YouSaid · the spoken record

Chris Sununu

lines on the record
78
first
2023-01-12
most recent
2023-01-12
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1
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  1. “But if I may, David, there's no immigration reform, there's no healthcare reform, there's no fiscal discipline, there's no balanced budget. All of these things that as Republicans in 17 and 18, we were promised, we had the whole thing, we didn't get it done. Democrats talk about we're not getting it done. Immigration reform is a big one. I mean, there's such an opportunity there. And most people, you can find a lot of... Opportunity”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Well, you say a bunch. I say four things. So I think U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate have set the bar so low, set expectations so low they get one or two things done a year and we're giving them big paths on the back. It's like, come on, guys. I mean,”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Get everything you want all the time? No, of course not. That should never be an expectation. It means you give a little to get a lot. And I've been very good about being able to do that. I get a along personally with pretty much everybody on the other side of the aisle. We disagree. We have some pretty vicious fights, both publicly and privately. But I do as well within the Republican Party. People know where I stand. I'm more of a, look, I believe very strongly in individual freedoms and liberties. I'm a very strong on the Second Amendment. I'm a fiscal hawk. I believe there's no greater responsibility than managing other people's money because you earned it, not me. You gave that sacrifice. You spent time away from your family, not me. But you've entrusted me to spend your time and your sacrifice responsibly.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “If you know how to do it, it's an amazing opportunity. Let's look at what's happening federal. People say, well, it's such a closely divided house. They'll never get anything done. Look, I've had Republicans run my legislature. I've had Democrats run my legislature, and I literally have a House of Representatives that is pretty much dead even, depending on the attendance of any given day. We always get stuff done. I've gotten school choice done. I've gotten the most innovative voluntary paid family leave plan in America done, full-day funding, a full day kindergarten, rebuilding our entire opioid system and mental health system, you know, bucking the national trends on some of those really negative dynamics. We're showing a model that we're able to do it all, regardless of who's there because I'm very more an executive. I'm very proud of our ability to negotiate. And sometimes I have to negotiate with my own party, sometimes with Democrats, sometimes with my own staff, frankly, in terms of where we want to go. And does it mean you?”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Look, they had been at my house protesting. It was clear they were going to protest. And look, you want to protest? That's fine. I have no problem if you want to come and protest in a public place like the State House. If you do it safely and responsibly and you make your voice heard and there's nothing threatening, coming to my house is a different story. I don't live in a governor's mansion, David. I live in the same house for 20 years. I live on the cul-de-sac. I got the same cell number I've had for 20 years. Accessibility is one of the greatest tools that as a governor I think you can provide your state as opposed to living in behind entourages and fences and all that. It comes with risk and it comes with a sacrifice to the family and everything. But there's always been an unwritten rule that if we provide accessibility as elected leaders in New Hampshire, you'll respect our privacy. Well, that was violated. And so it was a tough time for me and the family. It happened to coincide with the inaugurations. We said, yeah, we'll do a small event inside and we kept it there.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Oh god, no, no, no, no, no. No, and by the way, you should all get your boosters. I mean, they do work regardless of what people say. But there were some threats. There were some people that were really, really fired up at the time. And, you know, we didn't want to do the inauguration inside at the time. So I said, no big deal. We'll do it outside. We'll do it on the State House lawn and we'll have everybody out there. Even it's New Hampshire. It's cold. We know how to handle it. And ultimately, it wasn't a singular direct threat, but I think it was state police and enough folks saying, look, it's going to be really hard to secure this thing. Do we really have to do this? And I said, no, I'm not here to make problems and it's not fanfare for me as much as to say thank you to the state.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Sort of, yeah. So, my inauguration, I get elected in 20. We're just releasing the vaccines and all that. And I don't support mandates or anything, but we got the vaccines out really fast. You weren't an answer.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Early on transparency is the foundation of public trust, and in a crisis you need that public trust. And so being super transparent at answering every question every day, all the time, and being very accessible was the biggest asset that we had to keeping the temperature down and not letting things get out of control like you saw in other states. But that all comes at the price of family because there was so much scrutiny on every little thing you did. And it did all 100% fall on my shoulders. I didn't have a legislature to lean on. They disappeared, as did most, and even the federal congress disappeared, right? After, I think, April, they decided not to do anything on the pandemic until December of that year, completely objecting their responsibilities. But be that as it may, tough on family and always a consideration in terms of what you do. They got to be with you or not.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Oh yeah, oh absolutely. And it's so much worse now because of social media, right? There was no social media. There was no taven texting. There were no cell phones, for goodness sakes. Everything was quite normal. So understanding how the family, what you want to do in the public sphere and how it affects your family is absolutely critical. But again, it's New Hampshire and it's a step we could take and my family and my wife and kids have been very supportive. It's tough on them, especially during the pandemic. That was a whole different ballgame because all of a sudden government disappears completely except for 50 governors and basically 50 governors and the White House are running everything during the pandemic and having to make some tough decisions. We navigated, I think in New Hampshire, very, very well. I'm blessed with a wonderful team. We were ranked for number one in personal freedoms, but we're also one of the safest states in the country at the same time. So we were able to really walk, I think, a balanced and most importantly, I was out there every single day.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Oh no, look, I think, well, look, again, it's New Hampshire, right? So my dad, my brother, and I, three of ten of us, entered politics, which is actually below average for New Hampshire. So it isn't like, oh, you're going to be the politician or whatever it is. Everybody in the family and in most families, if I have a brother on the estate, on his town budget committee, and another one's a selectman and this and that. Look, one thing in New York.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “No, there was no hiding at all, and that was really, really tough. And I mean, I never wanted to enter politics, not just because of that, but I never thought that. I don't want to be in the sphere. I don't want to drag my family through it. And it wasn't until I was running my own business and my kids were going to public schools. I came up through public schools in New Hampshire. My kids were coming up through public schools. I said, this is a little different. I think we can make it better. And I had some executive leadership that I wanted to bring to bear. And that's ultimately why I ran for governor. And we've been great.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Not easy. Look, again, I was just a New Hampshire kid that was kind of thrown into the midst, and all of a sudden the first few years were fine, and he had long nights, especially during the first Gulf War and all that. But whether you want to call it the controversy or his name started sparking up on the front page of The Washington Post, I went to a pretty nerdy high school. Like everybody read the Washington Post in the hallways of my high school.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Oh, yeah. He flew home for like a toothache or something or something like that. I mean, it's something that just happens literally every day now. But at the time, look, the press, he and the press never got along. And so the press clearly had it out for him. There's no doubt about it. And when there was a little blood in the water, the sharks pounced. So how did that happen?”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “And Barbara. I mean, just everything you want in leadership, whether you agree politically or not, it is what you want in leadership. And my dad was the outsider, right? He was the engineer, the MIT engineer, governor, kind of super smart. I mean, try bringing a bee home on your report card to that guy, right? But crazy smart photographic memory. But he was the outsider and never really clicked with Washington for a lot of obvious reasons, but was loyal and passionate defender of the president. And I think he ran a very, very strong White House, as a lot of subsequent chief of staffs did. And it was just for me, like I was a teenager. I was trying to deal with teenage stuff.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Well, yeah, look, there was a massive recession. The banking crisis of 90 and 91, and there was a huge recession. He had done a great job with the war, obviously. I'm a huge George H.W. Bush. Yeah. Such an admirer, such a statesman and a general. Yes.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “The White House chief of staff. I was. I was a TJ kid. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Northern Virginia. I did my four years there. Yeah. We're stunk. I didn't like leaving New Hampshire, but, you know.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Students are safe and all that. But the state doesn't say here's going to be all your curriculum guidelines. Here's exactly what you're going to teach in your classroom. Here's how our teachers are going to manage day to day. We do not do that at the state level. The citizens have all the power. That's all the funding. Not all, but two-thirds of the funding comes from your local. The only taxes we really have are property taxes. And we do that because you have a direct say every year and how every dollar is spent, not the state. I don't decide how a single dollar of property tax is spent. I don't control your property taxes. You do. Now we provide money on top of that in terms of education and we provide guidelines. We've got a great board of education. But at the end of the day, the vast majority of the most important decisions are made at a local level. And that's kind of unique to a lot of folks. But, you know, this is the way we've been doing it, and it's why we're so efficient.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “The kinds of things that are in flaw. Yeah, yeah. Well, look, let's take a school board member, right? I guess technically they're a politician, they're running for office. So, yeah, the school board should have a lot of say in what's going on within those schools, and they have to be accountable to that. And if they're not doing a good job, you should fire them. And if the community decides not to fire them, then that's fine. The community must agree that something's moving forward. I can't tell you the number of people who call me after a school board race and say, you know, we didn't win that race, so you should pass a law that does X, Y, and Z to basically step on top of whatever loss had just happened. It's like, no, no, no, no. That's not the way we roll. I'm sorry you didn't get what you want. It's not what I would have wanted either, but you win some, you lose some. And if you have a good argument to make to your community and your neighbors, then go make it and go fight that fight and let's find better candidates or better arguments to make. But there are very liberal cities and towns in New Hampshire that I massively disagree with. Look, if the safety of a student is at bear, of course you got to step in and make sure.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Little bit. So, I think look, we've been having those fights in New Hampshire for 200 years, right? And we see it all the time. Now, when I see the rest of the country kind of engaging at that level, we've been doing it for quite a while. I think there's a little bit of a learning curve in terms of, you know, you fight hard, you fight passionately, but when you don't get what you want, it doesn't mean you ask somebody to blow the whole system up or you stop the whole process. You come back next year and you fight again, whether it's for a school board member you want or something going on in the classroom or the curriculum that you want to see. Parents at New Hampshire, you know, Glenn Yunkin very famously said parents matter and it turned his campaign around and he did a great job. Glenn's a great governor in Virginia. But I joked to him. I said, yeah, boy, I love that you another state is talking about parents matter because we've been doing it for 200 years. So I'm optimistic in that there's a little learning curve there.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Every decision, every school board makes heck no. Could I ask the legislature to come down on them and change that and put my thought”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Find me at New Hampshire family where politics isn't discussed constantly. It is in our blood, it's in our DNA, and it isn't I'm right, you're wrong, we need to defeat them, blah, blah. You know, it's passionate, but it's all very civil because it's mostly local, right? The toughest political battles you will have in New Hampshire are literally with your neighbor over a town meeting, over how we should fund schools and what should be done in schools and what's going on with the teacher's contract and whether we should have a trash pickup on Wednesday or Friday. That is where all these really, whether they're small and minor or very significant decisions, the majority of them are made at a local level. And that's the state. Voters shouldn't have the power. We say voters have the power one day a year on election day. No, no, no. Voters need to have the power constantly and be reaffirmed and re-supported with their ability to design the best system that meets their community's needs. Do I agree with every decision every town makes? No. Do I agree with everyone?”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Look, the battle was more about Yankees versus Red Sox because he grew up in Queens and the rest of us were Red Sox fans, to be honest. Now that's hardcore.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Yeah, and most of our taxes and most of our influence you can have is all at a very localized level. That's why we're ranked as having the most efficient government in the country because we keep things so local. So even if you lose a couple races, it's okay. You run again and you don't need millions of dollars or anything like that. Look, you want to run for the House of Representatives 50 bucks, go to Kinko's, make a bunch of photocopies, knock on a bunch of doors. Each representative represents about 3,500 people, right? So you can literally knock on every door four or five times over the course of election, look people in the eye, get to know them, tell them what you're about, and win. And that's what it takes to be part of a very effective public process. So it's not like, oh, I lost. I can't do it again. I need the power brokers to help. And that's not about that. It's about folks that just want to stand up and work hard and get elected. And he was a great governor. I was a kid at the time, but he was known as a three-term, really great governor.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Look, that's not New Hampshire. Look, the unique aspect of New Hampshire is our system. We're not like any other state. Whereas we have massive amounts of voter participation, whether it's on the school board. He was on the planning board for years. And when you have eight kids, my mom was on the school board because that's really a smart thing to do.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “But family's still involved, but as governor, I have to kind of ran that for six years. I put the group together, bought it four season storied four-season resort in New Hampshire. So ran that and did that for six years, and that ultimately got me to realize the Liv Fear Dye state is very over-regulated as a business owner. And my kids were starting to go to school, and I thought, well, these aren't the public schools that I grew up in. They're not terrible. Really good schools in New Hampshire, but there was something a little different as a parent. So in New Hampshire, when you think things are different and you want to make a change, go make a change. Anybody can run for office in New Hampshire. And that's the beauty and the secret sauce.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Yeah, yeah. No, and so I love people. I love being with people. I love their stories and I love hearing what the heck is going on. And I was an engineer, right? I was a civil and mostly an environmental engineer. So I cleaned up hazardous waste sites across the country for a dozen years or so. And then I went into the more of the business side of things.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Both. Yeah, I was super shy. People don't realize, I was that kid that wrapped himself around his mother's leg everywhere we went as kids. And being number seven of eight, like I wasn't the baby, so I didn't get the attention or anything, which was fine. But I kind of, I don't know how and why exactly, but I broke through kind of the shyness and became a bit of a loudmouth extrovert for lack of a better term, a charming one, though. I don't know. We'll be the judge.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Well, sure. So it's a combination. So my mom is full Irish and my father is basically half Lebanese and half Greek. And the family emigrated over from the Middle East to El Salvador, a little bit to Costa Rica and Mexico, and my grandparents were married to Mexico. And people don't realize my father, as a lot of folks know, the former governor and White House chief of staff. He grew up in a Spanish-speaking household, right? You know, in Queens, right, right down the road here. I'm here in New York trying to sprinkle a little of the live free or die fairy dust into the People's Republic of New York today. But yeah, he grew up in Queens, and then he went to MIT. I was an MIT guy as well and an engineer there and met my mom, who was at BU. I think as he tells the story, he was living just outside of Boston and they came up to New Hampshire and he was like, oh, Massachusetts and these taxes. And I didn't want to go back. So they just stopped, found a lot, and I grew up in Salem, New Hampshire. And I'm one of.”

    2023-01-12 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 517 — Gov. Chris Sununu · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source