UPDATE WITH APOLOGY: “…the County Administrator, and the Commissioner ALL said that the Delegation Budget Review meetings HAD been publicly…”
Apologies to Deb Shackett, Belknap County Administrator, for incorrectly stating that she also said that the subcommittees meetings had been properly noticed. She didn’t – she said she would look into it.
So, I got a very strangely worded response from NH State Rep Steven Bogert to my Right To Know to him:
—— Original Message ——
From “Steven Bogert” <Steven.Bogert@leg.state.nh.us>
To “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>; “Harry Bean” <froggytouttaint@aol.com>; “Debra A. Shackett” <dshackett@belknapcounty.gov>; “Sherman Packard” <Sherman.Packard@leg.state.nh.us>
Cc “Mike Bordes” <Mike.Bordes@leg.state.nh.us>; “Travis O’Hara” <travis@ohara4nh.com>; “tom@tomploszaj.com” <tom@tomploszaj.com>; “mattformeredith@gmail.com” <mattformeredith@gmail.com>; “sayyes2smart@yahoo.com” <sayyes2smart@yahoo.com>; “jharveybolia@gmail.com” <jharveybolia@gmail.com>; “rbbmere25@aol.com” <rbbmere25@aol.com>; “David Nagel” <davidnagelmd@gmail.com>; “Barbara Comtois” <Barbara.Comtois@leg.state.nh.us>; “Paul Terry” <Paul.Terry@leg.state.nh.us>; “Peter Varney” <pvarney@atsnh.com>; “Nikki McCarter” <Nikki.McCarter@leg.state.nh.us>; “Douglas Trottier” <douglastrottier1@gmail.com>Date 3/11/2023 9:32:02 AM
Subject Re: Right To Know demand for Belknap Delegation emails – NH State Rep Steven Bogart statement to use BCC feature of emails to hide email addresses
In reviewing of the Right to Know request:
After review of Rep Steven Bogert email accounts, it was determined that there was no sent or received emails that matched your Right to Know request, to the best of Rep Steven Bogert knowledge.
Steven T. Bogert
NH House Representative (D5)
Laconia, Belknap
Public Works and Highways
steven.bogert@leg.state.nh.us
Referring to oneself in the third person? So the Belknap Delegation Chair of the Budget Review Committee who is the progenitor of the tactic to hide who he is communicating with via email concerning Public Information? Hasn’t Delegation Chair Harry Bean instructed these new folks on RSA 91-A strictures on what is or isn’t permissible. Oh wait, HE doesn’t know either…
So of course I had a response – first by email and then, considering how egregious this antic is, a special edition of Skip’s Sauntering Snippets
—— Forwarded Message ——
From “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To “Steven Bogert” <Steven.Bogert@leg.state.nh.us>; “Harry Bean” <froggytouttaint@aol.com>; “Debra A. Shackett” <dshackett@belknapcounty.gov>; “Sherman Packard” <Sherman.Packard@leg.state.nh.us>
Cc “Mike Bordes” <Mike.Bordes@leg.state.nh.us>; “Travis O’Hara” <travis@ohara4nh.com>; “tom@tomploszaj.com” <tom@tomploszaj.com>; “mattformeredith@gmail.com” <mattformeredith@gmail.com>; “sayyes2smart@yahoo.com” <sayyes2smart@yahoo.com>; “jharveybolia@gmail.com” <jharveybolia@gmail.com>; “rbbmere25@aol.com” <rbbmere25@aol.com>; “David Nagel” <davidnagelmd@gmail.com>; “Barbara Comtois” <Barbara.Comtois@leg.state.nh.us>; “Paul Terry” <Paul.Terry@leg.state.nh.us>; “Peter Varney” <pvarney@atsnh.com>; “Nikki McCarter” <Nikki.McCarter@leg.state.nh.us>; “Douglas Trottier” <douglastrottier1@gmail.com>
Date 3/11/2023 11:13:37 AM
Subject Re[2]: Right To Know demand for Belknap Delegation emails – NH State Rep Steven Bogart statement to use BCC feature of emails to hide email addressesSo who are the “Appropriate people that you stated that hiding the names of our public officials using the Blind Carbon Copy feature of emails? You never stated, for the record, who they were. We have no way to check the functioning of our Public Body with that tactic (and it violates a different part of 91-A).
How can the Public know that your “Appropriate People” are even credible in this area? Simply stating that phrase doesn’t make it credible. So who are they?
Given the other issue Monday night, that the Chair, the Clerk, the County Administrator, and the Commissioner ALL said that the Delegation Budget Review meetings HAD been publicly notice but my Right To Know of Tuesday morning PROVED they lied (at worst) and misled everyone (at best), you should understand my reluctance to blithely show absolute faith and quell my suspicions floating around your statement.
I find it highly amusing that while Chair Harry Bean was excoriating NH State Rep Barbara Comtois during the meeting, attempting to make the issues her fault instead of his as Chair, she was proven 100% correct and he was wrong. How do I tell, as a member of the Public, that this is not a second instance of the same tactic?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Trust can take years to build; it can be lost in an instance (or during a meeting). Are the four enumurated officials going to apologize to the public? Especially the Chair and the Clerk who rudely attempted to “punish” State Rep Comtois for asking the questions you didn’t like, and for which she was EXACTLY correct?
NH State Rep Bogert, she read you the Law in showing the intent of the Law – are you still holding her to be wrong? If so, tell us who the “Appropriate People” are so we, the Public, can verify your assertion.
-Skip
Trust – such an ephemeral thing, a fleeting thing. So a special edition
