New Hampshire’s Right to know Law, often referred to as 91-a, prohibits state and local officials from hiding ‘public’ documents. And while some parts of the bureaucratic machine are happy to give you what you request in a timely and even pleasant manner, others who can’t (or don’t want) be bothered by you pesky citizens will toss out responses to your queries that they think will send you packing.
Are they just too busy doing the state’s business to be interrupted by curious taxpayers with troublesome queries? Are they ignorant of the statutes that define and limit both the kinds of documents to which you are entitled access and the manner in which you may access them? Will they purposefully mislead to prevent you from seeing public documents?
A little of each, or maybe all of the above, it hardly matters–the end result is the same; they are engaging in information intimidation and breaking the law, most without fear of consequence.