NHGOP Cheers Nashua Mayor for Cutting Ties with Group

The New Hampshire Republican State Committee is praising Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau for cutting ties with Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The state GOP released a statement Monday, as it continued to hammer the group for including terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev on a list of gun violence victims read at a rally last week.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns issued an apology last week. It is continuing a bus tour to promote the need for more cohesive gun control.

Jennifer Horn, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, called it a liberal "extremist" group. She issued this statement:

"Mayor Lozeau deserves to be congratulated for her decision to quit Mayor Bloomberg's radical gun control group. This organization was founded with the noble purpose of stopping illegal guns, but has morphed into an extremist group that has honored murderers and tried to infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners.

It's time for Dover Mayor Dean Trefethen to stop hiding from his constituents, denounce the shameful tactics of this radical group and resign from it immediately. Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a national disgrace, and Mayor Trefethen needs to make it clear that this discredited extremist organization is not welcome in New Hampshire."

Horn emailed a right-to-know request to Trefethen, seeking any and all communications with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and again urging him to nix his membership.

Trefethen, in an email response to her, replied that he has no such records with Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and that the only thing he has done in connection with the group is sign a membership sheet. He accused Horn of orchestrating a political attack.

"Further more," Trefethen concluded in his email response to Horn, "you make these accusations in an email with an unknown number of people, including the media, in the blind copy area, so that my reply is only to you and all these other people and organizations are unaware of the nature of my reply. With all the important issues we face in this state and the nation all you seem to be engaged in is political and character assassination." 

Lozeau actually cut ties with the group before the big rally last week outside the New Hampshire Statehouse. She responded to Patch inquiries about her move with the following statement:

"When I was first approached about joining forces with mayors across the country I took a great deal of time to consider whether joining a national movement such as this was beneficial for the City of Nashua and for the cause of public safety both here at home and across the country. I can't imagine there is any mayor in the United States who is not against illegal guns. There is no question that I and Nashua's law enforcement community are interested in keeping firearms from those not legally entitled to bear them.

After finally deciding to join in late April I was disappointed to see an ad campaign using funds and efforts directed from this organization to unfairly attack Senator Kelly Ayotte.

No where within the literature of this group was there any indication that there would be campaigns against members of Congress, particularly around issues that were not related to illegal guns. I have known Sen. Ayotte for many years in many capacities, including her time as New Hampshire's Attorney General. Sen. Ayotte is a thoughtful, effective, decisive and hardworking advocate for victims and law enforcement.

As a direct result of this, I withdrew my name as a member in early May immediately after seeing the ad, I simply cannot be part of an organization that chooses this course of action instead of cooperatively working with those that have proven over a lifetime of work their true intentions. I have faith that Senator Ayotte will continue to work toward finding a responsible solution relative to these issues."