What Sununu Didn’t Tell His North Country Constituents Yesterday

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Bill Lofy
February 22, 2008(603)573-5067

 What Sununu Didn’t Tell His North Country Constituents Yesterday

(Manchester, NH) – Yesterday, Senator John E. Sununu visited the North Country, expressing concern about job layoffs and the recent announcement by Fraser Paper that it will be closing two paper machines at its Cascade paper mill. The company cites rising energy costs, which have skyrocketed while during Sununu’s time in office, as the reason for closing the machines. Sununu told community members – who are enduring repeated job layoffs and a sharply deteriorating economy as a result of the Bush-Sununu economic agenda – that they face “real challenges.” What Sununu left out was that he cast the two deciding votes on legislation – the energy bill and the economic stimulus bill – that would have created green collar jobs for the North Country and provided essential unemployment benefits to laid off workers.

“Sununu’s visit to the North Country offers a stark contrast between his rhetoric and his record,” said Bill Lofy, director of the Stop Sununu campaign of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “He talks about the challenges facing his North Country constituents, but he recently cast the deciding vote against extending unemployment benefits to laid off workers. He talks about the opportunities facing the region, but was the deciding vote in December against an energy bill that would have created green collar jobs and grown a green economy.”

“This is classic John E. Sununu: stand up for the special interests, stick it to the working class, and then run from his record,” concluded Lofy. “If Sununu really cared about the future of the North Country economy, he would have voted for the energy bill and voted for including unemployment benefits in the economic stimulus bill. When it comes to the priorities of the North Country, John E. Sununu’s rhetoric once again doesn’t match his record.”

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