Ayotte at 100 days: Very solid start, the next 100 will tell the tale

Yahoo

19-04-2025

Ayotte at 100 days: A fast start, the next 100 could tell us more
Gov. Kelly Ayotte shared a laugh with state Rep. Ted Gorski, R-Bedford, prior to her State of the State speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics this past week.
As her 100th day in office passed last Saturday, Gov. Kelly Ayotte admitted having a 'sense of urgency' about her work — and not because she's one of only two governors in America with a two-year term.
'I feel a sense of urgency in this office. It's not about the two-year term, but I see some of the challenges we face., Ayotte said during an interview in her office this past week. 'I love New Hampshire and I love to solve problems.'
'I wake up every day on this job with a sense of purpose. What can we get done today to keep what's special about New Hampshire and do things even better?'
Ayotte, 56, is the first elected official in modern New Hampshire history to go from Washington, where she served in the U.S. Senate, to Concord and the governorship.
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg and Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan all served as governor before moving on to the Senate.
'I remember Judd and Jeanne telling me, 'This is a very different transition than you have experienced before, a much faster pace and little time to catch your breath,'' Ayotte recalled. 'Boy, were they right.'
New U.S. senators go through an orientation process where seasoned veterans and experienced staffers calmly counsel them on how to set up their offices, prepare legislation and provide constituent service.
New governors have only five weeks to prepare a two-year state budget, a more than 1,000-page document that they typically know little to nothing about before being elected.
Vermont is the only other state whose governor has a two-year term, and New Hampshire is the only state with an Executive Council with board-of-directors-like powers to approve all contracts and confirm appointments. All her agency heads have longer terms than the governor.
'I did benefit from having a great mentor, Chris Sununu, who would get out the white board and sketch out for me the minefields to avoid tackling this budget issue or that,' Ayotte said.
And for the first time in 15 years, the new governor came in, not to share credit for new initiatives her agency heads came up with, but instead to tell them it was time to cut spending.
Some reluctance
Ayotte confirmed that not everyone was on board — at first.
'We got some of them who worried that they couldn't complete the mission, of course we did,' Ayotte said.
'It's hard to do things differently, but I told them we all need to act like they were sitting around the kitchen table just like a New Hampshire family separating out the wants from the needs.'
After Hassan unseated Ayotte from the Senate in 2016, Ayotte took seats on several corporate boards, and was named chair of the board of BAE Systems, the largest manufacturing company in the state, in 2021.
'The business world gave me a perspective about the private sector and how government can either impede or put us in a strong position to succeed,' Ayotte said.
'I am always open to learning; that's the only way you get better.'
Deep into details
A little over three months in, Ayotte has earned the reputation as someone unafraid to dig into policy details and share opinions with legislators and agency heads, even if she's not asked.
'I've heard from time to time, 'Oh, the governor cares about this?' Yes, the governor cares about this. I'm not shy about sharing my opinion,' Ayotte said.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, said he likes this style, which contrasts with Sununu.
Ayotte at 100 days, fast start but the next 100 will reveal a llot
Gov. Kelly Ayotte speaks with guests, including Flo Nicolas, right, and Anne Marie Therrien, center, of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) after speaking at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics last week.
'She straight on tells you what she thinks, there's no guesswork, no hidden agenda,' Lang said.
'Chris was cagier, he'd keep his own counsel and that would leave you guessing sometimes.'
Ayotte said people are getting used to the change.
'I hope so, I think they are. People know what you see is what you get and I think they appreciate that,' she said. 'It doesn't mean we always agree, but when we don't, I always try to say, 'OK, what do you see as a flaw in my thinking?' because the response can bring us closer together.'
One speed — fast
Many on her staff worked on Ayotte's campaign and were well aware that the Nashua Republican has only one speed — fast.
'I knew what I was in for,' said Chris Connelly, who stepped down as Hillsborough County sheriff to become Ayotte's chief of staff after volunteering for weeks on the trail, often as her driver and trusted confidant.
'Bring your A game to work every day; I wouldn't have it any other way,' he said.
Budget Director James Geary, the only top aide who also worked with Sununu, has experienced Ayotte's work ethic up close.
'She's called me as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m. with comments or questions. She doesn't stop,' Geary said.
When former Senate President Chuck Morse of Salem ran against Ayotte in the Republican gubernatorial primary, only two GOP senators went with Ayotte. Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, was the first.
'She has done everything she said she would, much like Trump has but with a softer, gentler, more accommodating approach that fits New Hampshire like a glove,' Gannon said.
'Kelly is willing to do a lot of the hard work behind the scenes that makes all the difference between a governor who gets results, as did Chris, and a governor who might be a good show horse that can get good press.'
Ayotte's signature achievement to date, a sweeping bail reform bill, was in danger of coming apart at one pivotal point as two GOP senators had late-process doubts about it.
Ayotte spent a long weekend in mid-March on the phone and meeting one-on-one with the wavering senators. The bill passed the Senate, 23-0.
'I know it's a lame take, but I'd say flawless,' said Neil Levesque, director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
'I can't think of one wrong move, one statement made by an exuberant aide she wants taken back, no over-the-top remark made either in private or leaked in public. Being governor is a pressure-cooker job and so far, so good — from what I can see, it has been a tour de force.'
Ayotte at 100 days, fast start and next 100 could tell us more
Gov. Kelly Ayotte greeted guests after giving a State of the State speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics last week.
Big tests ahead
Deborah 'Arnie' Arnesen of Concord, a radio talk show host and 1996 Democratic nominee for governor, said Ayotte's next 100 days will be a bigger test.
Ayotte must battle conservatives in her own party who stripped her budget of more than $200 million for higher education, mental health, the arts and services for the developmentally impaired, Arnesen said.
'I haven't seen her fight yet. Does she have a spine or is she more malleable?' Arnesen said.
'Kelly has always been in the shadow. She was in the shadow of (late Sen.) John McCain in the Senate. She was in the shadow of Chris Sununu during this campaign,' Arnesen said.
'We're soon going to see the real Kelly Ayotte and see if she can stand up to those in her own party who want to do less when we need to do more.'
Two decades ago, Republican strategist Mike Dennehy was a campaign director for then-Gov. Craig Benson while a young Ayotte became Benson's legal counsel.
'Fair or not, she will be judged on whether she can put together a compromise state budget that enough people will be satisfied with that meets the needs of our state. I happen to think her experience in the U.S. Senate will help make her an excellent governor,' Dennehy said.
Already failed?
To no one's surprise, Ayotte's top political adversaries — Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley and progressive advocacy group Amplify NH Executive Director Ryan Mahoney — have decided Ayotte has already failed the test.
'Absent Kelly Ayotte's first 100 days have been a complete and utter failure.' Buckley said. 'She's silent as Trump's tariffs threaten to shutter small businesses and derail the economy. She's missing in action while Trump's federal funding cuts put our food pantries, family planning organizations, and public safety at risk.'
Mahoney echoed, 'In just 100 days, Kelly Ayotte has handed Granite Staters higher prices, looming tax hikes, and silence when it mattered most. While families pay more at the grocery store, on housing, and in property taxes, Ayotte's failed to deliver results and has been absent when New Hampshire needs strong leadership.'
But Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth said she's liked some of what she's seen.
'We have been able to sit down, and I appreciate that access to offer my views on things,' Perkins Kwoka said.
'I also happen to think she's got a very difficult job over the next two months to make sure the healthy economy we had continues and that some of these devastating cuts made to the House budget can be restored. On those fronts, I'm hopeful we can work together.'
Working on relaxing
Ayotte said she's still working on how to take time out from the job ('It's intense,' she said). One outlet is her workouts at Orangetheory, a gym known for its high-intensity, heart-pumping training classes.
Then there's Thunder, the Belgian Malinois puppy that her husband, Joe Daley, brought home after aggressively outbidding the field at a charity auction last summer.
'That puppy makes you move,' Ayotte said. 'If you have had a bad day, he helps you put it in the rear view.
'Dad is the lead with Thunder, but there are times he wants Mom to rub the belly — it's a great stress relief.'
Ayotte has probably heard the whispers of some State House veterans who question surrounding herself with a staff that has little previous experience under the Golden Dome.
'I am surrounded by an incredible group of people who are hardworking, loyal, committed and determined to stop at nothing to help make things better,' Ayotte said.
This can mean looking out for one another, as when Ayotte insisted Communications Director Caroline Hawkes take a trip to London with her mother this weekend after routinely logging 80-hour weeks on the campaign trail.
'It's so important to have an esprit de corps among your staff,' Ayotte said.
[e-mail]