Horn’s mysterious lobbyist donation
By Brian Lawson, PolitickerNH.com ReporterOver the past two days Jennifer Horn (R-Nashua) has been criticized by both rival Grant Bosse (R-Hillsboro) and the website Blue Hampshire for accepting money from a lobbyist, while she said Bob Clegg (R-Hudson) should return money from lobbyists that donated money to his campaign.
"Self-proclaimed front-runner Jennifer Horn has accepted campaign contributions from a registered lobbyist, despite earlier demands that a fellow candidate return lobbyist contributions and apologize to the voters of New Hampshire," Bosse said in a statement.
According to FEC filings, Horn received a $4,600 donation from Mark Ustin, a registered lobbyist, and $4,600 from Carolyn Ustin.
Horn's campaign manager Zack Condry says the lobbyist is actually Horn's brother-in-law.
"He is only a registered lobbyist in the State of New York so the only thing he'll be lobbying Jennifer for will be more turkey at Thanksgiving dinner," Condry said.
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No mystery here - family
No mystery here - family members who love and support each other often donate to whatever projects they are working on.
The mystery is: 1. Why would Bosse align himself with the same position that Blue Hampshire is taking and 2. why would he issue a press release without doing his homework?
Horn's campaign is really
Horn's campaign is really starting to split hairs with this one - she made the announcement that she would take no lobbyist money and now she has a lobbyist on her FEC filings. Shouldn't matter that he is family, registered in NY or whatnot - still a lobbyist by occupation and according to Horn, that is a bad thing. What if Clegg's money is from a lobbyist only registered in NH? Is that okay now by her definition because he is running for federal office? The real issue is that she backed herself in a corner to get a cheap press release and now is scrambling. Grant Bosse is dead on the issue and he isn't supporting BH ideology - both Bosse and the group are comparing FEC reports to what she said in a press release and it doesn't match up. Horn should accept any legal money out there - stupid to discriminate by occupation because you are going to get tripped up sooner than later, and as Horn found out, real soon.
Horn's campaign is really
Horn's campaign is really starting to split hairs with this one - she made the announcement that she would take no lobbyist money and now she has a lobbyist on her FEC filings. Shouldn't matter that he is family, registered in NY or whatnot - still a lobbyist by occupation and according to Horn, that is a bad thing. What if Clegg's money is from a lobbyist only registered in NH? Is that okay now by her definition because he is running for federal office? The real issue is that she backed herself in a corner to get a cheap press release and now is scrambling. Bosse is dead on the issue and he isn't supporting BH ideology - both Bosse and the group are comparing FEC reports to what she said in a press release and it doesn't match up. Horn should accept any legal money out there - stupid to discriminate by occupation because you are going to get tripped up sooner than later as Horn found out, real soon.
Missing the point
Come on--Horn's point hasn't been that lobbyists are somehow made evil by their very occupation and should therefore be shunned. It's about attempts to influence policy decisions through political donations. An individual who happens to be employed as a lobbyist in a different state and not at the federal level, thus dealing with unrelated issues and constituencies, isn't lobbying a candidate in NH for anything. Obviously, in this case, the support is for a family member, and no one, Republican or Democrat, can argue that's inappropriate, so long as the statutory limits are observed (as they appear to have been observed here).
"I will not accept money
"I will not accept money from lobbyists." I didn't not seen anything in her press release about carve outs for family members lobbying in different states.
Family supports family
I am surprised that I am taking the time to write to this blog, because the issue is so trivial.
Horn accepted money from a family member. Family supports family not because of what they do for a living, but because they love each other. Anyone one who has read Horn's columns knows her stand on that issue.
For those of you who DON'T know. Horn owns 2 cars with the license plates "FAILY-" and "-FAMILY". I think Horn has her head on straight and Bosse has his stuck somewhere I won't mention.
The point is...
Horn's point is that you will never have to wonder if her vote was paid for buy a lobbyist. Her brother in-law cannot influence her vote. He is registered in New York only.
If you want to bring family into it, I understand that Bosse's father is a convicted criminal and he's out on the stump for Bosse everywhere he goes.
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