'Our party is more united than it's ever been' — all evidence to the contrary
In 2011, when state Rep. Susan Emerson proposed a budget amendment restoring social service cuts, then-Speaker Bill O'Brien accused her of not being a real Republican. “He threatened to kick me out of the Republican caucus, said I wasn’t a Republican,” the longtime Rindge representative told the Concord Monitor.
The feeling is mutual.
In today’s Keene Sentinel, Emerson says she wishes O'Brien would leave the Republican Party and the state. “He wants this far, far-right wing to take over New Hampshire,” she said. “He has torn the Republican Party in half, which is very bad for the Republicans. If you’re not happy with the Republican Party, then get out.”
Meanwhile, state GOP chair Jennifer Horn tells an NHPR audience, “In a lot of ways, our party is more united than it’s ever been.”