Sununu earlier agreed to provide these subsidies for this massive wood chips power facility because North County leaders viewed it as an important economic mainstay.

“I worked with Burgess three years ago and gave it three more years to go back and figure out a new model” for how to financially support the plant in a different manner, Sununu said.

“They weren’t able to do that. The option is we are just going to keep spending millions. They really didn’t feel that mission for a new model.”

The project has a lot of bipartisan support, starting with Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, who helped broker the original deal.

Sununu could conceivably win a veto fight in the House if it comes to that.

That’s because though the House passed the bill convincingly in March, 269-109, a closer look revealed a very divided GOP.

House Republicans opposed the bill, 108-81, while Democrats were all in, 187-1, in support of it.

Despite an 18-2 committee vote backing the bill, six House committee chairs voted no, as did a number of House budget writers.

Keeping them guessing

Gov. Sununu insisted he has not given a lot of thought to whether he will be the first New Hampshire governor to seek a fifth two-year term.

“For me, it’s looking at what are the needs of the state. We’ve gotten a lot done in the last six or seven years,” Sununu began.

Sununu’s agenda contains a lot of checked boxes.

• Get rid of Sununu Youth Center: Check

• Create the first voluntary paid family leave program: Check

• Create a new Department of Business and Economic Affairs: Check

• Build a new forensic psychiatric hospital outside state prison walls: Check

• Cut business taxes (twice) and repeal the state’s only tax on income (Interest and Dividends): Check

• Devise a new system to get quicker, more cost-effective treatment for those suffering from substance abuse: Check

• Offer a taxpayer-supported scholarship given to income-eligible parents looking for an alternative to their child’s assigned public school: Check

At some point, Sununu said it will be time to move on to other challenges.

“We don’t have term limits, but I think that is because everyone treats these offices like they should,” Sununu said.

Sununu, a 48-year-old husband and father of three children, also knows he is at the peak of his earning years.

“We’ll decide over the next few weeks. I am a business guy. I would love to go back to the private sector in some form,” he said.

Laconia sale nears end

Administrative Services Commissioner Charles Arlinghaus said the state’s sale of the former Laconia State School property is near an end as a second “due diligence” window for the buyer to examine the deal closes at the end of June.

The principal buyer, Robynne Alexander of Manchester, has proposed a $500 million, mixed-use development of the parcel, to include 1,300 housing units, a convention center and a pharmacy.

The council approved the purchase, 3-2, amid plenty of skepticism about whether the buyer had the big development experience and the financial wherewithal to pull this off.

Arlinghaus expects the sale to be finalized by September.

The Legislature already has its hand out for a piece of the $21.5 million purchase.

Bradley tucked into the trailer bill (HB 2) attached to the state budget a $13 million claim against the Laconia project.

These proceeds would go toward buying the 1 Granite Place property in Concord for state government office space.

The state already has approved a long-term lease for the adjacent 2 Granite Place, which will house the Department of Justice.

Concord developer and former GOP State Chairman Steve Duprey of Concord owns both properties.

Last week, the Legislature reached final agreement on the bill (HB 384) to spend $25 million to build a legislative parking garage on the former bank property near the State House that currently houses the DOJ.

Incumbents get nod

Public Utility Commissioner Carleton Simpson of Hampton and State Liquor Deputy Commissioner Nicole Brassard-Jordan of Manchester got Sununu’s green light for nomination to new terms.

If confirmed, Simpson would remain until July 1, 2029, at his post, which pays about $134,500 annually.

Brassard-Jordan would be in line to serve through July 1, 2027. That job pays $120,500 a year.

State law requires the Executive Council to hold a public hearing on Simpson’s nomination.

Sununu forwarded Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn’s choice of Amy Newbury of Pittsfield to be director of administration in his agency.

Newbury would replace Steve Lavoie, who Quinn got the council to bump up into the assistant commissioner’s role.

Push on e-cig labeling

U.S. Reps. Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster, both D-N.H., joined with rising Democratic star and fellow Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, in urging the Food and Drug Administration to improve warning labels on e-cigarette products.

There’s a well-known New Hampshire environmental scientist is at the forefront of this issue.

In a letter, the trio said these products should warn consumers about the cancer risk and “explicitly advise against use.”

Less Cancer, a group that’s long pushed on the issue of pediatric vaping, praised the initiative.

Bill Couzens, founder of Less Cancer, credited Rye Democrat and ex-congressional candidate Mindi Messmer for advancing the science into the dangers of vaping.

”Most people don’t know that they are inhaling dangerous chemicals when they or their children vape,” Messmer said.

”That’s because manufacturers are not required to disclose — and they don’t — that e-cigarette liquids may contain hundreds of chemical substances that are known to cause cancer and other chronic disease.”

He has Craig to thank

It’s a perverse compliment when the political opposition tries to raise money off your growing profile.

That’s how Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig should feel about an attack by House Majority Floor Leader Joe Sweeney, who sought to fundraise off Craig’s support for undocumented immigrants being able to obtain driver licenses.

Sweeney has created a GOP advocacy organization, Granite Solutions.

“Her support of this misguided policy suggests a willingness to sidestep our nation’s immigration laws, rather than uphold them. It’s a stark reminder of the challenges that lay ahead for our state and underscores the urgency of our mission here at Granite Solutions,” Sweeney wrote.

Another special election

Starting Monday, interested candidates can file to run for a vacant House seat consisting of the town of Enfield in Grafton County.

The filing period closes Friday.

Three-term state Rep. Josh Adjutant, the deputy Democratic floor leader, ran without opposition last November in this district, which is a plus-18 Democratic seat.

In fact, it’s one of a minority in New Hampshire that has more registered Democrats (1,374) than independents (1,101).

The late Rep. Paul Mirski, an articulate and unapologetic libertarian Republican, was one of the very few GOP figures who could overcome conventional wisdom to win here.

The primary is set for Aug. 22, with the general election on Oct. 10 unless only one candidate from each party files, in which case the general election will be in August.

Longer odds for developer

Charity casino developer Dick Anagnost of Manchester is getting some pushback to his proposal to turn a Conway grocery store plaza into a sports pub with legal gambling to benefit nonprofits.

A previous town planner had given the project a building permit, but that has expired. The Conway Zoning Board of Adjustment now is considering whether the project was given the green light in error.

Planning Board member Mark Hounsell, an ex-state senator, said the approval for this “indoor amusement” did not extend to permitting a casino.

Could a lawsuit be in the offing?

Councilor gives shoutout

Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, D-Concord, hasn’t been shy about pressing the Sununu administration to permanently enshrine the temporary wage increases paid to recruit or keep hundreds of state workers, many of them nurses throughout state human service and veteran agencies.

Last week, Warmington praised Arlinghaus and his team for building many of those wage hikes into the new collective bargaining agreement, which also increases the salaries of all state workers by 10% next year and 2% in 2025.

They do the math

When it comes to state contracting, agency heads would do well to remember the five-person council checks the fine print.

Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut learned that lesson again when he presented a contract to pay an Epsom flooring company $35,280 to install new carpeting at 25 Hall St. in Concord., a building that will become the agency’s permanent home.

The DOE moved into this building, which had been the site of Granite State College, because its HQ had to undergo significant renovations to contain and remove loose asbestos.

The two-year public works budget that Sununu soon will sign contains $7 million in state-backed bonds for DOE to buy that building.

Councilor David Wheeler, R-Milford, who is in the flooring business, did the math and figured the winning bid worked out to $80 a foot.

“That’s twice what the market calls for. I could do it for half that,” Wheeler said.

Edelblut quickly quipped, “We’ll take your bid.”

Wheeler wasn’t joking. He moved, and the council agreed, 5-0, to kill the contract and compel the agency to rebid for a better price.

“Couldn’t we table this and try to work this out?” Edelblut asked.

Wheeler said, “You can try to explain it, but you aren’t going to be able to.”

Hospital dispute with Anthem

Insurance Commissioner Chris Nicolopoulos said his agency is bird-dogging an ongoing dispute between New Hampshire hospitals and Anthem Insurance over unpaid claims.

While a $300 million total grabbed the headlines, Nicolopoulos said the actual unpaid claims in dispute are $90 million.

Hospitals bill Anthem about $200 million a month, so the gap amounts to about 15 days of nonpayment, he said

“That’s not to say this isn’t a significant amount. It’s something we have had many meetings about,” Nicolopoulos said.

Anthem officials have expressed optimism they will be able to work out the claims backlog with hospitals in the coming months.

Rail trail a slow ride

Transportation Commissioner Bill Cass said the sale of Pan Am to CSX Corp. has slowed down the state’s desire to acquire the rail bed right-of-way to complete the end of the Granite State Rail Trail.

Cass said he has been told to expect those negotiations to take more than a year, given the complexity of the CSX sale, which was announced in June 2022.

Nebraska firm to design new youth center

The council approved HDR Architecture Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska, as the winner among four bidders for the $1.8 million design of a new, smaller replacement to the Sununu Youth Services Center.

Although the contract does not specify a location, a state consultant is recommending it be built on the state-owned Hampstead Hospital property.

Last week a new legislative study committee met for the first time with the charge to ensure the proper construction of this 20,000-square foot treatment center, which will care for up to 18 juveniles.