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Concord, N.H. -- The New Hampshire Democratic Party today filed a right-to-know-request demanding all documents from the Sununu administration about state employee Paul Collins’ statement attacking Senator Hassan for pointing out Sununu’s anti-choice record. As Mitch McConnell continues his “full-court press” to entice Sununu to run, Sununu appears to be using taxpayer resources to launch political attacks against his opponent for Senate.
“Granite Staters deserve answers on why Chris Sununu is having a paid state employee launch false political attacks against an opponent for the U.S. Senate,” said NHDP Chair Ray Buckley. “If Sununu is so thin skinned that he has a meltdown any time someone points out the facts about his anti-choice record -- including voting to defund Planned Parenthood and signing an abortion ban into law-- he should at least spare taxpayers from footing the bill.”
The right-to-know request includes all correspondence since August 21, 2021 from Senior Advisor Paul Collins on matters related to Senator Hassan, Senator McConnell, and a Senate Campaign. These include letters, emails, text messages, reports, and other relevant material. The NHDP sent the request to the Office of the Governor.
You can read the right-know-request below:
September 23, 2021 Jayne Millerick Chief of Staff Office of the Governor 07 North Main Street Concord, NH 03301
Dear Chief of Staff Millerick:
On Monday, your Office’s Senior Advisor, Paul Collins, issued a statement attacking Senator Maggie Hassan and attempting to defend Governor Sununu’s shameful record of attacking reproductive rights in New Hampshire. Collins is currently a paid employee of both the State of New Hampshire and the Governor’s campaign committee, and is a long-time political operative for the Sununu Family.
With Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly engaging in a “full-court press” to entice Chris Sununu into running against Senator Hassan next year, Granite Staters deserve to know whether the Governor and/or his state-paid staff are using taxpayer resources to further his potential Senate bid with this false attack against Senator Hassan. As such, I request the following records in possession of the Office of the Governor pursuant to Article 1, Part 8 of New Hampshire’s Constitution:
All correspondence to or from Senior Advisor Paul Collins (including but not limited to emails to or from paul.collinsjr@nh.gov and/or emails from pcollins@atozexpress.com, paul.collins@atozexpress.com, essingtonca@aol.com, essingtonca@att.net, paulcollinsthethird@yahoo.com) dated between August 21, 2021 and the present, and containing one or more of the following key words and/or phrases:
Hassan, Maggie, Margaret, Senator, Senate, Senatorial, DC, Washington, NRSC, N.R.S.C., McConnell, Mitch, Scott, Rick, Kentucky, Bluegrass, campaign, fundraiser, abortion, choice, defund, Planned Parenthood, PPNNE, ultra-sound, ultrasound, prolife, pro-life, prochoice, pro-choice, family planning, birth control, contraception, reproductive, Bolduc, Trump, California
Any and all records pertaining to the September 20, 2021 press statement by Senior Advisor Paul Collins.
Direct correspondence should include letters, emails, text messages, reports, and other relevant material. I am not seeking any secondary material such as phone logs, notations of conversation, etc.
If any records are withheld or redacted, I request that you state the specific legal and factual grounds for withholding any documents or portions of documents. Please identify each document that falls within the scope of this request but is withheld from release.
If requested documents are located in another installation or bureau, I request that you please refer this request or any relevant portion of this request to the appropriate installation or bureau.
To the extent that the respondent records are available in electronic format, I would prefer to receive the information via email or CD, particularly if providing the information reduces the time or expense involved. Otherwise, I will expect to receive the information in paper form.
To help assess my status for copying and mailing fees, please note that I am gathering information for research purposes and not for commercial activities. I am willing to pay all reasonable costs incurred in locating and duplicating these materials. But please contact me prior to processing to approve any fees or charges incurred in excess of $20.
As you are aware, RSA 91-A requires that this request be met within five business days or that you provide a written statement explaining the time needed to fulfill or deny this request.
Thank you for your cooperation with this request. I am willing to discuss ways to make this request more manageable to your office. Please do not hesitate to contact me at {fill in for requester}.
Sincerely,
Ray Buckley