Senate Candidate, Corky Messner, Criticizes Senator Shaheen’s Family Receiving Federal Loans and Defends his Law Firm Receiving Loans from the Same Program.
Bryant “Corky” Messner is running against retired Brigadier General Don Bolduc in a Republican Party primary on September 8, 2020. The winner of the primary election would then face Democrat incumbent Senator Jeanne Shaheen on November 3, 2020.
In an interview with WKXL’s Chris Ryan, Republican candidate for Senator, Corky Messner discusses the COVID related health and safety guidelines which will be followed at President Trump’s rally in Portsmouth, NH on Saturday. Governor Sununu has stated that he will be wearing a mask at the rally. Mr. Messner will bring a mask with him to the event and plans to wear it when he is in a situation where he cannot maintain social distancing. It is assumed that President Trump will not be wearing a mask.
When asked about what issues will be important to him and President Trump in the November election, Corky Messner states that bringing jobs back safely after the Coronavirus shutdown will be the most important issue in the Presidential and Senatorial Campaigns. In addition, Mr. Messner favors tax breaks for small businesses and increased efforts to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
Senator Shaheen disclosed that companies connected to her family have received just under $3 million through the government’s PPP-Payroll Protection Plan, a small business lending program aimed at saving jobs during the Coronavirus pandemic. The highest amount, $1.2 million, was paid to Shaheen and Gordan, a law firm run by Senator Shaheen’s husband. Corky Messner has been critical of his opponent benefitting financially from a federal program for which she voted. When he was asked to explain if a conflict of interest could be applied to his Denver law firm receiving PPP loans ranging from $2-5 million, Corky Messner points out that he is not a sitting senator who has voted on legislation which would directly benefit his business. He pledges that if he is elected, he will divest all interest in his law firm.
Corky Messner was asked to discuss his opponent in the Republican Senatorial Primary, retired General Don Bolduc. There have been recent charges that Bolduc has exaggerated parts of his war record. Messner, who is also an Army veteran, states that he has the utmost respect for General Bolduc’s service and refuses to discuss the matter. Corky Messner believes that his experience in the US Army and in the private sector have prepared him to be a US Senator.
The last segment of the interview was a discussion of the steps needed to reopen schools in the fall. Corky Messner feels that decisions about how to reopen safely should be made on the local level. He does not support President Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding from school districts which do not reopen.
