called us a half-hour later. Shaheen had misheard the question, he said, and actually had said before that she did regret her 2002 stance.
Then Shaheen herself called. "I certainly do regret that position. As I said to you, I thought, like so many other people, that what President Bush had said to us about Saddam Hussein's weapons capabilities was true," she said. "Clearly, had I know then what I know now, I would have taken a different position."
This is from the website economicgrowth.org. Lewiston-Auburn, Maine is located on the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad. A carrier that crosses over northern New Hampshire and the economically depressed area of Berlin.
Question for Speaker Cobliegh: Is Senator Sununu doing anything like this for New Hampshire?
LEWISTON-AUBURN ON TRACK FOR CUSTOMS PORT DESIGNATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Paul Badeau
Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council
784-0161
November 4, 2002
The U.S. Customs Service is expected to approve the designation of St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad's Intermodal Facility in Auburn as a customs port of entry. Currently, truck shipments must go to Portland for inspection.
Both senators Snowe and Susan Collins have assisted the cities of Lewiston-Auburn with the customs request. The designation will eliminate international freight from having to go to Portland for Customs inspection, saving clients time and money, and allowing St. Lawrence & Atlantic the opportunity to attract many more.
In a letter from Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner to Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, the Port of Portland's jurisdiction would be expanded to include the Auburn facility. According to press reports, although the facility currently processes about 500 international cargo containers annually, St. Lawrence has identified potential customers that would allow it to process at least 35,000 imported containers
It was Jeanne Shaheen who doubled state spending from $1 billion to $2 billion not Steve Merrill.
I consider John Sununu a true leader because unlike Shaheen he does not base every decision on political polling as Shaheen does. Your own posting of the Concord Monitor news clip clearly shows how Shaheen based her 2002 support of the Iraq war and her retraction of her no regret for that position statement because "it reflected the position of most American people."
As the monitor article shows she called up to retract that position presumably she saw a new poll.
Shaheen was a major cause of higher electric rates for NH citizens because of her unremitting oposition to Cwip and the construction of Seabrook station.
As for Sununu, he has done nothing in the senate, or when he was in congress.
Jeanne Shaheen is a proven leader who expanded the availability of health care in NH. Sununu's answer on health care? He thinks we can't do anything about it.
Jeanne Shaheen got laws passed limiting pollution. Sununu still isn't convinced that global warming is a problem - maybe he will change his mind when his condo at Waterville Valley isn't worth anything any more because there is no snow.
Jeanne Shaheen was a friend to working families. Sununu voted himself pay raises while voting against minimum wage increases.
Steve Merril was able to balance the books with the bloated medicaid payments the Republicans were sending out of Congress.
That was worth hundreds of millions if I remember correctly and was never sustainable.