Good morning, Senate Judiciary members (and all non-freshman Rs):
I considered addressing all of you as “Enemies of 91A,” but thought better of it. Enclosed is an article about Hanover and the SC’s decision in the plaintiff’s favor. I’m sharing it to remind you that 91A issues are NOT just “a Nashua thing.” Team Red has a moral responsibility to do for Blue districts what they can’t do for themselves.
Many of you were at Wednesday’s CACR 12 hearing, which I also attended. You might remember the enemy camp (including Hanover’s unhinged executive councilor) yammering for the upshifting of school funding responsibility. They cry “downshifting” when they find local fiscal responsibility burdensome, but what about local moral responsibility? This story about Hanover is an example of how local government can shirk its responsibility as a steward of public records.
All of you ought to know that most of the professional media/press normally ignore 91A matters, so I find it rather ironic that the Hanover story came to my attention via public radio, the worst of the worst outlets. Blue communities must rely on “citizen journalism,” and ALL of NH must support the unsung heroes, like Chau Kelley and Nick Shirley. They are journalism’s kindred spirits of pro se plaintiffs against their non-transparent local governments in matters of 91A. The plaintiffs I am talking about are the ones doing what WMUR should be doing: requesting records.
I know the legislature is ok with doing its job when it wants to, just look no further than 2024’s HB 1002, which all of you either moved OTP or voted OTP in Judiciary on 4/18/24, or voice voted on 5/2/24 to adopt a Consent Calendar that included it, in-chamber discussion be damned. If you want a more recent example, it’s my understanding that Senator Gannon sponsored SB 626 at the request of the Municipal Association. Allow me to point out that the Municipal Association is not a constituent, voter or real individual person. If he can sponsor bills at their request, then he and all of his peers (all of you) can sponsor bills at the request of the people you serve. Let’s recognize right now that the inevitable “Senator Telerski” is NOT going to serve the best interest of her future constituents that are already critics of city hall. The most outspoken critics (Ortolano, Colquhoun & the Scaers) have been tirelessly fighting for relief for longer than I’ve been paying attention.
And let’s talk about our Nashua governor, who sparred with Senate leadership last summer and held the budget bill over a barrel. Populating the Corner Office with an ex-attorney general governor, one might think, would bring law and order to her own city. Unfortunately, she only cares about law and order in HER CITY when it comes to someone accused of DUI (SB 620), but not city hall malfeasance. Wouldn’t it be amusing if Attorney Bolton got stopped on his way home from Happy Hour at Family Pizza on a Friday evening? I digress.
I am emailing all of you before filing time to remind you that any of you can and should make laws that shore up 91A. We’ve all heard, ad nauseam, about SB 620 “closing a loophole,” but I ask all of you, “What about all the 91A LOOP HOLES?” If Gannon and Abbas are unfamiliar, perhaps Attorney Lehmann can bring them up to speed, as he works for the entire Senate and has previously represented Laurie Ortolano. One of those loopholes, in my lay opinion, is excessive and vindictive delays. Allow me to share an example: a comment from Laura Colquhoun.
“I went to get a copy of the FY2027 Budget yesterday from City Hall, and guess what – no copies yet for residents to review. For years, the accounting department would give me the Debt Schedules anytime during the year, but now I must wait until the budget is out. Mayor Donchess does not want residents to see what we owe. Also remember that the city wrote off the loan of $7.1 to 201 Main Street Corp and is also not showing the $9.5 million dollar loan that the City of Nashua residents guaranteed.”
Laura’s comment was in response to seeing a Facebook post by Steven Hanson, in which he said the following:
Every Nashua RESIDENT owes $11k in DEBT for the “mayor’s” RECKLESS spending!
Spending by the “mayor” and his BOBBLEHEAD BOA is OUT OF CONTROL! I’ve said it before but there needs to be a HIATUS on ALL spending for PET PROJECTS to give tax payers a break! The PAC (USELESS, was said it would BRING people downtown yet there are MASS closings of businesses). The RIVERWALK to NOWHERE is another USELESS project. The BARRIERS the tax payers are paying for to subsidize PRIVATE businesses. The $4 MILLION LOST and SHRUGGED off by DOWD and the “mayor”. Building NEW schools we DO NOT need! A new DPW building. A new DPW garage. $900K for a HOUSE worth $690K. Another $4 MILLION to renovate the house. And MANY more!
ENOUGH is ENOUGH! By the end of this year the city of NASHUA will be in DEBT by $1 BILLION dollars. Think about that. $1 BILLION dollars! That means EACH person (including babies and kids under 18) owe $11K!!! That is JUST the DEBT! It does not include the INFLATED operating budget! OPEN YOUR WALLETS!”
Notice that Laura had no difficulty with the City’s response time to the same request in the past, keeping in mind that the mayor (also a lawyer) has been in office for 11 consecutive years. What’s the problem now? Could it have to do with Laurie Ortolano’s multiple suits against the City regarding RTK, the arts center, or both? You tell me. My point is that there is definitely a need for more state-level oversight of the RTK response process. Too many LOOP HOLES in 91A are being abused in the form of delays and exemptions. Even Attorney Lehmann has adopted Attorney Bolton’s playbook since I started making inquiries last winter. Yeah, I played stupid in trying to learn more about Tim McGough by requesting records to no avail. Lehmann definitely knows that I know he knew what I was looking for each time he blocked me.
We all regularly hear the words “do your job,” whether it’s from one side of the aisle to the other or one branch of government to another. And as I said earlier, some local governments can’t or won’t do their jobs yet still have their jobs. Please step in as lawmakers and do your jobs to draft better 91A laws, strengthen them, and increase the penalties for violations. If you can do the latter for other laws (SB 620 being a current example), then you can do it for 91A because a lack of transparency is a symptom of dishonesty.
-Julie
