NH Legislative Ethics Committee – Paul Fitzgerald’s Response (Fitzgerald??)

So I filed three NH Legislative Ethics Complaints against NH State Reps Harry Bean, Travis O’Hara (below – I guess I forgot to post it earlier), and a third Rep who did not waived his Confidentiality (so I can’t discuss that Rep).

You’ve also seen the oral testimonies as well (again, see below if you haven’t).

As I mentioned before, I hadn’t seen the written responses from the accused to my complaints before the actual hearing – TMEW handed them to me when I returned from the State House when all was said and done (well, at least for that round). Thus, I was at a disadvantage, to a point, during that preliminary hearing (which determines if the Ethics Committee doesn’t believe there’s a basis for anything or does think that a full hearing should be held with other people piping into the process).

Remember, the first sentence out of Harry Bean’s mouth upon sitting to testify were “Well, I guess I did it”. Sounded like an admission of guilt to me – you? However, this isn’t a court in the legal sense of the word – this committee is a political entity so who knows “who heard what”? All I know were my impressions afterwards:

Bean admitted guilt to violating RSA 91-A and RSA 24-9d
Both Bean and O’Hara said pretty much the same thing:
- Didn’t know it was my responsibility to check that the public noticing tasks were done and done right
- Didn’t know it was my job to worry about it
- Assumed someone else was going to do the public noticing for the Budget subcommittee meetings
- Plead ignorance of the Law (in Bean’s case) because he’s not a lawyer (but IS, by choice, a law MAKER).
Oh, in Bean’s case, used the excuse that he was a high school dropout so he can’t be held responsible for something he didn’t bother to read.

Sure – but if WE ALL break a law he gets passed, can we claim those same things and get away using those same excuses? Sorry, willfully breaking the law is, by definition, unethical. However, we’ll have to wait and see if the Ethics Committee agrees with that.

Anyways, here are the responses by Attorney Paul Fitzgerald – the attorney that the county hired (who also is Bean’s personal attorney) to defend all three State Reps.

Bean:

NH Leg Ethics Committee – Paul Fitzgerald for Harry Bean

O’Hara:

NH Leg Ethics Committee – Paul Fitzgerald for Travis OHara

I’ve been through them once. However, before I comment on either of them, I’m going to reread them a couple more times.

Ethics Complaint against NH State Rep Travis O’Hara:

Legislative Ethics Committee Complaint – Travis OHara

Ethics Complaint against NH State Rep Harry Bean:

Skip Murphy Ethics Complain – Harry Bean

My oral testimony: