Limbo, in the theological sense, is a place where souls not condemned to hell await judgment. New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte announced yesterday that she has put AG John Formella in limbo. She needs additional time to evaluate his office before deciding on whether to keep or discard him.
CONCORD, NH – Today, Governor Kelly Ayotte’s office released the following statement from spokesman John Corbett regarding Attorney General John Formella’s appointment:
“As a former murder prosecutor and Attorney General, Governor Ayotte cares deeply about the Department of Justice and its future. Attorney General Formella will continue in holdover to provide the Governor additional time to work with him and evaluate the operations at the Department.”
I can’t speak to Mr. Formella’s capacity as a person; he might be an excellent cook, singer, or gardener. He may possess a number of redeeming abilities or character traits, but he has not been the best defender of the state, and we cannot say we’re pleased with all the prosecutions he chose to pursue.
There has been far too little push back against regional and federal overreach, especially during the Biden Administration. He has not enforced obscenity laws that would protect children from adult content in schools and libraries. And his AG’s office has done a miserable job of cherishing the State Constitution, especially regarding free speech, the press, assembly, elections, election law, and election integrity, and the not-so-complex question of education funding. Nor did he defend patients’ and parents’ rights during COVID, and his office was slow to protect them even after the passage of the Patient’s Bill of Rights. And they’ve done a crap job at protecting children.
And it took far too long for him to admit the arrests of the NH9 were “probably unlawful.”
No, that list is not exhaustive.
We’d be happy to see him move along with the caveat that there is no expectation his replacement would be much better. Two decades of AGs, including Ayotte (under Benson and Lynch), have proven less than impressive. Expecting the same cabal to produce something better is little more than a fantasy.
