Last night, Shawn O'Connor spoke to about a score of people at the monthly Hampton Dems meeting. He is running for the New Hampshire first Congressional district seat now held by Frank Guinta and being sought, for the umpteenth time by Carol Shea Porter, the Democrat who's played musical chairs with Guinta for several election cycles.
O'Connor spoke at the Democratic convention in Manchester and about all I could recall about him was he said he would not accept as a salary in Congress anything more than the minimum wage in New Hampshire, about $15,000 a year and he was gay, which seems to be something of a merit badge in New Hampshire Democratic circles lately.
Tonight, he started with the Ghandi-esque thing about not wanting to live any better than the least among us, the minimum wage thing, which had me squirming. I don't resent a Congressman making $170K annually. We have an unpaid legislature in New Hampshire and that has resulted in a selection bias in favor of kooks like Fred Rice, who have nothing better to do and an independent income. Much of our governmental dysfunction may derive from the amateur hour we have going in Concord.
So the I'm not taking money to do this-job-which-should-be-a-calling thing did not resonate with me and my friends all said, "How bogus." It comes off as an insincere gimmick. Most people here understand Congress can be a fun job, for the right insane individual.
However...when he started answering pointed questions about how he would keep the Portsmouth shipyard open, how he would react to the prospect of a propane terminal in Portsmouth, how he would respond to the periodic gun events which seem to claim students from elementary school to college on a regular basis, how he would respond to being called a tax and spend Democrat, he transformed from callow clueless youth to a very polished, thoughtful, persuasive and effective man.
Turns out, he worked on Capitol Hill for 4 years; he went to Georgetown undergrad, Harvard Law (where his favorite professor was Elizabeth Warren!) Harvard Business School and he started a firm with 40 employees, so he's met a payroll.
Forty five minutes later, he had me on his team.
Now, if I can just get him to listen to me about this Gandhi thing. It's a distraction.
He could also use some prepping on how to keep his answers short and how to arm himself with arrows of zingers to answer The Donald and any other Republican when they sling their own arrows...this guy could be a keeper.
He is smart, does not back down from a fight, and he could serve a long time.
Mad Dog,
ReplyDeleteI have heard him speak on different occasions as well and the more one hears him speak the more it seems he may give Carol Shea Porter a run for her money in the primary. I am a fan of Shea-Porter, but I must say O'Connor certainly does have his strengths..He absolutely must quit the vow of poverty routine-it makes him sound like an amateur or an overly zealous school boy when he's taking his opponent to task for having rented an $1800 apartment in DC...he's lived in DC and should know the rents there, so this particular barb makes him appear disingenuous...But the closer one looks at his background and message, the more impressive he appears and this must give the Shea Porter campaign some concern...
Maud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteAs a fan of West Wing, I think what this man needs is "handlers." There's a character named "Leo" who sees a guy in New Hampshire and is impressed by his qualities and organizes a group of writers and press people to manage the candidate, not to change or over ride him but to allow him to be himself and still win. That's what O'Connor needs now.
I'd vote for Carol any day, if she runs against Guinta or any Republican, but I've never been a fan. Not enough "there" there.
Mad Dog