A NHJournal report on Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill’s use of her public office to solicit lawsuits targeting the state’s new voter ID law has sparked an angry reaction, including calls for an attorney general investigation and possible impeachment.
Liot Hill, who calls herself the “top Democrat” in New Hampshire state government, used her official email to recruit local activists and special interest groups on behalf of the Elias Law Firm, a prominent — and notoriously partisan — D.C. law firm connected to the 2016 Russia hoax scandal.
On Thursday morning, New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jim MacEachern called for Attorney General John Formella to launch a new investigation into Liot Hill, alleging she used her taxpayer-funded office to advance the interests of the Elias law firm.
In a letter sent to Formella, MacEachern accused the Lebanon Democrat of “taxpayer-funded electioneering,” citing “numerous messages” sent from her official Executive Council email account.
“Granite Staters expect their elected officials to use their positions to serve the people, not to further their political interests. Liot Hill’s decision to use her official capacity to communicate on behalf of a political law firm adds to the ethical concerns that have already been generated by her previous scandals,” MacEachern wrote.
“In addition to her campaign finance issues, Liot Hill has had other issues with the law, including two (2) arrests for driving under the influence. This pattern of poor ethical decisions is unbecoming of anyone trusted by the people to hold elected office.”
Hours later, N.H. House Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) released a statement calling for Liot Hill’s resignation and threatening to file articles of impeachment if she refuses.
“Published emails show Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill used her official office to help a partisan, Washington, D.C., law firm recruit plaintiffs to sue New Hampshire over our voter ID and absentee safeguards. That’s not public service; that’s political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox,” Sweeney wrote.
“Under the New Hampshire Constitution, Executive Councilors can be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate for corruption, malpractice, or maladministration. What we’ve seen, leveraging an official position to aid outside litigants against our state, squarely raises maladministration and malpractice in office. I will not look the other way. When the legislative filing period opens next month, I will draft and file articles of impeachment against Councilor Liot Hill.”
Asked about calls for investigation, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said, “We will assess the information provided and determine the appropriate course of action based on the facts and applicable law.”
However, the office also confirmed that an investigation into Liot Hill’s campaign finance disclosures in the wake of the 2024 election is ongoing.
“The Election Law Unit matter remains open.”
NHJournal has repeatedly reached out to Liot Hill for comment, but she has declined. In an email to an Elias law firm attorney, she dismissed NHJournal as “a Republican online news source. I’m the top Dem in state govt in NH, and they are always attacking me. I’ve stopped responding to them.”
However, she told the left-leaning news outlet InDepthNH on Thursday that she’s done nothing wrong.
“Republicans are now attacking me for fighting for the rights of my constituents to vote. This is an attempt to distract from their failure to lower the cost of housing, healthcare, education, and property taxes for the people of New Hampshire,” Liot Hill told InDepthNH.
She also acknowledged the attorney general’s investigation into her campaign funding but said the issue has been resolved.
New Hampshire state Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley mocked the GOP response as “manufactured outrage.”
Critics say that if the firm is compensating her, Liot Hill’s actions raise ethical questions about using her state position to aid a political law group in preparing litigation against the state — a case that could cost New Hampshire taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Her fellow Executive Councilor, Dave Wheeler, pointed out that if the state is forced to hire an outside law firm to fend off the legal attack she’s helping organize, Liot Hill would likely review the contract as part of her duties as a councilor.
Republicans like Sweeney say Liot Hill’s history of ethically challenged behavior is not going to be overlooked.
“New Hampshire’s message is simple: we protect the integrity of our elections, we don’t outsource state policy to D.C. operatives, and no official, not even the highest-ranking Democrat in state government, is above accountability,” Sweeney said.
