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New Hampshire’s self-styled “Top Democrat,” Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D-Lebanon), says her decision to recuse herself from the upcoming vote on Attorney General John Formella’s reappointment is the result of partisan politics.

Critics say the real issue is much simpler: How can Liot Hill vote on an attorney general whose office is currently investigating her on charges of campaign finance violations?

Approving the attorney general and other key state government nominees is a central part of an Executive Councilor’s duties. In a statement to the left-leaning news outlet InDepthNH, Liot Hill blamed her recusal on the GOP.

“Since the Republicans are continuously calling for AG investigations of my work, most recently emails I sent from my official email address advocating for my constituents’ right to vote, I will be recusing myself from the Attorney General’s confirmation vote to prevent even the perception of a conflict of interest,” Liot Hill said.

She did not mention the fact that the Attorney General’s Election Law Unit is conducting an ongoing campaign finance investigation of Liot Hill, one that has been underway for nearly a year.

“Frankly, I don’t understand why this is taking so long,” said Executive Council Chair Dave Wheeler (R-Milford).

The scheduled Sept. 17 vote on Formella’s reappointment is likely a foregone conclusion. Formella is a GOP holdover from Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration who is unlikely to be rejected by the council’s 4-1 Republican majority.

Wheeler suspects Liot Hill’s recusal statement is more about managing the optics of her vote against Formella than the vote itself.

It’s hardly a surprise that a progressive Democrat like Liot Hill would oppose Formella’s nomination. Her predecessor, and fellow progressive, Councilor Cinde Warmington, voted against Formella when he was first nominated in 2021.

Still, Wheeler says, the current circumstances are problematic for Liot Hill. Casting a vote against Formella with the open investigation pending would look bad, he said.

“My guess is she would be inclined not to vote for a conservative, and it would then look like she voted that way for being investigated,” Wheeler said.

It’s not unheard of for councilors to recuse themselves from voting on appointments when there’s a conflict of interest, such as when the nominee happens to be related to a councilor. But Wheeler, who has been a councilor off and on since 2001, can’t recall a councilor ever recusing themself due to a pending investigation.

“Not that I can think of,” Wheeler said.

Liot Hill stopped responding to questions from NHJournal after it began reporting on her campaign finance filings, as well as her efforts to help a Democratic law firm sue the Granite State. NHJournal reached out to her again on Wednesday seeking comment, to no avail.

The investigation into Liot Hill’s campaign finances was opened in October, soon after NHJournal found that the Lebanon Democrat spent thousands in campaign cash on meals, clothes, and visits to salons during the 2024 race. Her campaign expenditures included a $190 ferry ride to the Hamptons and $181 to register her car, as well as repairs around her home. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office confirmed to NHJournal on Aug. 14 that the campaign finance probe is still ongoing.

Last week, Liot Hill told InDepthNH that as a result of the investigation, she has already repaid her campaign $2,000 “mostly for clothes and other expenses,” and amended her campaign finance reports. But those reports were amended in November of last year.

NHJournal uncovered emails Liot Hill sent from her government email account last month on behalf of the Elias Law Group seeking to help recruit plaintiffs for a voting rights lawsuit against the state over SB 287. Liot Hill refused to answer when NHJournal asked if she was getting paid by Elias to help find plaintiffs.

Elias Law Group, founded by Marc Elias, is a prominent — and notoriously partisan — D.C. law firm connected to the 2016 Russia hoax scandal. Liot Hill later claimed she was merely helping constituents by finding potential plaintiffs for Elias.

“My job as an elected official is to advocate for my constituents, which is exactly what I do every day,” she told InDepthNH.

That kind of advocacy can get pricey, however. According to recent campaign finance reports, Liot Hill drove more than 9,700 miles for her upcoming 2026 campaign and paid herself $6,771.70 in mileage reimbursement out of those donor funds. The campaign paid her another $2,518 for candidate travel, of which $2,462 was spent at Gills Point S Tire and Auto Service in West Lebanon. Taxpayers also chipped in $11,970 for her annual Executive Councilor mileage/expense stipend.

After her Elias-related constituent services were revealed, House Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) called for Liot Hill to resign or face impeachment.

“That’s not public service; that’s political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox,” Sweeney wrote in a statement.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jim MacEachern sent a letter to the Attorney General’s Office asking for an investigation into Liot Hill’s emails on behalf of Elias.

“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.

The Attorney General’s Office never confirms or denies the existence of any pending investigation. After MacEachern’s letter was sent, Department of Justice spokesman Michael Garrity said the letter would be taken under advisement.

“We will assess the information provided and determine the appropriate course of action based on the facts and applicable law.”

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill may or may not be “the top Democrat in state government,” as she claims. But she is definitely the king of the road.

While the first-term councilor won’t be facing the voters again until (at least) September of 2026, her latest campaign finance report claims she’s already covered more than 9,670 miles on the campaign trail as of June 1. As a result, she’s paid herself $6,771.70 from her campaign fund to cover the costs.

In addition to the mileage, Liot Hill’s campaign filings include $2,518 for candidate travel. However, the report indicates that $2,462 of those “travel” expenses were actually three separate payments to Gills Point S Tire & Auto Service in West Lebanon.

But that’s not all for the District 2 road warrior.

Every executive councilor receives an annual mileage/expense stipend on top of their modest $18,000 a year salary. Councilors from Districts 3, 4, and 5 get $7,980 per year. But because Districts 1 and 2 — Liot Hill’s — are so geographically large, they receive $11,970. 

Add six months of her Executive Council travel to her campaign filing, and Liot Hill has already received more than $15,000 in travel reimbursements as of June 1.

Liot Hill reported $39,590 in this fundraising revenue this reporting period, mostly from individual donors, and spent $30,416. Of that spending total, $7,530.91 — or about 25 percent — went to Liot Hill herself.

Eye-grabbing campaign spending is nothing new for Liot Hill, despite the fact that her job as executive councilor is to review contracts and impose fiscal accountability on state government.

Her previous filings are already under investigation by the Election Law Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Questions were raised about the accuracy and authenticity of her filings when, after an NHJournal report on her spending, Liot Hill filed an updated version with significant revisions. The originals bear the signature of her treasurer, former state Rep. Corrine Morse. For the revisions, Liot Hill replaced Morse as her own treasurer and signed the documents herself.

Asked by NHJournal if she had in fact signed the original documents, Morse declined to respond.

Liot Hill has also declined to respond to repeated requests for comment about her campaign spending. Her new report lists accountant Michael Button as her campaign treasurer.

Liot Hill’s latest campaign filing is very different from those of her executive council colleagues.

District 3 Republican Janet Stevens reported raising $18,795 from Jan. 1 through June 1, and spent $12,923. Most of Stevens’ spending went to media consultants ($4,950) and campaign consultants ($2,250). She spent another $2,900 total on yard signs and food for fundraising events. Stevens does not claim any payments for reimbursements, travel, mileage, or candidate meals in her report.

Councilor John Stephen (R-District 4) reported $92,701 raised during the same period. His campaign spent just $4,523. Stephen claimed a $66 reimbursement for event supplies, and nothing for mileage, travel, or candidate meals.

Liot Hill, who had been the elected treasurer for Grafton County, was found in default this month in a small claims case over her failure to pay $4,234 in credit card debt. According to court records, Liot Hill never responded to the complaint filed in February in the Lebanon District Court.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill calls herself “the top Democrat in state government.”

But a New Hampshire court just called her a deadbeat.

A court declared Liot Hill in default over her failure to repay $4,234 in outstanding credit card debt. It’s the latest in a series of financial faux pas by a state official whose job is to prevent fraud and overspending in state contracts. 

Liot Hill is already under investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office Election Law Unit over questions about her campaign spending in her race for executive council. The longtime Lebanon city councilor and four-term Grafton County treasurer spent thousands of campaign dollars on personal items like $190 for a ferry ride to the Hamptons, $181 to register her car, and $250 for a haircut at Rio Blanco Salon. There were also two unexplained checks totaling $1,350 corresponding to two court cases against Liot Hill; one a violation for driving with a suspended license, and another involving a debt collection on a car loan.

In the current credit card debt case, Liot Hill stopped making payments about the same time she started running for executive council.

According to court records, Liot Hill never responded to the complaint filed in February in Lebanon District Court.

Liot Hill did not respond to requests for comment from NHJournal on Monday, either.

In an interview with the Valley News that was published this weekend, Liot Hill touted her important place in the Democratic Party.

“I am an executive councilor, but I’m actually the top Democrat in state government,” Liot Hill said in the interview. “I feel a responsibility to try and communicate with my constituents and also to be a presence and to be a voice for Democratic values across the state.” And her answer to a question about running for governor or Congress was “never say never.”

Republicans say Liot Hill lacks the values — or the record of responsibility — for the job she has now.

“When I applied to be dean at the University of New Hampshire, they ran a full background check, including my credit score, because I was going to be put in charge of a budget of $30 million or so,” said state Sen. Dan Innis (R-Bradford). “It would seem to me that someone who has trouble with her personal finances shouldn’t be trusted with an entire state‘s finances.”

Liot Hill’s campaign finances have been the subject of multiple media reports. Soon after NHJournal published its first story about her extravagant campaign spending, she filed and amended spending reports to remove some items and clarify others. Two mystery checks were switched to reimbursements the campaign made to her for the purchase of software and other more legitimate expenses.

Also noteworthy: Liot Hill’s first campaign filing was signed by her campaign treasurer, Corrinne Morse. When Liot Hill filed the amended version changing the descriptions of her spending to less problematic expenditures, Morse had been replaced as treasurer. Instead, Liot Hill listed herself as treasurer and signed her own amended filing.

Asked by NHJournal if she had actually signed the original filings, Morse declined to answer.

Morse declined to respond to a request for comment on Monday as well. Perhaps with good reason.

Liot Hill has already filed paperwork indicating she plans to seek reelection in 2026. Her amended campaign committee registration form lists Morse as the treasurer for her upcoming campaign.

Controversial Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill’s 2024 campaign spending made headlines, and now it may be getting attention from the Attorney General’s Office as well. It confirms it is investigating the Lebanon Democrat’s campaign finances.

Questions about Liot Hill’s campaign finances began with NHJournal’s coverage of her lavish spending during the Democratic primary for Executive Council. Her allegedly campaign-related expenditures included charges for house cleaning, home heating oil, clothes, haircuts, groceries, gifts, payments to relatives, out-of-state trips, and more than $15,000 in gas and meal expenses.

Now, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office confirms to NHJournal that its Election Law Unit is investigating a complaint filed against Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D-Lebanon).

“The New Hampshire Department of Justice Election Law Unit can confirm that there is an open campaign finance matter involving Executive Counselor Liot Hill,” Election Law Unit Chief Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell told NHJournal.

Liot Hill, an Upper Valley Democrat who previously served on the Lebanon City Council, refused to answer when NHJournal asked her about the investigation. Liot Hill simply shook her head in response to NHJournal’s questions.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office declined to give details about the investigation, and the original complaint is not being made public at this time. NHJournal’s review of Liot Hill’s campaign finance reports, and her subsequent moves to correct the reports, uncovered curious details.

For example, nestled among her campaign receipts were two mystery checks that corresponded to court dates in two separate legal matters facing Liot Hill.

After NHJournal reported on her spending, Liot Hill filed amended reports with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office that removed some of the spending line items, and attempted to explain the two mystery checks.

Liot Hill’s original reports listed two unexplained checks from December 2023 and January 2024 totaling $1,350. The checks did not include any information on who received the money, or the purpose of the expenses.

NHJournal found the timing of the two checks corresponded with two court cases involving Liot Hill. One was a violation for driving with a suspended license, the other involved a debt collection. The amended reports list those checks as reimbursements to Liot Hill for various software subscriptions, as well as cell phone and internet services.

These aren’t Liot Hill’s first legal troubles. The Democrat has been arrested twice for DUI, once in 2010 and again in 2018.

One interesting element about Liot Hill’s campaign disclosures for investigators to review: the sudden change in the status of her campaign treasurer.

The original reports listed former state Rep. Corrine Morse as the campaign treasurer, and appear to bear her signature. But the amended reports, which are significantly different from the first ones, are signed by Liot Hill, who declared herself her campaign’s treasurer.

Filing campaign documents that make false representations, such as who signed them, is a serious violation of state campaign finance laws.

NHJournal contacted Morse in November about her role in the campaign and asked if she had in fact signed the original reports for Liot Hill.

“I can’t comment on that,” Morse told NHJournal at the time.

Morse has not responded since to NHJournal’s multiple calls or emails about the campaign or the investigation.

It’s past time for the public to get the truth about Liot Hill’s finances, says New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jim MacEachern, particularly given the financial duties of her position as an Executive Councilor.

“Councilor Hill, who has a history of breaking the law, is now accused of misusing campaign dollars and fraudulent filings,” MacEachern told NHJournal. “It’s alarming that someone like that is empowered to review state contracts and even pardons. I’m happy to hear this is being investigated and trust that justice will be served,” MacEachern said.

Liot Hill’s GOP colleague, Executive Councilor Joe Kenny (R-District 1), learned about the investigation from NHJournal. He declined to comment on Liot Hill’s campaign spending, but he added,  “I hope it’s cleared up very quickly. We have a lot of work to do.”

Executive Councilor John Stephen (R-District 4) echoed that view.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to serve the people of this state who elected us,” Stephen said.

Amid a flurry of proposed budget cuts coming out of the legislature, the council is also navigating the sudden loss of $80 million in federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control. Stephen would not say if he thought Liot Hill being investigated could tarnish the image of the council as the public watches their decisions.

“I’m going to continue my role representing the people of District 4 in the most accountable way possible, with transparency and integrity in everything I do,” Stephen said.

Republican Kim Strathdee, who unsuccessfully ran against Liot Hill for the Executive Council, filed the complaint now under investigation. Strathdee did not respond to a text message seeking comment, and the phone number listed for her is not in service. Strathdee filed her complaint Oct. 7, days after NHJournal broke the story about Liot Hill’s campaign spending habits.

As for Strathdee’s campaign finances, she has a perfect record. While Liot Hill spent close to $120,000 on the contested primary and general election, Strathdee raised no money and spent no money throughout her entire campaign, according to her reports.

Democrat Karen Liot Hill, whose unorthodox campaign spending in her Executive Council race has already raised ethical questions, failed to meet the filing deadline for both of her final two campaign reports. 

One of the Lebanon Democrat’s reports was due Oct. 30, the other on Nov. 13. But neither was filed with the Secretary of State’s Office until Thursday, Dec. 12 and they didn’t appear in the public campaign finance database until Dec. 13.

Liot Hill is set to be sworn in next month as the District 2 Executive Councilor, replacing Cinde Warmington, who chose to run for governor rather than another term on the council. Warmington lost to former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig in the Democratic primary. Craig went on to lose to Republican Kelly Ayotte in the general election.

Liot Hill handily defeated Republican Kim Strathdee in the heavily-Democrat district.

In October, NHJournal broke the story of Liot Hill’s questionable campaign finance spending in her primary against Democrat Mike Liberty. According to her campaign disclosures, Liot Hill spent thousands in campaign cash on meals, clothes, and visits to salons. Her campaign expenditures included a $190 ferry ride to the Hamptons and $181 to register her car.

She also reported spending $7,004 on gas for her car, $755 for car maintenance, and another $8,330 on meals.

A major concern regarding her original reports were two checks, one for $700 and another for $650, that did not include details on who she paid or for what election-related purpose. Both the checks correspond chronologically to court costs charged against Liot Hill. 

On Dec. 12, 2023, a car financing company filed a motion for contempt against Liot Hill in Lebanon District Court for her failure to comply with a previous payment order. At the time, she had a balance of more than $1,000.

In January, Liot Hill pleaded no contest to a 2023 violation for driving with a suspended license and agreed to pay $620 in fines and court costs. However, court records show Liot Hill’s first check to cover the fine bounced.

In response to NHJournal’s reporting, Liot Hill filed amended reports. She listed the two checks for $1,350 as reimbursements to Liot Hill for campaign expenses. And while the first campaign finance documents were signed by Liot Hill’s campaign treasurer Corinne Morse, the amended filing was signed by Liot Hill herself, who took over the treasurer duties for her own campaign.

At the time, neither Morse nor Liot Hill would confirm that Morse had actually signed the original reports.

Liot Hill declined to respond to questions from NHJournal, including inquiries into whether she is currently under investigation for any of her campaign filings.

Liot Hill did not respond when contacted on Dec. 12 by NHJournal about the reports. Nor did the Secretary of State’s Office respond to NHJournal’s questions about the reports. The New Hampshire attorney general would not confirm or deny if an investigation is underway. Contacted Saturday, Morse said she has not been interviewed by anyone from the Attorney General’s Office.

The Executive Council’s job is to provide oversight of state spending on behalf of the taxpayers, which makes the issues surrounding Liot Hill particularly problematic, said New Hampshire GOP chair Chris Ager.

“For someone who must review state contracts, these reports are very disturbing.”

Days after a NHJournal article about her questionable campaign spending on personal items like home heating oil and paying her car registration, Democrat Karen Liot Hill (D-District 2) filed an amended financial disclosure.

In addition to changing some of the details of her spending, the amended documents are missing two key items from the originals: the name and signature of her campaign treasurer, Corinne Morse.

On the amended forms, Morse is replaced by Liot Hill, who has now declared herself the treasurer of her campaign — despite the fact that Morse had previously signed off on the spending in question. 

Now, Liot Hill is dodging NHJournal’s questions about Morse’s involvement in overseeing her campaign finances.

Liot Hill bested fellow Democrat Mike Liberty in the Executive Council District 2 primary in September and easily defeated a token GOP opponent in the heavily-Democratic district.

Morse, a Canaan, N.H. Democrat elected to the legislature in 2022, had served as treasurer for Liot Hill’s run to replace Cinde Warmington. Morse’s name and signature appear on all original reports. They included unexplained checks totaling $1,350 that appeared to correspond to two court cases against Liot Hill: a violation for driving with a suspended license, and another involving a debt collection.

Liot Hill also included house cleaning, home heating oil, and more than $15,000 in gas and meals expenses in her campaign spending reports, all with what is purportedly Morse’s signature.

By amending the filings, Liot Hill conceded there were problems with her initial paperwork. The question is whether, as treasurer, Morse asked about the details of the filings before she signed them.

And why didn’t she sign the amended documents — amending factual claims Morse has already endorsed — for the same spending period?

In fact, NHJournal asked Morse if she actually signed the original campaign reports in the first place.

Morse declined to answer.

“I can’t comment on that,” Morse told NHJournal on Monday.

Nor did Morse respond to an email from NHJournal that included one of the original reports to confirm that the signature appearing on it is hers. Morse’s own campaign finance reports, and her House financial disclosure forms, appear to have been filed electronically and did not require a physical signature that could be used for comparison.

Liot Hill did not want to take questions when reached by phone on Monday, instead offering to answer questions via email. However, when she responded on Tuesday, Liot Hill did not answer NHJournal’s questions about Morse’s signature or her decision to act as her own treasurer.

“I am proud that I ran my entire campaign on a minimal budget, doing almost everything myself from my car as I crisscrossed the district to meet as many voters as possible. As many candidates do, I have recently filed amended reports, making some clarifications and minor corrections. These items make up a very small percentage of my overall campaign budget. But it is important to correct even small mistakes, so I have done that.

“Corinne Morse stepped down as treasurer for my campaign after the primary, and the amended reports bear my signature. I look forward to serving on the Executive Council and finding common ground so that I can help tackle the challenges facing New Hampshire and deliver results for Granite Staters,” Liot Hill wrote to NHJournal.

Acting as her own treasurer, the mysterious checks that appeared to correspond with two court cases are now listed as reimbursements the campaign paid to Liot Hill for various software subscriptions as well as cell phone and internet services. 

On Dec. 12, a car financing company filed a motion for contempt against Liot Hill in Lebanon District Court for her failure to comply with a previous payment order. At the time, she had a balance of more than $1,000.

In January of this year, Liot Hill pleaded no contest to a 2023 violation for driving with a suspended license and agreed to pay $620 in fines and court costs. However, court records show Liot Hill’s first check to cover the fine bounced.

Forging or knowingly falsifying state campaign finance documents is a crime, as is misreporting campaign finance spending.

In 2005, former House Speaker Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett) pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report $64,000 in contributions from lobbyists and special interests. The money was raised at Chandler’s annual “Old Fashioned Corn Roast.” Chandler paid a $2,000 fine and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Karen Liot Hill may serve as the treasurer of Grafton County, but her use of campaign dollars for personal expenses in her Executive Council race is raising eyebrows.

According to her campaign disclosures, the Lebanon Democrat has spent thousands in campaign cash on meals, clothes, and visits to salons. Her campaign expenditures include a $190 ferry ride to the Hamptons and $181 to register her car.

Liot Hill also reports spending $7,004 on gas for her car, $755 for car maintenance, and another $8,330 on meals. 

Gubernatorial candidate Joyce Craig (D-Manchester) ran a bruising statewide primary campaign against Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington (D-District 2) and reports spending just $849 for meals.

“I’ve run a very grassroots campaign,” Liot Hill said.

The detailed reports on Liot Hill’s spending also include unexplained checks totaling $1,350 that appear to correspond to two court cases against her: a violation for driving with a suspended license and another involving a debt collection.

Liot Hill serves on the Lebanon City Council and is the elected Grafton County Treasurer. She’s also a former restaurant owner whose business went under during the COVID pandemic. That hardship is behind the financial difficulties she had earlier this year.

On Dec. 12, 2023, a car financing company filed a motion for contempt against Liot Hill in Lebanon District Court for her failure to comply with a previous payment order. At the time, Liot Hill had not made a payment since June 2023 and had an outstanding balance of $1,061, according to court records. The case was resolved this February after Liot Hill paid $945.

In January of this year, Liot Hill was again in trouble, but this time in a traffic case. She was charged in June 2023 for driving with a suspended license. The case was resolved with Liot Hill pleading no contest and agreeing to pay $620 in fines and court costs. However, court records show that Liot Hill’s first check to cover the fine bounced on Jan. 8.

Contacted Thursday, Liot Hill denied she used campaign funds to cover payments related to her court cases. However, she did not immediately recall why or to whom she paid $600 on Dec. 26, or $750 on Jan. 12. The campaign reports do not give any information about the recipient or purpose of those payments, unlike the thousands of other expense entries.

“They might be reimbursements to me,” Liot Hill said.

Liot Hill called back a short time later after checking her bank accounts to say the two checks were for reimbursements for different subscription services related to the campaign. 

Liot Hill told NHJournal she planned to amend her campaign reports to reflect the correct details on the two checks. But those checks represent a fraction of the $113,000 she has spent on the campaign. Liot Hill won her primary against Mike Liberty despite Liberty’s spending more than $400,000 on his campaign. Instead of television ads or digital ads, Liot Hill said, she put 40,000 miles on her car to meet voters.

“I’ve driven 1,000 miles a week. That’s how I won despite being outspent four to one. A lot of expenses are related to meeting the people and being out on the road,” she said. 

Having the campaign reimburse her for gas ultimately saved money, Liot Hill argued. She could have taken a mileage reimbursement at 75 cents per mile, but that would have driven the cost up to about $30,000 instead of $7,000.

Liot Hill noted that Executive Council District 2 is a large area, going from the Monadnock region and Keene, to north of the Upper Valley, and then out to Concord. But it’s not as large as District 1, where Democrat Emmett Soldati spent just $31,000 of the $106,000 he raised. Those expenditures include $1,500 for gas and $677 for meals.

Unlike Liot Hill, Soldati did not face a competitive primary opponent.

Liot Hill’s unusual campaign spending doesn’t end with dinner and a drive.

Also included is a $250 payment to a Vermont heating oil company. That payment was made in July to a company that performs $250 annual furnace tuneups. Liot Hill denied she used campaign money to service her heating system, but she did not have an immediate explanation for the charge.

Liot Hill also spent $711 on hair and nails, $1,600 on clothes, $330 on books, and $1,230 at grocery stores on “food and flowers.” Additionally, Liot Hill spent $736 on airfare, $453 on hotels, and $1,017 on transportation. Many of those expenses are not out of the ordinary for campaigns, including the out-of-state travel she charged.

Asked about her out-of-state stays, including a trip to Orient Point on the Hamptons in New York, Liot Hill said there were fundraising ventures to her old home turf.

“I grew up on Long Island,” she said.

However, a review of the donations reported by her campaign shows Liot Hill brought in a negligible amount of money from out-of-state donors. Her campaign reports nine donations from New York residents totaling $4,250. Her campaign has raised more than $122,000 as of the Sept. 19 report.

Vincent Liot, a retired Sag Harbor, N.Y. resident, accounts for four of those New York donations. Vincent Liot gave the campaign $3,550 in total, and Carolyn Liot from East Hampton, N.Y., gave another $300. The four New York donors not named Liot gave a total of $400.

At the other end of spectrum, Liot Hill’s opponent in the general election, Republican Kim Strathdee, is reporting zero money raised or spent. Candidates are not required to report any spending if the total is under $1,000.

State Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester), who has pushed for campaign finance reforms in the past, said the current law gives candidates a wide berth when it comes to how they spend money. Spending campaign money on personal expenses is prohibited, but defining what’s personal and what’s not gets tricky due to New Hampshire’s citizen legislature and Executive Council.

“That can open a Pandora’s Box, and we don’t want to curtail someone’s First Amendment rights,” Berry said.

Instead, New Hampshire law leaves it to voters and donors to oversee the candidates, he said. Candidates must be transparent in how they spend money, and who they get that money from.

“The point of campaign finance reporting is so the public can suss out if there’s an appearance of impropriety,” he said.

Former House Speaker Donna Sytek, who is a current member of the House Legislative Ethics Committee, said candidates need to make sure they can show donors they are spending donations in an appropriate manner. 

“You have to be able to tie it to the campaign,” Sytek said. “In a campaign, it’s best not to be on the receiving end of questions about possibly unusual expenses.”

At the trial of alleged FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday, former executive Nishad Singh admitted to being a “straw donor” who helped SBF distribute millions of stolen dollars to Democratic candidates and committees across the country.

Among them: All four members of New Hampshire’s federal delegation and the state Democratic Party (NHDP).

And according to the available records at the OpenSecrets website, all four candidates still have stolen cash on hand.

“My role was to click a button,” Singh testified. Those “clicks” included $5,000 to the Granite State Democratic Party and $2,900 to each of New Hampshire’s four congressional Democrats last year. And SBF funneled thousands more to Hassan and the NHDP during the hotly-contested 2022 campaign.

In fact, Hassan accepted a total of $30,800 between her campaign and her PAC from Bankman-Fried, while the NHDP collected $20,000. That ranks the two as number five and six on the list of Democrats and Democratic organizations to total campaign cash from FTX and its affiliates.

And those aren’t the only problematic donations for New Hampshire Democrats. Hassan also received a $10,000 contribution last year from disgraced U.S. Senate Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), currently facing bribery charges after cash and gold bars were found in his home. Hassan has declined to return the money or answer any questions about it.

Not to be outdone, Shaheen’s PAC gave Menendez a $5,000 donation just three days before his more recent indictment. Her staff blames a “clerical error” but declines to say if she’s going to ask that the money be returned.

“It’s another colorful data point of the bigger picture that a culture of brazenness has taken hold,” says Dan McMillan with the campaign finance reform organization Save Democracy In America.

The fact Hassan and Shaheen haven’t made a greater effort to distance themselves from Menendez shows they are now part of a system that largely ignores voters and treats campaign donors and lobbyists as their real constituents, McMillan told NHJournal.

“‘We, the people,’ are now a nuisance, a necessary evil, an obstacle to [politicians] getting done what they need to get done.”

Bankman-Fried wanted to get things done, too. According to this week’s testimony, he saw donating to Democrats as a way to raise his profile, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Singh said the contributions, largely to center-left recipients, were made in his name for optics purposes. ‘It was useful for my name to be associated with some donations, even if the end recipient understood they were really coming from something else,’ he said.”

McMillan said these are all examples of a system that rewards politicians who can raise the most money. The money gives the politicians greater access to the levers of power, and it buys favorable treatment for the donors, he said. The lax federal regulation of the cryptocurrency market is, in part, a result of donations like the ones Bankman-Fried made, McMillan believes.

Save Democracy In America is promoting a taxpayer-funded campaign system, and McMillan argues it’s necessary because donors have too much power.

“Donors have become the gatekeepers, they are picking the candidates people are allowed to vote for,” McMillan said.

For example. Democratic donors are starving any candidate who might challenge President Joe Biden despite Biden’s deep unpopularity. “Donors all closed ranks and now Democratic voters are not going to have a choice this cycle on a presidential candidate,” McMillan said.

As long as politicians like  Menendez, Hassan, Shaheen, Kuster, and Pappas are incentivized to get money from donors, they will do just that. McMillan wants to use campaign money to leverage power back into the hands of voters. He’s hopeful it will work.

“We’re not a country like any other. This is the only country on Earth that stands for something. Being an American is about ideals,” McMillan said.

All four Democrats have declined to respond to repeated questions about these donations.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said Democrat Steve Marchand lied about his role in a political scheme targeting his opponents in Portsmouth.

Marchand, a progressive Democrat who once served as Portsmouth mayor and sought his party’s nomination for governor, will not face criminal charges, the office said in a letter. Instead, it issued a letter of warning to Marchand for his involvement in Preserve-Portsmouth.com and other websites that targeted sitting city council members in the last municipal election.

“It’s pretty bad,” said Peter Whelan, one of the Portsmouth councilors targeted.

Whelan, Councilors Susan Paige Trace, Ester Kennedy, Greg Mahanna, Petra Huda, and Mayor Rick Becksted were all targeted by anonymous websites, fliers, and robotexts operated by Marchand, according to Myles Matteson with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.

“It was shameful. There were robotexts sent by the thousands,” Whelan said.

Trace said the attorney general’s investigation revealed there was an effort to mislead the voters of Portsmouth.

“It’s about being transparent and behaving in an honorable manner,” Trace said.

All of the candidates targeted by Marchand were defeated. Current Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern declined to comment, as he had not seen Matteson’s letter.

“I didn’t have any interaction with the (Marchand) in my campaign,” McEachern said. “I have no idea what the former mayor was doing or not doing.”

Marchand did not respond to a request for comment. His attorney, Joseph Foster, is currently out of the country and unable to be reached.

Marchand’s bogus website was built to mirror a legitimate site with a similar name, Preserve Portsmouth, and purported to support the same city council candidates the original site endorsed. But it falsely described them as far-right Trump supporters. According to documents obtained by the Attorney General’s Office, Marchand wanted to depress voter turnout among Republicans in order to benefit Democrats on the ballot.

Marchand initially lied to investigator Anna Croteau when she questioned him about his part in the campaign, according to Mattson’s letter.

“When she first asked about Preserve-Portsmouth.com, you stated that you had heard of the website. You denied you had ever claimed responsibility for the website but noted that other people had been saying you were responsible for it,” Matteson wrote.

However, Croteau already had screenshots of a text conversation in which Marchand took credit for the content of the websites.

“To be very clear, I am the one to create the content,” Marchand wrote.

Matteson’s letter states the Attorney General’s Office has records of Marchand’s communications with at least four other people about the campaign, in which he stated the goal was to create guilt by association aimed at the targeted candidates, linking them to Trump in the mind of Portsmouth voters.

“(i)s really meant to help get Democrats who gave Becksted and others a vote in 2019 to really think about what they are doing in 2021,” Marchand wrote.

Whelan suspects the true purpose of the campaign was to get rid of council members who oppose development in the historic sections of the city. Marchand’s record as mayor includes changing zoning ordinances to make development easier, Whelan said. Whelan wants to know who Marchand was working with and for, and who funded the operation.

“Somebody spent a lot of money to do this,” Whelan said.

The attorney general’s report found that while Marchand would have violated campaign finance law by not disclosing who was behind the websites, fliers, and robotexts if it could be proved that he acted in concert with others. However, Marchand claimed, eventually, that while he acted alone in creating the content he did not set up the websites. Matteson noted the claim he acted alone was the last of many explanations Marchand offered to investigators.

New Hampshire law on campaign finance transparency allows a narrow exemption for individuals engaged in advocacy. Marchand was cautioned, however, that if he continues to engage in similar campaigns he could lose the exemption and face possible prosecution.

Last year, Portsmouth Democrat Committee Chair Shanika Amarakoon and New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley issued a statement condemning Marchand’s campaign.

“We cannot let our local elections be undermined by national-style political tactics. The city councilors who were attacked, after all, are our neighbors. While we may not agree with all of their decisions, they did not deserve this attack, and we do not stand for it,” Amarakoon and Buckley wrote.

The headline at left-leaning InDepthNH reads, “Questions raised about donation from Gunstock to Sununu’s 2020 campaign.”

Right-wing secessionist state Rep. Mike Sylvia (R-Belmont) called it “inappropriate and possibly illegal.”

So, what is the deal with the $500 campaign donation from the Gunstock Area Commission (GAC) to Gov. Chris Sununu’s 2020 campaign?

The answer, according to experts on New Hampshire election law, is “not much.”

Sununu actually received two campaign donations made to the Friends of Chris Sununu from the Gunstock Area Commission, one for $500 to his 2020 campaign and another to his 2022 re-election bid of $1,000. His opponents have suggested the money — approximately 0.07 percent of the $1.9 million Sununu raised for the 2020 campaign — may have influenced his behavior toward the county-owned facility.

Leaders in the New Hampshire Democratic Party suggested Sununu broke the law, or at least created the possibility of criminal action, by accepting the GAC donation. Gunstock is owned by the people of Belknap County and operated by the management team hired by the commissioners. The commission is appointed by the members of the county’s House delegation, led by Sylvia.

“Gunstock is publicly funded by Belknap County taxpayers, and if Sununu were to have used that public funding for his 2020 gubernatorial campaign, that donation could be in violation of campaign finance law,” the New Hampshire Democratic Party said in a statement.

Sununu’s team, led by campaign advisor Paul Collins, has maintained from the beginning the allegations were nonsense.