Nashua’s Mayor and the legal office have launched a full-scale attack on this citizen in response to my advocacy for transparency in the city. Their lack of transparency is evident in their attempts to shift 100% of the blame for the costs of Right-to-Know (RTK) cases and complaints onto the citizens, while denying any responsibility for their actions.
The Mayor, legal office, and the Superior Court judges have the power to correct the situation. These governmental entities have failed the citizens. Politics, money, influence, and gender are the determining factors in how records become transparent rather than relying on the statutes, the Constitution and the rules of civil procedures.
The Mayor’s approval of the contracts to hire outside attorneys to represent the City’s interest in the last RTK lawsuit calls to question what interests the Mayor was protecting. The lawsuit covered records in the Economic Development office, including the downtown barriers, tax incremental financing districts, and the Performing Arts Center. Protecting the interests of the City was the furthest from his mind. The Mayor signed a contract with Russ Hilliard from Upton Hatfield who represents lawyers on ethics and corruption issues. Some considered him the grandfather of the New Hampshire bar. He is old, tired, and retired, but he has a long-standing reputation that affords him red-carpet treatment in the courtroom. His violations of civil and trial procedures done to protect the City are overlooked by judges. It appears to be a “who-you-know, not what-you-know-system.”
Interestingly, in another City meeting, Director Cummings, Attorney Leonard and Attorney Bolton blamed me for creating all the taxpayer waste for the City’s need for outside counsel, which they showed began in 2021. Might the stroke suffered by Attorney Bolton in December 2020 have played a role? He certainly wasn’t the same person; he became angrier, more aggressive, and less steady in his mind. The Mayor’s poor leadership and employee practices (remember he kept the sleepy porn guy who was mishandling assessments instead of terminating him) resulted in these costs. His practices are said to have driven good employees out of their City jobs.
It appears the Mayor has no confidence in his legal office and must spend a lot of taxpayer money to cover their blunders. We have all seen what Democrats did in Washington to address our failing President. They denied his mental decline until the elephant filled the entire room. Mayor Donchess is taking a page out of the Washington playbook on retaining mentally diminished leadership, cynically and liberally applying lipstick to a pig.
The Mayor had to hire a separate legal firm to address the records issues involving the shell companies formed by the City of Nashua to accept federal money for the construction of the Arts Center. It was unclear why this was necessary because the City attorneys represented these corporations as controlled affiliates of the City. The Mayor signed the deal with McLane Middleton and Attorney Foster, the former attorney general for the state of New Hampshire appointed by Maggie Hassan, to hear a boring RTK petition brought forth by a citizen representing herself regarding noticing and postings of meetings and some public records.
McLean Middleton is considered a premier law firm in this state, and the attorneys working on this case typically address white-collar criminal issues. Looking at the invoices, Mike Delaney was consulted repeatedly for advice. Attorney Delaney for RTK matters? It appears, in reality, that the Mayor was much more concerned with the potential illegal nature of these corporations, the failure to set up corporations known to the IRS, corporations that depended 100% on taxpayer money, corporations formed with the deceptive appearance of functioning as long term businesses that would be terminated in year seven, failure to record loans given and guaranteed by the City on the financial books. Would these actions constitute bad faith to hide records? For sure.
Furthermore, using federal funds to improve the socioeconomic conditions of a blighted neighborhood was a requirement for the construction and location of a Performing Arts Center. Does anyone believe the Tree Streets have improved economically because of an Art Center built downtown?
In reviewing emails obtained through a RTK request regarding accepting this federal money, I stumbled upon an email where the Mayor was unhappy with the legal costs to close the deal for the City to receive a $2.5 million Federal tax credit to construct the Arts Center. The Bank hired a large conglomerate legal firm to close the deal. This firm wanted $400,000 in legal fees.
The Mayor rejected the $400,000 in legal fees, and agreed to pay $200,000 for these legal services. He appeared to be wearing his fiscal hat and was seeking a better deal. Good work. Yet, with the hiring of McLane Middleton to deal with a RTK lawsuit, he signed off on $432,000 in invoices without ever consulting with the Board. Why? Could it be that the Mayor needed to cover potential civil and criminal wrongdoing of his office, the legal office and the Boards of Directors of these shell companies, particularly Mr. Lannan. Attorney Hilliard was paid $117,000 for his legal work to cover 60% of the lawsuit claims. Why did McLane require nearly 4X that amount to address 40% of the lawsuit?
The judge noticed these influential attorneys, whose impact on the Court appeared
to go beyond the rule of law. Southern NH court and courtroom #3 is not a place of honor, ethics or morals. The City and judge did an excellent job scrambling this egg. Who can unscramble it? One pro se litigant against five attorneys and a biased and unprincipled judge cannot prevail. Citizens will never know what really happened to our money and understand the debt we all funded. The Court has paved the way for the City to enter into its next NMTC deal, and the Mayor has already stated that he is eager to move forward. All this has left me wondering – who is really getting paid, and how is all this money moving through the system?
I won virtually all the challenges involving the downtown barriers, but lost virtually all the challenges involving the construction of the arts center and the impact of Federal money on public records. This analysis requires another article, but it appears construction and land deals are where the corruption and collusion occur. Once the Mayor accepted Federal money, and a citizen wanted to attend meetings and sought records, Red Flags popped up and heavy-hitting legal firms were necessary as influencers to the Court. Red Flags would definitely not be harmonious with the Mayor’s message suitable for the citizen’s flag pole!
The NH legal-judicial system must clean up its act. Public trust cannot happen when cities and Courts work as dark powerhouses to deny accountability and transparency.
How can the Mayor justify sticking taxpayers with $432,000 in legal fees paid to one firm covering a fraction of an RTK lawsuit? The actions of the City to beat up citizens are exactly what one would expect from miscreants and crooks working to shut down public records.
