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ICYMI: NH Today Criticizes Sununu For Campaigning With Extremist Paul LePage
This morning on WGIR’s NH Today, hosts Chris Ryan and Justin McIsaac criticized Chris Sununu’s decision to fundraise for extremist Paul LePage’s 2022 bid for Governor. During the segment, McIsaac shared some of LePage’s most divisive and racist comments and noted that he was “surprised” Sununu is appearing with LePage — who he compared to anti-vax politician Ken Weyler. Ryan said that if he were Sununu, he would not fundraise for LePage, and said that LePage “plays to the fringes” and is “part of the problem in our politics.”
Sununu’s decision to fundraise for an anti-choice extremist like LePage is the latest example of Sununu pandering to extremists in the Republican Party. Last week, when anti-vaccine extremists shut down an Executive Council meeting, Sununu downplayed the events, saying he did not find the events “troubling” and said only one or two people “crossed the line.” Sununu even admitted to texting with many of the extremists and said he didn’t regret those conversations. Read the exchange below and listen to the audio here: Chris Ryan: Justin is going to provide right now a Paul LePage refresher: Justin McIsaac: Yeah, you might have forgotten this from 2016. Paul LePage was speaking about the heroin problem in Maine, and he said it was "guys like D-Money Smoothie and Shifty who come up from Connecticut, New York." He went on to say, "they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave" and then said, "let me tell you something, black people come up the highway and they kill Mainers. You ought to look into that" before storming off at a press conference. So that was-- that's one example of what Paul LePage had to say. I'm a little surprised Governor Sununu is fundraising for him, as LePage seems to be more of the Ken Weyler side of the street than the Chris Sununu side of the street as far as Republican politics go. Ryan: Yeah, I would not have--if it were me, I would not fundraise for, you know, Paul LePage either. I think that Paul LePage predated Trump, and is part of the problem in our politics. We don't need people that play to the fringes on either side. And both, to me, LePage is that type of a politician. I'm quite frankly surprised that he has returned to the political arena and that there's any appetite for that in Maine.