By Buck Fuller
This seems like a straight-forward question with an obvious answer. Why bother asking this?
Because at the Pulse we believe that the superficial answers are not always the most insightful nor, in the long run, the correct answers.
This is true here as it is in many of the City matters we ponder.
This is Part I. Part II looks more closely at 603 Forward. Part III discusses who lost.
Obviously, Who Won
Yes, the McEachern 9 (aka Boondoggle 9) won re-election. The entire Council was re-elected, which has rarely, if ever, occurred.
This suggests a new dynamic in City politics which we explore.
Beware of the winner’s curse! The seat at the dais may come with a higher price than you estimated. At what price did these individuals win?
Without a Doubt…
The biggest winner on Tuesday must be the City Manager and her management team.
They were able to engineer the financial fall-out from the past two years, so it remained covered up.
Two years of strong budget increases, outstanding McIntyre lawsuits with Michael Kane, payouts to Redgate-Kane of $2.5 million, lost opportunities with the McIntyre building and property, several sweetheart deals with other developers, and so forth.
All these and more will hit the City’s expenses and affect its balance sheet for years to come.
Importantly, City Manager Conard was able to get her pushover City Council re-elected so she could continue to steer the City’s finance in ways favorable to her team and to her best friends.
This will continue for at least the next two years.
And she continues to have compliant City Councilors at her beck and call.
Moreau, Tabor, McEachern, Denton, Cook are all still there to make sure her party continues.
Let’s Dig a Little Bit
Four of the City Council members and two of the four School Board candidates were supported by political action committees (PACs). In fact, there are so many progressive Democratic PACs active in this election that they were practically tripping over each other.
The other five City Councilors self-funded or received donations directly. Having such broad PAC support is, we sense, part of why the entire City Council was re-elected.
603 Forward actively supported three School Board members, two of whom won.
That’s a good batting average for a PAC.
The four City Councilors they supported all won. Batting 1000. Not bad.
New Hampshire Young Democrats (NHYD) is another PAC supporting selected Councilors. The mission of NHYD is to recruit, train, and elect the next generation of progressive leaders in New Hampshire. Forget experience or wisdom. They just want green candidates. And we don’t mean climatistas. We just want progressives.
Run For Something is another PAC involved with the Portsmouth elections.
It is focused on progressive Democrats and is national in scope. Since 2017, it has backed over 2500 candidates in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. In that time, 800 of its candidates have won office.
PAC support is not all roses. As we discuss elsewhere, the McEachern 9 actually did not gain any prominence in the 2023 election. No new fans for the top 5 except Councilor Kate Cook.
Councilor Cook was newly endorsed by the political action committee, 603 Forward.
Perhaps that’s why she gained almost 1000 votes from 2021 and we attribute that to the “power” and “favor” bestowed on her by the PAC. She is now among the chosen few of McEachern, Kelley and Denton in being endorsed by 603 Forward.
We wonder what the “quid pro quo” might be for these four to have earned 603 Forward’s blessing.
Progress Portsmouth
From its signs around town, it strove to be relevant by being its own self-appointed “election central.” It claimed that for 2023 it was no longer a PAC. But it did work for the re-election of at least some of the City Council, notably Jo Kelley.
The Stand Alones
Let’s hear it for those of the McEachern 9 who remained on the dais even without the endorsement of 603 Forward. Councilors Rich Blaylock, Andrew Bagley, Vince Lombardi, John Tabor and real estate Attorney Beth Moreau.
No magic here. We suggest that these other five may be more moderate in their politics than the top four. Some are older, maybe “too pale” or “too stale” in the words of the New York Attorney General. Just guessing. They do not have the cachet and are not sufficiently attractive to join 603 Forward.
John Tabor reportedly spent at least $9000 of his own money to secure his re-election.
How can someone justify such an outlay? Pride? Preserving public reputation? Heightening community influence? Running for mayor?
Those with a Voice
Portsmouth used to be nonpartisan. Ancient history: there didn’t used to be PACs. No wonder Councilor Denton was sure the Pulse was a PAC! Everyone else was!
Even if it leaned Democrat, there was room for a Republican or two. After all, the Republicans would often bring a business sense of how to accomplish things or even clean up a fiscal mess or two.
There was a sense that all sides were represented over time and that all sides had a voice.
Today, City Council votes are often lopsided with 8 to 1 or 9 to 0 tallies. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is the voice heard most clearly in Portsmouth politics.
Fiscal restraint, budget controls and tempered spending have suffered.
The great irony is that as the progressive wing bangs the drum for affordable housing, they enact policies that make housing more expensive.
Higher taxes, greater regulation and sweetheart deals with favored constituents all cause the cost of housing and city services to rise. Those whose progressive voice remain loudest won the election.
Next, We Discuss the New PAC
In Part II, we discuss 603 Forward in greater detail.
Source Featured Image: Wayfair
