Gov. Chris Sununu isn’t mincing his words – and neither are some conservative lawmakers.
A day after newly elected state House Speaker Dick Hinch, a fellow Republican and strong Sununu ally was found dead in his home from COVID-19, the governor called his friend’s unexpected death “a tragic and cautionary tale” and took aim at other GOP state lawmakers who’ve resisted wearing masks at large gatherings.
“For those who are just out there doing the opposite just to make some ridiculous political point, it is horribly wrong,” Sununu said on Thursday. “Please use your heads. Don’t act like a bunch of children, frankly.”
But a top conservative in the House who wants to replace Hinch as speaker, state Rep. Al Baldasaro, maintains that “the governor’s wrong.”
The passing of 71-year-old Hinch has reignited a fierce debate in New Hampshire over wearing masks. On Nov. 9, Hinch and roughly 50 other state Republican lawmakers were celebrating the election results, where their party stormed back and regained the majority in both the state House and Senate. They were photographed at the indoor gathering in Manchester not wearing masks.
Eleven days later, Republican state representatives gathered indoors again, for a caucus meeting at McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester. The meeting – with a lack of mask wearing, little social distancing, and an open buffet – came on the same day that Sununu, who last month was overwhelming re-elected to a third 2-year term, signed an executive order mandating mask-wearing. The state’s Department of Health and Human Services later determined that at least four lawmakers at the meeting contracted COVID-19.
Democratic state lawmakers were furious after not being told of the coronavirus outbreak until the eve of the swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected legislature, which is known in New Hampshire as Organization Day. The event, which was held outside on an athletic field at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, was boycotted by most of the Democratic representatives, to avoid possible exposure to the virus.
Roughly 80 GOP lawmakers, who refused to wear masks at the ceremony, were seated in a sectioned off area for the event. Outgoing Democratic Speaker Steve Shurtleff charged that “this decision puts the lives of all members and staff of the House of Representatives at risk.”
Sununu, who has faced small anti-mask protests outside his private home the past couple of weeks, called out his fellow Republicans for their handling of the Organization Day, calling the controversy “poorly managed.”
Taking questions from reporters on Thursday, the governor tried to underscore the gravity of Hinch’s passing, saying it was “really is a warning sign that we are far from over this.”
“Just because you’re not in a long term care facility, just because you’re not elderly and infirm, does not mean you are not just by any means immune from COVID, but it can have very, very severe repercussions, very, very quickly,” he said.
Baldasaro, the longtime state representative from Londonderry who was a state co-chair of President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, called the governor’s comments “a shame.”
“He should be supporting the Republicans,” Baldasaro said of Sununu.
But State Senate majority leader Jeb Bradley praised Sununu, saying on Friday that “the governor has shown extraordinary leadership during the entire pandemic.”
And he emphasized that “all of us have a personal responsibility to protect each other.”
Baldasaro said he didn’t think the death of Hinch would change the minds of some on the right when it comes to their resistance to masks.
“Not at all – because Hinch always wore a mask,” he said. “It’s not a mask issue.”
Following Hinch’s death, deputy Speaker Sherm Packard is serving as interim speaker.
The full House will likely vote on a new speaker when they are next in session, on Jan. 6.
Packard has not indicated whether he’ll run to fill the post for the remainder of the two-year session.
But Baldasaro, who’s run for speaker in years past, says he’s making another bid.
“It’s a done deal. I’ve already made it known I’m running for Speaker,” he told the Monitor.
The eight-term lawmaker put in hat into the ring for the speakership after the Nov. 3 election, but quickly dropped out, deferring to Hinch in order to preserve party unity.