By Tiffany Muller
There is so much at stake in this year’s election but let me tell you why we are so focused on the governor’s race in New Hampshire. Sununu has called himself a “Trump guy through and through” and is one of the most Trumpian candidates in the country who has used and abused his position to help himself, his family and his corporate special interest donors. The corruption and special interests that permeate Trump’s Oval Office and Sununu’s corner office shadow every issue Granite Staters care about — let me explain.
Like Trump, Sununu listens to his special interest donors, not Granite Staters. In fact, Chris Sununu has taken over $1 million from corporations and their PACs and rewarded his donors with taxpayer-funded, no-bid state contracts and tax breaks. Chris Sununu handed out over $3 million in taxpayer funds to a medical company whose cofounder hosted a political fundraiser for Sununu’s campaign at the governor’s house last year. Like Donald Trump, Chris Sununu has used his office and abused the public’s trust and taxpayer money to help his special interest donors, while ignoring Granite Staters.
Like Trump, Sununu is using his position to benefit himself and his family. He even singled out the family’s Waterville Valley ski lodge and surrounding properties for special tax breaks — all paid for by taxpayers. Chris Sununu’s designation of Waterville Valley, home to his family’s ski resort business, as an Opportunity Zone raises serious questions about whether any of 78 eligible low-income New Hampshire communities not selected were more deserving of an economic boost, but were turned away because of Chris Sununu’s personal and financial connections to Waterville Valley. Like Trump, instead of helping the most deserving communities, Chris Sununu chose to help his family’s business.
Like Trump, Sununu is backed by big health insurance and drug companies that are making health care more expensive. Chris Sununu has taken more than $137,000 from big drug companies, insurance companies, and health care special interests and opposed measures that could lower prescription drug costs and make health care more affordable. Chris Sununu continues to support Donald Trump, who right now is trying to ram through a nominee to the Supreme Court in order to rip away health care from over 100,000 Granite Staters and threaten the health care of nearly 600,000 Granite Staters with pre-existing conditions. Trump and Sununu have the same agenda on health care that helps their corporate special interest donors and makes health care more expensive for the rest of us.
The difference in this election couldn’t be more clear: Chris Sununu, who like Trump, has used his office and abused the public’s trust to help his special interest donors, his family, and himself, while hiding his business entanglements from public view; or Dan Feltes, who has a bold plan to make Concord work for us, not the special interests. By choosing Dan Feltes, Granite Staters can send a loud message that corruption does not belong in the Oval Office — and it does not belong in New Hampshire’s corner office.