{"id":4774,"date":"2012-01-05T10:37:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T15:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=4774"},"modified":"2012-01-05T10:37:37","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T15:37:37","slug":"days-before-the-primary-restaurant-bans-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/01\/05\/days-before-the-primary-restaurant-bans-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"Days Before The Primary, Restaurant Bans Politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tiffany Wan \/ Flickr<\/p>

Despite NH's vaunted retail politics atmosphere, not everyone's up to shaking a candidate's hand over breakfast<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s pretty much a given that when presidential candidates want to chat up the citizenry, they include a hearty portion of local restaurant stops in their schedules.\u00a0 That’s especially true in an important early primary state like New Hampshire.\u00a0 Footage of politicians smiling, shaking hands, and chowing down wings served by smiling waiters at Any Diner, USA, is a staple of TV political coverage.<\/p>\n

Come to find out though, some of those waiters–and customers–aren’t amused.\u00a0 Charles McMahon of Seacoastonline.com writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201c’No Politicians No Exceptions’ reads the sign taped to the entrance of Colby\u2019s Breakfast & Lunch, a popular eatery on Daniel Street [in Portsmouth].<\/p>\n

Employee Jessica Labrie, who made the sign and posting it on the outer door of the restaurant, said she posted it Tuesday in response to several complaints from customers.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer have disturbed numerous meals since summer.\u00a0 One of Labrie’s most compelling stories focuses on a visit from Perry and Bachmann.<\/p>\n

“She said the visit was marred by overbearing campaign staff members who requested to reserve one side of the small restaurant despite there being only 10 tables in the entire establishment.<\/p>\n

‘They said, \u2018Just so you know you\u2019ll have the pleasure of waiting on Gov. Perry and (Congresswoman) Bachmann. Don\u2019t be nervous. Just be yourself and you\u2019ll be fine.”<\/p>\n

Labrie said she responded with, ‘I don\u2019t know if you really want me to be myself.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McMahon quotes Labrie as saying she–and most of the Colby’s staff–are only a little interested in politics, anyway.\u00a0 And owner Jeremy Colby is apparently behind Labrie’s decision.\u00a0 Colby describes himself as a political liberal.\u00a0 But he cites business concerns as the motivation from barring politicians from his establishment:<\/p>\n

“‘I also find it amusing that they talk about how the economy and small business is so important, yet they are OK with creating a disturbance that impacts my small business.’<\/p>\n

…Colby said…his business model is only successful if he is able to turn over its 28 seats in an orderly fashion. He said that is hard to do when a politician barges in and interrupts customers as they dine.<\/p>\n

‘I don\u2019t appreciate Joe Blow coming in here and whoring around the dining room for votes,’ he said.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’re filing that one under “food for thought” the next time we see generic TV footage of politicians reaching across steaming hot plates of chow to shake diners’ hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s pretty much a given that when presidential candidates want to chat up the citizenry, they include a hearty portion of local restaurant stops in their schedules.\u00a0 That’s especially true in an important early primary state like New Hampshire.\u00a0 Footage of politicians smiling, shaking hands, and chowing down wings served by smiling waiters at Any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":4777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[227,501,502],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4774"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4781,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4774\/revisions\/4781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}