Michelle Cunha of Hill, N.H. works for New Hampshire Peace Action, and she landed in the spotlight Monday when she was asked to leave Mitt Romney’s campaign event at Insight Technologies in Londonderry.
Cunha said she has been making the rounds of both Democratic and Republican contenders’ campaign stops, handing out a list of questions for people to ask of the presidential candidates.
She finished passing out the leaflets on Monday and was sitting down to hear Romney, who had not yet arrived, when a man and a woman asked who she was with, why she was passing out the fliers and who invited her to the event.
Cunha said part of the conversation went like this: “We support this candidate, which is why we invited him. These don’t support him.” Then the two asked her to leave, and she did.
It was ironic, she said, because she originally went to Insight’s other Londonderry location by mistake, and employees there were not only helpful but gave her a map to help her find the right address. She was never told that she needed an invitation to get in, she said.
Insight Technologies did not immediately return questions seeking comment. The employee who collected the leaflets did not want to be interviewed. She referred questions to the company’s human resources office.
Romney ended up answering the questions Cunha had handed out after Herbert Hoffman of Maine asked him how he felt about the peace activist being tossed from the event. Hoffman showed Romney the leaflet and asked if the questions were toxic to him.
“There is nothing toxic to me,” he said. “I was on ‘Meet the Press’ yesterday.”
The questions on Cunha’s leaflets asked candidates who support ending the Iraq War if they would have the troops out by the end of 2009. For candidates who want to keep the troops there, the question is how they propose paying for a long-term military presence.
