Video Ad Watch: Sununu’s Allies Attempt to Distract from His Record

For Immediate Release
September 26, 2008

(Manchester, NH) - Today, the New Hampshire Democratic Party released a web video refuting the false claims made by John Sununu's political allies who are distorting Jeanne Shaheen's record on income taxes in order to distract voters from John Sununu's record of marching in lockstep with the Bush economic agenda. The Keene Sentinel decried this "avalanche" of false ads, calling them "fundamentally untrue" and pointed out that these outside groups and Sununu only "pretend to be independent of each other," and the Concord Monitor told its readers not to fall for the "taxer myth." [Sentinel Editorial, 9/22/08; Monitor Editorial, 9/14/08]

"John Sununu and his political buddies are hoping that these false attack ads will distract voters from Sununu's record of voting in lockstep with George Bush's economic agenda that has put our nation in a financial crisis," said Alex Reese, press secretary for the NHDP's Coordinated Campaign. "These groups have John Sununu's back because he supported their radical agenda to wipe out Wall Street oversight, and now middle class families are paying the price. But all Sununu and his allies can offer up are 'fundamentally untrue' attack ads and revisionist history of the worst kind. We need a new direction that puts middle class families ahead of Wall Street investors, and that means we need a new senator."

The web video released today refutes the "fundamentally untrue" ads against Shaheen by citing four of the countless media reports showing that it was Shaheen's threatened veto that definitively stopped efforts to implement an income tax in New Hampshire:

• "The House and Senate passed an income tax bill during the past year, though the promise of a veto by Gov.  Jeanne Shaheen prevented either measure from winning the approval of both Houses." [The Union Leader, 12/29/99]
• "It was to our consternation that, when for the first time in modern history, both houses of the Legislature approved an income tax, Shaheen, with a threatened veto, killed it."  [Concord Monitor, 9/14/08]
• "[B]ut two of the bill's supporters - House Minority Leader Peter Burling, a Cornish Democrat, and Representative Stephen Avery, a Dublin Republican - say the Senate would reject the bill if the vote were held today, largely because of Governor Jeanne Shaheen's opposition." [Keene Sentinel, 3/9/99]
• "Shaheen angered many Democrats two years ago when both houses of the Legislature passed an income tax, but her veto threat killed it."  [Associated Press, 8/22/01]

John Sununu has been in Washington for twelve years, and he has worked with George Bush to erode Wall Street oversight, planting the seeds of the current financial crisis. Sununu's allies know the only way for him to win reelection is to distort Shaheen's record. The Keene Sentinel said it best: "These out-of-state shills for John Sununu must think the people of New Hampshire will believe anything."