John DiStaso's Granite Status: Mahoney ready to jump in GOP 1st Dist. House race

By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Thursday, Mar. 4, 2010

DUE DILIGENCE. The Republican 1st District U.S. House lineup is not yet set.

Sean Mahoney of Portsmouth remains out of the media spotlight, but he's been quietly working on the framework of a congressional campaign.

We've received, and reported, hints for some time now that Mahoney, one of the state's representatives on the Republican National Committee, has been considering jumping into the House primary that now features Frank Guinta, Rick Ashooh and Bob Bestani as well as Peter Bearse and Mike Castaldo.

Today we can tell you that according to GOP sources, Mahoney is back from a family vacation and is "100 percent" committed.

He's now making "due diligence" calls to prospective supporters, essentially making sure that those who encouraged him to run are really going to be with him once he makes it official.

Mahoney supporters consider Guinta's fund-raising underwhelming. They also believe it's not the right time for the Republicans to put up a defense industry lobbyist -- Ashooh -- as its nominee.

As an RNC member, Mahoney will, like Ashooh and the National Republican Congressional Committee-backed Guinta, also have to address the "Washington insider" label, but as a local magazine publisher, he can accurately portray himself as a small businessman whose volunteer work for the party helped preserve the first-in-the-nation status for the New Hampshire primary.

Mahoney would step down from the RNC if he runs, in all likelihood.

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas confirmed yesterday that Mahoney visited him several weeks ago to discuss the possibility of a candidacy. Mahoney has been talking to other influential Republican veterans, such as Paul Holloway.

Veteran GOP strategist David Carney was ready to work with Mahoney last year when Mahoney briefly considered running for the U.S. Senate.

Yesterday, Carney, fresh from overseeing Rick Perry's victory in the Texas gubernatorial primary, reiterated, "If Sean Mahoney runs and wants my help, I'll be there."

Also standing by to help is consultant and web guru Patrick Hynes.

Mahoney has never held elective office, but ran for the 1st District U.S. House seat in 2002, finishing third in an eight-person Republican primary, and for the District 3 Executive Council seat in 2006, finishing second in a three-person primary.

So, like candidate for governor John Stephen, who has also lost twice for major office, if Mahoney runs this time, he needs to win or become a three-time loser.

Carney is confident that he can.

That remains to be seen, but it's clear that the lengthening lineup of Republican candidates is testimony to the perceived vulnerability of incumbent Democrat Carol Shea-Porter.

Watch for something even more definitive from Mahoney within the next month or so.

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TARGET CAROL. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter is the target of a new "robo calls" by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the first of the 2010 election cycle, the Granite Status has learned.

The calls targeting the Democratic incumbent will be made throughout the 1st Congressional District to Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to Tory Mazzola, NRCC spokesman.

"Carol Shea-Porter has already voted for a government-run health plan that raises taxes on middle-class families and slashes Medicare for seniors. With Obama and Pelosi's latest efforts to ram this bill through Congress, our objective is to remind New Hampshire voters that Shea-Porter continues to ignore their overwhelming opposition to a government takeover of health care. Unfortunately, it's hard to listen to New Hampshire voters when you're with Pelosi in Boston wining and dining high-dollar donors," Mazzola said.

Here's the call script:

"Hello I'm calling from the NRCC with a code red alert about an impending health care vote in Congress. Even though a majority of New Hampshire voters want them to scrap it, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama are planning to ram their dangerous, out-of-control health care spending bill through Congress anyway. What's worse, congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter voted for this bill the last time it was up and might vote for it AGAIN. Shea-Porter already voted for a bill that will kill jobs, raise the costs of health care, and increase taxes. Carol Shea-Porter should be focusing on creating jobs, yet she might be the deciding vote that causes this massive new spending bill to pass. Please call Carol Shea-Porter now at 202-225-5456 before it is too late and tell her to vote no on Nancy Pelosi's dangerous health care scheme. Visit www.nrcc.org/codered. This call was paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

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USING NANCY. Guinta was the first Republican to jump on tomorrow's appearance by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Shea-Porter at a fund-raiser on Beacon Hill in Boston.

A fund-raising email from Guinta for Congress says, "It should be of little surprise that Pelosi would hold a fund-raiser for Shea-Porter, her closest ally in the House, but the fact that she needs to hold it in Massachusetts is all the more telling."

The email goes on to seek "every dollar we can get" to elect Guinta and defeat Shea-Porter.

Guinta continues to focus on building a grassroots organization with conservative credentials. His new "Taxpayers Advocate Team" includes Ed Naille, chairman of the Concerned New Hampshire Taxpayers, spending cap advocate Tammy Simmons, Robert Gates, former chair of the Rochester Concerned Taxpayers Association, Jere Beckman, former Granite State Taxpayers board member, David Scott, former Dover city councilor and spending cap activist, veteran anti-tax advocate former state Sen. George Lovejoy, former Granite State Taxpayers chair Roy Stewart, state Rep. Gary Daniels and activists E.J. Bleiler of Dover, Cindy Houghton of Gilmanton Iron Works, Steve MacDonald of Merrimack, and Joan Bastek and Bill St. Laurent of Portsmouth as well as Manchester 9/12 Tea Party organizer Pam Smith and 9/12 activist Gary Gahan of Merrimack.

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THE RANGEL SAGA. As embattled U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., decided to temporarily step down as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday, the GOP continued to pour gasoline on the Democratic fire.

Shea-Porter returned $14,000 in contributions from Rangel and called on him to step down.

Rep. Paul Hodes, the Senate candidate, had called for Rangel to step down but continued to hold fast against returning $17,000 in Rangel contributions.

"Nothing has changed on that front," said Hodes spokesman Mark Bergman during a conference call in which he and campaign manager Valerie Martin criticized Republican Kelly Ayotte for opposing the bipartisan jobs bill passed by the Senate last week.

Bergman said middle class families are worried about jobs, and "are not sitting around the table worried about contributions from Charlie Rangel."

U.S. House 2nd District candidate Katrina Swett campaign spokesman Megan Coffman weighed in, albeit slightly after the fact, but said that Swett believes that "ethics do matter" and Rangel was right to step down.

Regarding the GOP demand that Swett return $10,000 in donations she received from Rangel way back in 2002, when she last ran for the U.S. House, Coffman said she was told by the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday that she could not legally return the money.

Coffman said the FEC told her that since the Swett committee that received the contributions was terminated in 2005, with a zero balance, "even if we wanted to do a refund we could not do that."

She said if Swett were to take $10,000 from her current account and give it to Rangel, it would be an illegal campaign contribution.

GOP Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne also called on Hodes to return the contribution, saying, "It's no wonder that Americans have lost faith in Washington insiders like Paul Hodes."

Ayotte's campaign charged that Hodes has a "double standard" and "refuses to hold himself to the same expectations he had as a candidate."

It cited a Sept. 28, 2005 press release in which Hodes blasted former Rep. Charlie Bass for taking more than $14,000 in contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who had just been indicted on criminal charges in Texas.

The Ayotte camp gleefully pointed out that Hodes said at the time, "You can tell a lot about a person by the friends he keeps."

Also on the Rangel front, state senator and former Rep. Jeb Bradley reminded us yesterday that back in late 2005, he returned $15,000 in contributions from DeLay and was the first in the House to do so, a point we inadvertently omitted from our report in the New Hampshire Union Leader yesterday.

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AUDACITY OF NOPE. That's Hodes' latest mantra on Ayotte for her opposition to the $15 billion jobs bill that passed the Senate last week with the backing of five Republicans, including Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

Ayotte told ABC News that although she liked the payroll tax cut in the bill , she still would have voted against the bill because it wasn't paid for.

She said that unspent stimulus money should be applied to the deficit or, "if you are going to pass a jobs bill, make sure it's paid for by that money."

Bergman said that while Hodes has a "comprehensive jobs plan," Ayotte's opposition to the bill shows she "is more interested in Washington gridlock than creating jobs."

He said she has been "all over the place" on the stimulus, first advocating acceptance of some funding as attorney general, then advocating repeal and now suggesting using some of it to pay for the jobs bill.

Hodes said in a statement that Ayotte would "fall in line with the D.C. Republicans offering our middle-class families nothing more than the Audacity of Nope."

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BINNIE BACKERS. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Binnie's latest endorsements come from Jim Wieczorek, who will serve as a Hillsborough County Chair, and Wayne Barrows, his new Rockingham County Chair.

Binnie this week released the fourth and fifth television ads of his campaign. He and Jim Bender are the only Senate candidates to go up on television so far.

The two new Binnie ads are similar, focusing on jobs, with Binnie saying he knows how to create jobs, balance budgets and cut waste. One ad is 15 seconds while the other is 30 seconds.

Campaign manager Bryan Lanza said that like Binnie's previous New Hampshire ads, the new ones are being aired statewide on WMUR, other local stations and cable outlets.

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TICKET RECRUITMENT. The Democratic leaders couldn't be happier with John Stephen as the likely ticket topper for the GOP this November.

Stephen, who is obviously viewed as the front-runner in a primary against Jack Kimball, Karen Testerman and Frank Emiro, has far too much baggage to be a viable candidate, Democrats say.

Former party chair Kathy Sullivan could barely contain her glee during a conference call yesterday, breaking out in laughter several times describing "Johnny," as she calls him, and his record of "fiscal incompetence and untrustworthiness."

Overall, she said, the GOP has such a weak "back to the future" ticket with Stephen and former Rep. Charlie Bass, who she considers the likely 2nd District nominee, 2010 may not be as challenging for the New Hampshire Democratic ticket than for their counterparts in other states, she said.

But Republicans privately believe that even if Stephen loses to John Lynch, he can broach the 40 percent level that will boost the rest of the ticket to wins in federal and state races.

To that end, the recruitment is underway for more "back to the future" candidates. We understand that in Executive Council District 5, party officials are talking to former state Senate President Tom Eaton and former Nashua Mayor and council "dean" Bernie Streeter about possible candidacies.

And yes, in District 2, former councilor Peter Spaulding has been stirring again.

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AT THE BIA. University of New Hampshire Survey Center director Andrew Smith told a Business and Industry Association luncheon yesterday that historical data for mid-term elections and the poor economy portend a possible loss of as many as 40 House seats for the Democrats this year.

In the Senate and other major races, "the turnout difference is going to be the key factor," Smith told the Status after the event.

He noted that in Massachusetts on Jan. 19, turnout in cities and towns won by Brown averaged 12 percent higher than in towns won by Democrat Martha Coakley, which is "similar to the dynamic that was seen in Virginia and New Jersey."

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John DiStaso is senior political reporter of the New Hampshire Union Leader.