Carolyn Sundquist: GOP obscures the real Merrimack ICE center antagonist

To The Daily Sun,

Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the New Hampshire Republican leadership rather than blame the Trump administration for shading the public about its ICE Merrimack Detention Center plans, have decided to beat up on what the right-wing New Hampshire Journal called a “hapless bureaucrat.”

The Trump administration, if Gov. Ayotte is telling the truth, ignored her outreach to learn more about the Department of Homeland Security’s ICE facility. Instead, the DHS slipped in a backdoor paperwork request to the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resource, which even the New Hampshire journal called an “obscure” state agency.

Sarah Stewart, who headed the agency, became the GOP’s punching bag. 

GOP Executive Council member Janet Stevens called the situation “an absolute disgrace.”

Ayotte piled on too, publicly demanding Stewart resign. She said Stewart should have known the importance of the DHS request and forwarded it to Ayotte.

Why instead didn’t Ayotte publicly chastise the Trump administration for never calling her directly?

We know the answer. She and the NH GOP leaders lack the courage to demand the Trump administration publicly provide New Hampshirites the truth about this deeply unpopular detention center.

The NH GOP leadership needs to confront the Trump administration’s excesses directly and stand up for New Hampshire’s state rights and its citizenry ― or be voted out of office this November to make room for new courageous leadership.

Carolyn Sundquist

Melvin Village