Everything from January to September comes from what will no doubt be the single most potent anti-Shea-Porter site in 2010: I refer, of course, to her own House website. Watch the ‘evolution’ of a Beltway Bandit:

• January, 2009: “Low-income seniors could really use this money right now,” said Shea-Porter. “Extending the tax rebate to seniors is not only the fair thing to do, but it’s also one of the best ways to stimulate the economy. This helps all of us.”
• February, 2009: “Congress has passed an economic stimulus package to provide much needed aid to American families and small businesses,” said Congresswoman Shea-Porter.
• March, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that New Hampshire will receive a $25,827,000 grant for the State Energy Program and a $23,218,594 grant for weatherization projects. These funds, totaling $49,045,594, are through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
• April, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that New Hampshire will receive $4.6 million in funding for airport infrastructure. These funds were made possible by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “
• May, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that the Portsmouth National Passport Center will receive $2,570,000 for facility renovations. This funding is provided through the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
• June, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that the North Conway Water Precinct will receive $8,190,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s Water and Environmental Program. … The funding comes in the form of a $4,255,000 grant and a $3,935,000 loan made possible by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
• July, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that $558,591 would be sent to New Hampshire to provide employment-related services to dislocated workers affected by layoffs and closures from eight manufacturing companies around the state. … This funding is through the National Emergency Grant (NEG) from the Department of Labor and is made possible by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
• August, 2009: [Rep. Shea-Porter took the month off.]
• September, 2009: “Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that the University of New Hampshire will receive $487,350 to research internet safety materials used by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces. … This grant is provided by the United States Department of Justice and is made possible by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
• October, 2009: Rep. Shea-Porter walks back from the stimulus. (H/T: Instapundit)
  

For somebody who thought that the stimulus was such a failure, she was certainly happy to see all that money. And she certainly wasn’t shy about assigning it to non-infrastructure projects, either.

Now, I can understand not wanting the money, and not taking any of it. I can also understand wanting the money, and taking it. I can even understand not wanting the money, but taking it (whether because it’s been effectively forced on you, or because you figure that you should make the best of a bad situation). What I can’t understand is how somebody can want the money, take the money, then pretend that she’s against how the money was given to her in the first place - and still be taken seriously as a elected representative.

Which is a roundabout way of saying: Frank Guinta for Congress. Because this embarrassment has gone on for long enough.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Oh, Carol.  Why does she keep making us point out her lies?

Portsmouth PD: Shea-Porter was removed from Bush town hall by two police officers

Two officers of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department removed Carol Shea-Porter and Susan Mayer from a February 2005 town hall event hosted by then-President George W. Bush at the request of the owner of the property, a spokesman for the Police Department tells NowHampshire.com.

The revelation contradicts statements made by Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter as recently as this week that she was not removed from the event.

“[T]here were no disruptions and no rudeness and I wasn’t removed. If it happened, don’t you think there would have been photos or video or news stories from that day? There aren’t because it didn’t happen,” Shea-Porter told the Portsmouth Herald this weekend.

Or because they went quietly enough, and weren’t notable enough then, to justify either.  The ‘thugs’ comment mentioned later in the article is more of a problem; it’s just not credible to imagine that Rep. Shea-Porter would not have recognized police officers as being police officers, given that this statement is an official one from the Portsmouth PD.  So: either Shea-Porter was lying (being also unaware that the police keep records of this sort of thing), or she thinks that cops are thugs.  Given her affiliation with the antiwar movement, I’m going to assume the latter.

Now, it’s not just affecting Rep. Shea-Porter, or her crony Mayer (who, as the article notes, is now taking in about 70 grand a year on the taxpayers’ dime*), or even the people who are stuck with trying to explain away every contradiction and evasion that Shea-Porter makes.  It’s affecting the people of New Hampshire’s First District, who honestly don’t deserve this kind of amateurism from their Member of Congress.

So: Frank Guinta for Congress.

Moe Lane

*This antiwar thing worked out great for those two, didn’t it? Personally, that is.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Background on this issue here: the short version is that Rep. Carol Shea-Porter is rather belatedly attempting to ‘correct’ the impression that she’s been thrown out of town halls in the past.  Such an impression jars badly with this video of her having one of her constituents thrown out of current town halls - complete with her mockery of the man.

By the way?  Support Frank Guinta.

Read More →

Now! Hampshire (H/T: Instapundit) reports that Shea Porter has gone from 43/34 in April against Frank Guinta to 46.3/43.4 in polling.  Better still, Shea-Porter now has an unfavorable rating of 48%.  Needless to say, it’s directly related to August:

“Frank Guinta has two things going for him right now,” said Steve DeMaura of Populus Research. “We’re seeing a general swing toward Republican candidates on the generic congressional ballot. And Carol-Shea Porter’s negatives have shot through the roof as a result of a calamitous August recess.”

Shea-Porter spent much of the August recess avoiding direct engagement with her constituents. She refused to hold traditional, New Hampshire-style town hall meetings until pressured into doing so last Saturday by Republicans and state media.

Two things:

1. There’s something fun about seeing the word ‘calamitous’ used about the Other Side’s political fortunes.
2. You’d have thought that the last eight years would have taught a self-avowed member of the antiwar movement that cutting and running DOES. NOT. WORK.

Moe Lane

PS: Frank Guinta for Congress.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

So… four years ago, she was getting escorted out of town hall meetings; now she’s the one ordering the escorting. Sort of a microcosm of the selling-out story arc, isn’t it?

…Shea-Porter can be seen instructing security to remove a man for standing to ask a question without a ticket. Shea-Porter previously held a lottery to determine who could ask questions. She can also be heard taunting the man on his way out by saying, “I do hope the movie theater can be a little quieter for you.”

NowHampshire.com has learned that the gentlemen Shea-Porter removed, Carl Tomanelli from Londonderry, is a retired New York City patrolman.

(Video also here) Presumably Shea-Porter didn’t know that: then again, I’m assuming that because there’s no report of the Congresswoman making pig noises as they removed the retired cop.

Moe Lane

PS: Frank Guinta.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Well… he wasn’t the only one, of course. But Frank Guinta’s announcement that he’d be throwing a town hall because Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D, NH-01) was too leery to was undoubtedly a primary factor in the way that she buckled yesterday.  The strong plurality of New Hampshire voters who don’t approve of her hiding from them probably helped, of course.  And the hostile editorials (including this one, from what I assume is a Democratic-leaning paper*).  Or maybe… no, that’s an unkind thought.

Anyway, Frank Guinta made a statement:

“While I am very pleased that Congresswoman Shea-Porter has finally given in to the wishes of the people and will conduct a town hall on health care, I find it very unfortunate it took a media and public backlash in order to do it.  Carol Shea-Porter, as we’ve been reminded over the past week, made a name for herself by attending and speaking out at town halls conducted by her predecessor.  She refused to offer the same opportunity when she got into office—what a difference a few years in DC made. Our representatives in Washington should make decisions based on what is in the public’s best interest, not simply cave under unexpected and intense scrutiny.

“That being said, I look forward to attending the town hall of my Congresswoman on August 29th and invite her to attend mine, on August 31st.  Let’s make sure we give all citizens the opportunity to voice their opinions, express their concerns and most importantly let’s hope our elected leaders listen to us.”

Read More →

Now Hampshire reports that Republican candidate for NH-01 Frank Guinta has grown tired of current Rep Carol Shea-Porter’s completely explicable fear of facing her constituents this recess season, and will be holding the town hall that she should have:

In a move that’s as in-your-face as you can get, Manchester, NH Mayor and Republican candidate for Congress Frank Guinta will host a health care town hall in Exeter on August 31st. In the press release announcing the town hall, the Guinta campaign doesn’t even pretend that the move is anything other than a slap at incumbent Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01).

“It is unthinkable, that an elected leader who herself is famous for her attendance and outspoken opposition at her predecessors’ town halls, would simply refuse to allow the same opportunity to her constituents, “said Guinta.

Shea-Porter, who was a vocal anti-war activist before winning her seat in 2006, essentially hounded then-Republican Congressman Jeb Bradley at his town halls in the years leading up to their race.

I do not exactly excuse Shea-Porter for her actions; it is merely that I recognize that she is essentially still a professional antiwar activist in her heart. And expecting moral courage from a professional antiwar activist is like expecting a jackass to sing: there’s nothing stopping you from doing it, but there’s no getting past the fact that the jackass simply lacks the basic ability in the first place.

(H/T Instapundit)

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.