Dan Goonan Target of Vicious Attack by Victoria Sullivan
Former Fire Chief Called “Schmuck” & Fake Republican by Two-Time Loser for Mayor — OPINION
MANCHESTER, NH — Victoria Wojdylak Sullivan, who is running against former Fire Chief Jim Burkush to succeed the late Barbara Shaw as alderman from Ward 9, called Burkush’s successor Dan Goonan a “schmuck” in a Facebook post in which she claimed that he was not a real Republican.
Sullivan said that Goonan was “an opportunistic schmuck who pretended to be a Republican because he thought he had a better chance of winning his aldermanic race.”
In truth, Dan Goonan is a registered Republican as that was the party of his father. It is widely believed that he would have WON his race for alderman at large if he had been a registered Democrat.
If Goonan had truly been opportunist and had registered as a Democrat, with three Democrats in the alderman at large race, the New Hampshire Democrat Party could not have favored any candidate over the other. Goonan would have received the support, including political ads, from the Democratic Party.
The Manchester City Republican Party did not give Dan Goonan, Republican, any support during the race. In fact, the November 2021 election GOP voters guide did not mention that Goonan was a Republican, nor did it check his name off in a visual.
Only Joe Kelly Levasseur was deemed worthy of GOP support.
A Case of Projection?
Victoria Sullivan, who claims the mantle as Barbara Shaw’s self-appointed successor, is incensed over reports about what every Queen City political insider knows: That Jim Burkush and Barbara Shaw had a gentleman’s agreement, similar to the one between former Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas.
The two reportedly struck an agreement that Burkush would not run against Shaw in 2021 and she, in turn, would retire after a final term on the Board of Alderman, after which she’d endorse him to be her successor.
Barbara Shaw’s husband has endorsed Jim Burkush.
Vitoria Sullivan on social media has attempted to paint a picture of Barbara Shaw as being a victim of the Democratic Party. As part of this campaign, she has even clutched at the straw of State Rep. Tony Labranche’s exit from the Democratic party.
Sullivan’s rather pathetic ruse of elevating Barbara Shaw to martyr status belies the fact that Shaw was a registered Democrat who ran as a Democrat with the support of the New Hampshire and Manchester Democratic Parties and who was a registered Democrat when she passed.
Victoria Sullivan has attempted to create a fake Republican from the ghost of Barbara Shaw, a case of political necrophilia that is unprecedented in Manchester politics, at least in this writer’s recollection.
I am not a psychologist nor do I claim any expertise in the field. But in my opinion:
That Victoria Wojdylak Sullivan makes the outrageous charge in her post that Dan Goonan “pretended to be a Republican” is a projection of her own mindset, namely, of recreating Barbara Shaw as a pretend Republican.
As for Sullivan’s claim that “after the last few elections [Barbara Shaw] told several people she’d be retiring ‘soon’ and it would be their turn,” this is the first time in weeks that she has made that claim, that I know of.
Victoria Sullivan did not make this claim on the Wards 6, 8 and 9 Facebook group where she engaged in a debate with posters, including myself, before eliminating all her posts from the page. He posts included a threat of a lawsuit.
