O’Brien’s Right-to-Work Strategy: Bribes and Threats

GOP state Rep. Lee Quandt documents the bribes and threats coming from the House leadership in its effort to override Gov. Lynch’s veto of the so-called Right-to-Work legislation.

What is happening now is state reps are being, as close as I can figure, bribed and threatened all in the same day. I have been told that the speaker is promising money for your campaign if you stick with him and vote for RTW by voting against the Governors Veto. Then I hear that the majority leader is calling state reps and threatening them to vote with leadership to override the governor’s veto….

One direct threat came from Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, who sits on the House Special Committee on Redistricting. Vaillancourt threatened to use the redistricting process to ensure Rep. Susan Emerson loses her seat in the next election if she votes to sustain the Governor’s veto.

Susan Emerson—After having received so much negativity publicity (at least for Republican primary voters) opposing the Speaker in the media, might she be willing to come back to the fold? Maybe if she wants to get re-elected in 2012, she better start thinking of coming back. Hey, who knows what her district will even look like next year. Just the facts, M’aam, just the facts.

Rep. Raymond Gagnon adds this:

Among the stories being circulated is that the more fervent radical republicans are threatening to have any member evicted from their caucus if they don’t support and vote the republican leadership position.

Quandt says the heavy-handed tactics will backfire:

The growing discomfort with our so called leadership team, is only going to split the house more and make it more difficult, if not impossible to hold a veto proof majority and may put the governor in a better position to negotiate a budget he is more comfortable with, due to the hard feelings and loss of respect for the current house leadership. In fact our leadership group is making their own case for why they should be removed.