Many readers are already familiar with that Nashua flagpole matter, which I said I would share updates on, and there are a few worth mentioning. I sent in my 91A request early on the morning of June 7 and received a reply on June 12, telling me how voluminous my request was and that I would receive another response “on or before June 25.”
Given my previous RTK experience and subsequent litigation against the City, I didn’t have the highest of hopes.
I sent a polite follow-up email on June 24, reminding city hall that I would like to have the material I requested “available for public inspection no later than” the next day. City hall closes at 4:30 p.m., so I sent a 3:45 p.m. email requesting that they make good before closing up for the day. 4:30 came and went, but a surprise arrived at 5:05 p.m., which local Grokster Laura Colquhoun said was their modus operandi.
Part of my surprise was that a city hall employee would be on duty after hours, but I was glad to see what at least appears on the surface as a good-faith effort. The email was accompanied by two files. One of them was a cover letter saying that my request was so voluminous that they would reply again on or before July 19 with the remainder of the responsive material. The other file was a 172 page pdf of older flag pole requests, like 2017-2021, which I have since shared with Damien Fisher of NH Journal and Beth Scaer. I am very interested in viewing the more recent material, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, on June 25, I was in the early stages of preparing for what to do in the event that the City played hardball, as they are known to do. Because there was a good chance that they would either blow me off completely or stall me again with another delay, I decided to explore the possibility of using the ombudsman’s services.
I emailed Mr Kehr (and ONLY him) at 10:35 am on Tuesday, June 25, inquiring when it would be a good time, THE NEXT DAY, to come to his office to discuss using his services. It’s important to point out that I asked about coming in on Wednesday, June 26, because I was going to Concord anyway for the last meeting of the executive council before their summer recess. Also important is that I enclosed all the information he might find relevant in discussing my situation. I did that by forwarding him a copy of my June 24 email to city hall(and its scrollable cascade of previous emails). Big mistake!
While it has since been clarified to me that the ombudsman does not give advice, I will explain why sharing the details of my situation via email was a mistake. Mr. Kehr cannot be trusted any more than one can trust the nearest blabbermouth. I did not include anyone in City Hall in my email to him. Mr. Kehr was the ONLY recipient, and there were no “copy to” recipients, yet he decided to “school me” publicly in front of city hall, albeit cyber-style. Now Attorney Bolton and all his ilk know everything I said to Mr. Kehr in my email to him because he copied them in his reply to me!
I will also add that his response also arrived yesterday(Thursday) afternoon with an opening lip service sentence saying, “My apologies for not responding sooner.”
I don’t know how many emails this $100,000/year government employee receives per day, but he either doesn’t check his inbox daily or was completely clueless that I was expecting his reply to my morning email later that same day.
According to NH Bulletin’s Annmarie Timmins, Mr. Kehr was nominated by the Damn Emperor in December 2022, and he is an attorney. While I’m aware that I have no attorney-client privilege with him, I find his indiscretion disappointing, in addition to his insensitivity to timeliness. When his appointment expires, I do plan to tell the next executive council about this, assuming that our next governor renominates him.
