|
Lynch Tells the Tsar his Reign is Over
 After the 2004 presidential election, George Bush vowed to spend the political capital he’d earned on a bunch of stuff he really wanted. But of course, like every other ill-gotten gain in his life, Bush blew it – this time on privatizing Social Security. And he’s been bouncing political checks ever since.
NH Gov. John Lynch (D) beat his opponent in the 2006 election by a better than 3-1 margin and got a big deposit in his political capital account. Today we learned he’s spending a big chunk to get rid of Safety Commissioner-for-Life Dick Flynn. Lynch isn’t the first governor who wanted to jettison Flynn, but he is the first with the stones to actually try.
Flynn, who’s been in office since 1972, has served under nine governors and is generally regarded as the J. Edgar Hoover of NH politics. Sans the blue dress, I think. He’s a major force in NH government and Republican politics, and nobody wants to be on Dick Flynn’s bad side. All the state troopers work for him, all the local police departments get their federal funds through his agency; he knows where the bodies are buried largely because he put most of them there. But nothing lasts forever. At Bush’s maiden campaign trip to NH in 1999, I overheard Flynn tell columnist Mark Shields, “They call me the Tsar!” And we all know what happened to the Tsar.
Now that Lynch has a majority of Dems on the Executive Council – the elected body of five that approves and/or rejects gubernatorial appointments – he’s decided to pull the plug on the 78-year old Flynn. But the Tsar will go down fighting – he’s got friends in both parties and is no doubt calling in chits he’s been saving for just this purpose. Lynch doesn't have all the Dem votes yet, and if history is any indication, it's always a mistake to count Dick Flynn out. 
~Jack McEnany
|
