by Ed Naile
I have an issue I didn’t have time to write about when it happened. It is still a nice look into NH’s Deep State.
This August 20, 2017 there appeared an op-ed in the Concord paper from David Scanlon of the NH Secretary of State’s Office, explains how NH was going to provide President Trump’s election integrity commission with documents the commission requested. Scanlon takes issue with the NH ACLU lawsuit that followed the request.
Excerpt: “For Bissonnette to suggest that Secretary of State Gardner was going to send private voter information, including birth dates and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, as well as “other personal information,” is a complete fabrication that only served to needlessly provoke public outcry.”
The NH ACLU is simply fundraising off the scary Trump commission and as usual not much in a NH ACLU case is factual. What is Scanlon complaining about?
Could it be Scanlon is interested in protecting the sterling reputation of the office he works for? You know, the one that encourages thousands of out-of-state visitors to vote in NH – as long as they are voting the right way.
A point Scanlon makes is interesting. He says he clearly pointed out to the NH ACLU lawyer/fundraiser, that only the already public info on the checklist would be handed over.
“I informed Bissonette of this fact on June 30 via email and also informed him that the secretary of state planned to release only information that appears on the “marked checklist(s) used in an election.”
Here is the game both men are playing:
Gilles Bissonette is pretending NH voters are going to have private info handed over to the scary Trump commission, so he can stoke the fear and hate in pro-voter fraud individuals. That equals more donations and press – friendly NH press.
Scanlon is telegraphing that the NH SoS will only hand over checklists – unusable because they are on paper and not what the commission could use in the short time they had to create a report to President Trump. The commission dissolved on schedule without generating a report because so many states pulled stunts like this.
This spat is a win-win for the NH ACLU and the NH SoS. Don’t believe either person.
Next, out of far left field, and probably only informed enough to repeat progressive talking points, comes “Ivan Hoe” Burling in the comedy section of the Concord paper:
Peter Hoe Burling · Harvard University:
“In this op. ed. Dave Scanlon attempts to shift the blame for heightened NH voter discomfort from our Secretary of State to the ACLU. David is wrong on every count. The facts are these: The Trump Administration and the GOP have been engaged in a voter suppression effort across the country. As part of that effort, the Administration created a commission to study voter fraud, not to actually learn about voter fraud (there isn’t any) but to lay the foundation for more voter disenfranchisement. Our Secretary of State decided he would be part of their effort, even when the leadership of the commission was given to the most aggressive advocates of suppression. That caused anxiety and alarm among many of us who believe in voting rights. Then, when the commission asked all the states to forward their voter information to Washington, the alarm grew exponentially. NH has a well-established policy of protecting the information government may hold about its citizens. Scanlon and the Secretary of State ignored that policy, did nothing to inform the public or ask for input, and pressed forward to do what the voter suppression folks wanted to do in Washington. From that came not more anxiety, but rage.”
Does Ivan Hoe Burling have a ninth-grader write his op-eds?
In any case, President Trump has handed the voter ethics investigation over to Homeland Security. They have subpoena power. If Secretary of State Gardner and Scanlon want to drag feet with them, so be it. The Trump ethics commission had no lawyers or money, Homeland Security does.