Just last week, Gov. Chris Sununu’s chances for a successful second session all but evaporated in what amounted to the governor’s worst week ever. We’ve seen signs of Sununu’s involvement poisoning the well on so many of his priorities for over a year now, but this week produced an onslaught of bills that found Sununu caught between his donor-approved priorities and his own Republican caucus that was determined to defeat them.
To start off, Sununu abandoned a campaign promise to support paid family and medical leave. After two decades of studies and 82 percent support in the state, a bipartisan group of legislators in the State House passed paid family leave three separate times in the House. Despite this bipartisan support, concessions and a campaign promise from Sununu when said he would “absolutely” support paid family leave, Sununu ditched the program and betrayed so many Granite Staters who would benefit from it in the process.
In the end it was clear Sununu was taking cues from the Koch brothers, whose group Americans for Prosperity prematurely thanked him for killing the legislation based on their false talking points, which Sununu happily parroted. It’s a mystery why Sununu backed away from his campaign promise, and it’s concerning that he refused to meet with senators to find a way to yes on this program he claimed to support.
His reaction to paid family leave revealed that Sununu is wholly uninterested in legislation in a substantive way until it lands on his desk. This is a common thread that runs through Sununu’s first term: the governor doesn’t know how to legislate, he has put no time or effort into building relationships with the Legislature, and he is too bored by the details of it all to get his hands dirty. But that’s exactly what a good governor does. A good governor isn’t just an empty suit with a pen and a veto stamp. They have an agenda, they advocate for it, and they use their platform and their bully pulpit to push it through.
Sununu’s bad week also extended to the school voucher bill, Senate Bill 193, which he failed to get even his own party to support. On Wednesday, the House Finance Committee voted to send the bill to interim study. Even though SB 193 was among Sununu’s top priorities, he couldn’t be bothered to build support with Republican members of the commission, who didn’t just favor an “inexpedient to legislate” recommendation but pushed to send it to an interim study. This is shocking given that Republicans don’t just control the governor’s office but also hold a four-seat Senate majority and a House majority of over 40 seats.
This week also saw Republicans and Democrats in the House defying Sununu’s threat of veto to pass a repeal of the death penalty. Despite his repeated promises to veto this legislation, the Republican-led House and Senate still overwhelmingly joined nearly veto-proof majorities for this bill. It’s the worst kept secret in Concord that Sununu is completely out of the loop on legislation coursing through the building.
For better or worse, when Sununu makes himself the face of an initiative it’s often the kiss of death. This is also true of Sununu’s other priorities: both the first-time homebuyers tax credit and his Recovery Friendly Workplaces bill died with unanimous or near-unanimous opposition, despite having bipartisan support to start.
In last week’s UNH poll, Sununu’s support dropped precipitously among independents and Democrats. And 80 percent of Granite Staters still haven’t decided who to vote for in the midterm gubernatorial election. For 80 percent of folks not to know who they’re backing after seeing Sununu for a year and 4 months heading into a blue wave year should send a shiver down the governor’s spine. Sununu has been unengaged, uninterested and unhelpful as his own party spurns him at every turn. Looking back at Sununu’s record over the last two sessions, it’s clear he is an ineffective governor that most legislators find difficult to work with, and that’s why he will be sent home to join Craig Benson on the shelf of failed, one-term New Hampshire governors.
(Ray Buckley is the current chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party and a former state representative.)