The enemy of my enemy is my friend: O’Brien loyalists defend Guinta
A handful of Bill O'Brien loyalists have responded to calls by Sen. Kelly Ayotte and state House Speaker Shawn Jasper for Frank Guinta’s resignation by defending the beleaguered congressman.
As usual, the most colorful comments came from state Rep. Al Baldasaro (R-Londonderry). “Fellow Republicans do we follow the lead of some for Guinta to resign or do we stand by our constitution and say kiss our butt?” he tweeted.
Baldasaro dismissed the FEC Conciliation Agreement in which Guinta acknowledged guilt and agreed to pay a $15,000 civil penalty. “Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” Baldasaro declared. “[Frank Guinta] needs to stand his ground!”
Former Speaker Bill O’Brien and his supporters have been engaged in open warfare with Ayotte since she endorsed O’Brien’s opponent, Gene Chandler, in last year’s GOP contest for House Speaker.
Ed Mosca, former House counsel under then-Speaker O‘Brien, directly referenced the Chandler endorsement letter in his response. “The charges against Guinta are not enough to overturn an election and likely hand the seat to the Democrats,” Mosca blogged. “Story we really want is who is behind all this,” he tweeted. “So do tell. Same crowd that was behind letter endorsing Chandler?”
Freshman Rep. Max Abramson (R-Seabrook) – who made headlines earlier this year when Jasper removed him from the House Criminal Justice Committee and O’Brien came to his defense – responded by attacking the Republican speaker for meddling in “the internal affairs of Republicans.”
“It’s the Democrat-appointed Speaker who should step down for wanton abuse of power and ongoing retaliation against Republican members of the House,” Abramson wrote on Facebook. “Jasper has no business interfering in the internal affairs of Republicans. We can handle this issue on our own.”
But while some conservative Republicans circled the wagons, others began looking to the future. “Should I run for U.S. Representative for NH 1st congressional district in 2016?” asked Rep. John Burt (R-Goffstown) in his first tweet. The “Draft John Burt for US House” Facebook page soon followed.