By J. Grimbilas for the NHCADSV
Dear Rep. Sweeney,
I’m concerned about dark money in New Hampshire’s politics. The Secretary of State provided the following 2023 RSA 15 declaration from J. Grimbilas Strategic Solutions LLC. It shows that J. Grimbilas received $6000 from the NHCADSV and that with that money, J. Grimbilas made donations as straw donations to the NH Committee to Elect House Republicans, the NH Dem Victory Campaign, candidates for the State Senate, candidates for the Executive Council who approve of the release of VAWA grants for the NHCADSV.
To what extent are bills in the house supported or blocked for the NHCADSV (which states it tracks 150 bills per year) because of these kinds of hidden straw donations?
The NHCADSV is a 501 c 3 so it is prohibited from making political donations. It is not a 501 c 4 (which would allow it to make political donations).
The Trump White House issued a letter last year about the illegality of straw donations. You can read it here.
The Attorney General, John Formella, issued the following guidance on lobbying rules and reporting in 2021.
Multiple lobbyists for the NHCADSV do not report any portion of their salaries as lobbyists, even though they report being lobbyists. For example, Lyn Schollett, the Executive Director, typically reports lobbying expenditures of $0-150 per year. No portion of her salary. Similarly, Pamela Keilig reports minuscule amounts. Alyssa Dandrea reports $0. Amanda Grady Sexton reports between $3k and $7K, yet she received $48K from Marsy’s Law in 2018, which she did not report, and J. Grimbilas also got paid for Marsy’s Law for which Ms. Sexton was the Executive Director.
Should the public have any faith in honest votes for or against bills backed or opposed by the NHCADSV, given this information?
Were the sponsors for CAC22/Marsy’s Law in 2018 paid through straw donations to support it?
It would appear that something was going on. J. Grimbilas gave money to Senator Sharon Carson for her Senate campaign in 2023 on behalf of the NHCADSV. Emails obtained from the NH AG’s office under Right to know show a series of emails between Amanda Grady Sexton, Executive Director of Marsy’s Law and Director of Public Affairs for the NHCADSV and Deputy AG Geoffrey Ward about his getting a hand delivered letter to Senator Sharon Carson for Marsy’s Law because “the sponsor” (California billionaire and sex/drug addicted felon, Henry T Nicholas III) was putting pressure on her.
He hand-delivered the letter to Senator Sharon Carson, and the Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of CAC22. Ironically, the NHCADSV then gave money to J. Grimbilas in 2023 for them to donate to Sharon Carson and other Senators, giving the appearance of greasing palms to ensure that bills the NHCADSV was pushing would pass the Senate, or that bills the NHCADSV opposed would be squashed.
With regard to the tabled HB1675, introduced by Rep. Ellen Read and co-sponsored by the representatives copied*, it was extremely clear to anybody watching that the NHCADSV were working the committee and the house representatives to block the bill, which would investigate them.
Had the bill not been tabled due to their efforts, the investigation would have laid open the kind of activity we discovered going on with J. Grimbilas and straw donations to candidates and the NH Committee to elect House Republicans and the NH Dem Victory Fund which, ironically, has Rep. Eileen Kelley on it – the sole person who voted against Rep. Ellen Read’s HB1633 in the Finance Committee as I understand.
See: Who got paid to push Marsey’s Law in NH
*Co-sponsors included in the email shared above
Date: March 27, 2026 at 12:18:00 PM PDT
To: Joe.Sweeney@gc.nh.gov, electionlaw@doj.nh.gov, Sherman Packard <sherman.packard@gc.nh.gov>
Cc: Ellen Read <ellen4nh@gmail.com>, Matt Sabourin dit Choinière <Matt.Sabourin@gc.nh.gov>, Susan DeRoy <Susan.DeRoy@gc.nh.gov>, Diane Kelley <Diane.Kelley@gc.nh.gov>, Jonah Wheeler <Jonah.Wheeler@gc.nh.gov>, Jack Flanagan <Jack.Flanagan@gc.nh.gov>, Leah Cushman <leah4nh@gmail.com>, Donald Gilbert <dgilbertnh@hotmail.com>, Dana Albrecht <dana.albrecht@hushmail.com>
Subject: Straw donations to the NH Committee to Elect House Republicans & NH Dem Victory Fund by J. Grimbilas for the NHCADSV
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