Report: Former State Senator Calls on Chuck Morse to Remove Lobbyists With Big Pharma, China-Linked

Chuck Morse continues to receive harsh criticism for his ties to corporate special interests and lobbyists for Chinese Communist Party interests. On Saturday, the Union Leader reported that former State Senator Martha Hennessey has called on Chuck Morse to remove Jim Merrill from his payroll due to Merrill’s “past lobbyist ties to Terrafugia Inc., a company with prior links to the Chinese Communist Party.” In the letter, Hennessey wrote that “Mr. Merrill’s work for your campaign and for various lobbying clients creates a serious conflict of interest, and the only appropriate course of action would be to remove Mr. Merrill as finance chair of your U.S. Senate campaign and for the payroll of your State Senate campaign account.” Merrill has also lobbied for Prenda, a homeschooling company that has received millions in state-controlled federal funds meant to be used to reopen public schools and that was investigated over its use of state funds in Arizona. In the letter, Hennessey also calls on Morse to remove Periklis Karoutas, a Concord lobbyist on Morse’s payroll who has represented a slate of special interests – including a shady mail order pharmacy that paid $11 million in penalties for its role in the opioid crisis. He still represents a big pharma lobby group whose members, such as Mallinckrodt, Abbott, and Johnson & Johnson, fueled the opioid crisis. However, Chuck Morse has refused to remove the lobbyists from his payroll. You can read the full letter here and read the story from the Union Leader below: Union Leader: Dems target Morse aide "Former state Sen. Martha Hennessey, D-Hanover, wrote to Republican Senate candidate Morse about his campaign manager, Jim Merrill, and his past lobbyist ties to Terrafugia Inc., a company with prior links to the Chinese Communist Party."

"'Mr. Merrill’s work for your campaign and for various lobbying clients creates a serious conflict of interest, and the only appropriate course of action would be to remove Mr. Merrill as finance chair of your U.S. Senate campaign and for the payroll of your State Senate campaign account,' Hennessey wrote."