Guest commentary: Shawn O’Connor’s all-about-Shawn act is wearing thinner every day
In this guest commentary, Charlie “Chaz” Proulx, a 67-year-old New Hampshire native and lifelong Democrat, shares his thoughts on the first district congressional bid by political newcomer Shawn O’Connor.
Since moving to Bedford from New York a few years ago, Shawn O’Connor has gone from doing next to nothing to help New Hampshire Democrats to becoming a major liability.
A short history
On November 24, 2014 James Pindell wrote this about O’Connor’s preparations to run for the U.S. Senate against Kelly Ayotte. “Shawn O’Connor moved from New York City to Bedford last year and has not been particularly active in local Democratic politics. He has not given money to any federal candidates … according to the Federal Election website. Though a day before the Nov. 4 election, he did give $1,000 each to the Manchester Democratic Committee and to Executive Councilor Chris Pappas.”
Two thousand dollars isn’t very much for the founder and former president of Stratus Prep. According to O’Connor, “I sold the business for a ten figure valuation to a private equity firm.” Ten figures is a billion dollars.
It’s to his credit that he made so much money so young. But really – two thousand dollars? And beyond money, there are plenty of other things New Hampshire Democrats do to help keep the party strong. O’Connor did none of them.
Most New Hampshire Democrats get active in one way or another and start making like-minded friends. New Hampshire is a small state where networking is very personal. But when I heard that O’Connor was running for Congress in the first district, neither I nor anyone I knew in politics knew anything about him. Soon enough, he claimed to have hired the Benenson Strategy Group and other ultra heavy hitters from outside New Hampshire to shape his image.
Creating an image for Mr. O’Connor had to be a challenge because a few years ago he was touting the “Third Way” movement in Forbes magazine. He singled out Democrats for wanting to raise taxes.
Feelin’ the Bern
Somehow O’Connor then pivoted to become a Bernie Sanders supporter. Strange, because last summer his publicized political issues list never mentioned income equality. I saw him speak three times and there was no mention of Bernie Sanders.
Now he’s all in with all the Bernie trappings. A recent O’Connor television ad co-opted Sanders “Join the Revolution” slogan. That’s a long way from Steve Forbes rag and anti-tax rhetoric.
We all have epiphanies, but I suspect that O’Connor and his handlers watched Sanders pre-primary numbers and saw an opportunity to differentiate himself from Jeanne Shaheen, Carol Shea-Porter and Maggie Hassan – all of whom endorsed Hillary Clinton.
An early hint of mild negativity was to lump Maggie, Carol and Jeanne together as “establishment.” Shortly thereafter O’Connor press releases began reeking of a holier-than-thou attitude towards Shea-Porter. He attacked Carol’s character over accepting Union PAC money. He failed to mention that when Carol won her first primary the campaign had $19,000, then refused DCCC money and still managed to beat Jeb Bradley.
That win had everything to do with the networks of friend and activists I mentioned above. It was a true grassroots effort – one of the biggest upsets in New Hampshire political history. CSP had spent less than any other winning candidate for Congress in the entire U.S.
The threat to sue Shea-Porter
Then, of course, came the threat to sue Shea-Porter for defamation. Before the threats hit the papers, O’Connor was lawyered up and pressuring leaders of the NHDP to “mediate” between him and Shea-Porter. What a crazy-assed stunt when true Democrats are focused on a Presidential election year.
Turmoil followed. In the media, O’Connor dragged State Sen. David Pierce into the mix. Pierce had endorsed O’Connor, but found himself defending O’Connor’s over-the-top allegations of a “defamatory whisper campaign” against him. O’Connor has since called the “whisper campaign” part of a “broad conspiracy” perpetrated by Shea-Porter. I met David Pierce when he first moved to New Hampshire and respect him a lot. I can’t imagine that any of this was comfortable for him.
Next O’Connor told the press that members of Bernie Sanders’ campaign would corroborate his “whisper campaign” story. Two major staffers’ names were splashed across the press and local television. Neither confirmed O’Connor’s allegations.
The Sanders campaign didn’t need these distractions, but needy Shawn did.
Red meat to the GOP
And then there’s Twitter. O’Connor ties anyone who doesn’t agree with him to the Shea-Porter campaign. People who have never had anything to do with the campaign are called Carol Shea-Porter hacks.
And if he doesn’t like what you write, he’ll just make up something about you. Actually he’ll lie about you. Openly gay, he has tweeted that I’m “Anti-LGBT and ”Anti-Survivor.” People who know me know that’s a lie, but his supporters probably believe I’m a bigot.
America Rising (Republican opposition research PAC) is now attacking Shea-Porter based on Shawn’s meme. Does Shawn understand that he’s tossing red-meat to the GOP?
I have no idea what motivates Mr. O’Connor but his all-about-Shawn act is wearing thinner every day.