News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Laurie Ortolano 
Each March, Sunshine Week reminds Americans that open government is not optional; it is foundational and well-regarded in New Hampshire as a Constitutional right. The public has a right to know how its money is spent and how its officials conduct business. Yet here in Nashua, one of the city’s largest public projects was structured … Read more
In a recent pretrial filing, defense counsel asked the Court to “caution all parties” against extrajudicial statements, citing one of my writings as an example (Viewpoint Discrimination in Plain Sight, Dec. 29, 2025). That writing was not a social media post. It was a long-form blog essay published on my civic-advocacy website and in this … Read more
Nashua’s Weaponized Decorum In Nashua, the definition of “civility” is not a fixed principle; it is a sliding scale that depends entirely on who holds the microphone. On August 26, 2021, I used a single vulgar word during a public meeting to describe a City Attorney’s conduct. My frustration was the culmination of a seven-month … Read more
Why the Executive Council Must Reclaim Its Constitutional Role in Judicial Selection New Hampshire’s Constitution has never been ambiguous about judicial appointments. For more than two centuries, the process has been a shared power: the NH Constitution provides that the Governor and the Executive Council share responsibility for nominating and appointing Judges and Justices. It … Read more
My six-year fight for government transparency, recognized by the Nackey S. Loeb and New England First Amendment Awards, exposed a cynical failure in the New Hampshire judicial system. My Right-to-Know (RTK) lawsuits sought critical records, from assessing records to an alleged fraudulent federal funding scheme for the Nashua Performing Arts Center, a matter serious enough that the federal government is … Read more
Judges are supposed to be fair and impartial. In New Hampshire, they should embody independence, not inheritance. My experience in Hillsborough County South has shown otherwise. The lines between mentorship and favoritism have blurred so deeply that I have lost confidence in the system. When Judge Smith took the bench in Nashua in 2024, she … Read more
What Justice Should Look Like It’s Time for Civil DiscourseAfter five years in Nashua’s courts, I no longer believe the system fails by accident. It fails by design through silence, delay, and loyalty to power. Yet the damage isn’t irreversible. Real reform is still possible if New Hampshire decides that fairness matters more than familiarity. … Read more
The Pocket Judiciary In Nashua, justice doesn’t feel random. I was told that Superior Court cases are assigned through a “round-robin” system to keep things fair. Yet fifteen of my cases went to the same judge. This was simply not statistically possible, and patterns have meaning. That judge, Charles Temple, became the City’s go-to authority … Read more
When Justice Has a Price Tag When the City of Nashua spent nearly a million dollars fighting a voluminous 2022 Right-to-Know case, it wasn’t protecting taxpayers and records; it was protecting itself. The case involved the downtown road barriers, a project sold for “downtown vibrancy” but executed with little transparency. I asked for public meeting … Read more
Busy, Burdened, and Broke From the outside, the court seemed to be managing a docket. In reality, it was managing appearances. No one, not the judge nor the City’s lawyers, acknowledged that the process itself had become unjust. The goal was never to expedite, but to delay. Inside City Hall, word had already spread that … Read more
When the Courts Turn Hostile Courts dread seeing a self-represented litigant walk through their doors, especially one challenging city government. In Nashua, that dread turns to hostility. Over five years of fighting for transparency, I’ve learned how the local court system uses its power not to ensure fairness, but to exhaust and financially break citizens … Read more
Derek Thibeault used his weekly newsletter to call a request for the August 7, 2025, non-public Nashua Board of Aldermen minutes “petty.” Transparency is never petty; it is the people’s right, and the Board broke the law. The Board entered that closed session without reading the statutory language required by RSA 91-A. That isn’t a … Read more
On July 31, 2025, the Superior Court held a hearing on my motion to disqualify Corporation Counsel Steven Bolton and Deputy Corporation Counsel Celia Leonard from my cases. The issue wasn’t about winning a motion; it was whether two city lawyers, locked in years of conflict with a citizen critic, could still do the job “with … Read more
On July 31, 2025, I appeared before a new judge in Superior Court South for a hearing on a motion to disqualify Attorneys Bolton and Leonard from my cases. I filed that motion because both attorneys have repeatedly shown an inability to remain professionally detached, as officers of the court are required to do. Over … Read more
On August 4, 2025, the Personnel and Administrative Affairs Committee reviewed an ordinance sponsored by Alderman Rick Dowd to prohibit flags, banners, and signs in the Aldermanic Chamber. The ordinance was poorly drafted and, according to the New England First Amendment Coalition, raised serious constitutional concerns about viewpoint discrimination. Despite the importance of the issue, … Read more
A Letter to Nashua’s Ward 8 Constituents I am writing to you today as a concerned citizen and an active participant in our city’s legislative process. I want to address the recent newsletter from your Alderman, Derek Thibeault, and correct several factual inaccuracies regarding the public comment policy and my actions at the Personnel and … Read more
On August 4th, I stood before Nashua’s Personnel and Administrative Affairs Committee to comment on a proposed ordinance that would conditionally ban signs, banners, and flags in the Aldermanic Chamber. I came with three 8.5” x 11” paper signs to test whether the City’s rule would be enforced fairly, or selectively. The signs were silent. … Read more
In May 2025, a New Hampshire court ruled that the Town of Grafton violated the state’s Right-to-Know law by holding a public meeting that the public could not adequately hear. The plaintiff, Yaakov “Jake” Abuhav, a local resident who represented himself without an attorney, attended that meeting and, like others, could not make out what … Read more
In my ongoing look at “Ethics without Ethics in Nashua,” let’s examine how the Ethics Review Committee (ERC) flagrantly disregards its own rules, and the law. The Committee is bound by the City Ordinance, section 12-31, specifically: What we see in practice is the opposite. Chairman Tim Bush either doesn’t understand Robert’s Rules or deliberately … Read more
In April 2025, a citizen, Fred Teeboom, filed an ethics complaint against Nashua Board of Aldermen President Lori Wilshire. The concern centered on her decision to appoint herself to the Pennichuck Corporation Board of Directors, a city-owned utility subject to Aldermanic oversight, without disclosing she would be paid $12,000 annually, discussing the inherent conflict of … Read more