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Calling herself “the top Dem” in state government, Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D–Lebanon) has been using her official position to recruit plaintiffs for a potential lawsuit against New Hampshire’s newly enacted voter ID law, and directing them to a high-profile Democratic law firm in Washington, D.C.

In emails sent from her official Executive Council account and obtained by NHJournal, Liot Hill refers potential plaintiffs to the Elias Law Firm. That’s the same Marc Elias who helped Hillary Clinton fund the research used in the now-debunked dossier behind the Russia collusion hoax.

While Liot Hill’s actions may or may not be illegal, critics point out that she’s trying to help a Washington, D.C., law firm sue the state of New Hampshire—which could cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars—while serving as one of New Hampshire’s fiscal watchdogs.

“This is astonishingly bad judgment from a member of what effectively serves as our state’s board of directors, ignoring her fiduciary duty to our citizens and taxpayers in favor of shameless partisan hackery,” a New Hampshire attorney who does business before the Executive Council told NHJournal on background. “Sad.”

The Elias Law Firm that Liot Hill is helping is notorious for its aggressive—and expensive—legal tactics on behalf of Democratic clients and causes, such as opposing voter ID requirements.

“I am writing to ask for your help,” Liot Hill wrote. “SB 287 was recently signed into law. This is a bill that will make it harder for people to vote in New Hampshire by forcing every absentee voter to provide a copy of an acceptable photo ID—or appear in person before a clerk or a notary—each time the voter requests an absentee ballot for any election.

“I am working with some folks who are trying to identify voters who will be impacted by SB 287, and I was thinking that this may affect older folks/mobility-challenged individuals,” she wrote to Chuck Saia, executive director of the Governor’s Commission on Disability.

“Would you be willing to have a call with Tina (copied on this email, contact information below) to talk further?” Liot Hill added.

“Tina” is Tina Meng Morrison, the Elias Law Firm attorney copied on each email. Morrison’s contact information appears immediately above Liot Hill’s official Executive Council email signature.

Other emails obtained by NHJournal had nearly identical messaging and were sent to:

• Lisa Beaudoin, Strategies for Disability Equity

• Donnalee Lozeau, Community Action Partnership of Hillsborough and Rockingham counties

• Isadora Rodríguez Legendre, The Developmental Disabilities Council

• Olivia Zink, Open Democracy

Unanswered in the emails: Liot Hill’s financial relationship with the law firm. Is the Executive Councilor being paid or receiving any remuneration for her work? Has the Democratic law firm donated to her campaign? Neither Liot Hill nor Meng Morrison would say.

In fact, Liot Hill declined to respond to any questions from NHJournal, which she described in her email to Meng Morrison as “a Republican online news source.”

“I’m the top Dem in state govt in NH, and they are always attacking me,” Liot Hill complained. “I’ve stopped responding to them. I am also interested to know who forwarded my email to them.”

Liot Hill sent NHJournal’s request for comment to the attorney, to which Meng Morrison replied, “Thanks for forwarding. If you could ignore this email for any comment, that would be much appreciated.”

If she is getting paid, Liot Hill’s email campaign is ethically murky. Elected officials in New Hampshire are governed by different sets of rules. Members of the executive branch, like Liot Hill, have fewer restrictions than state legislators.

But murky finances are part of Liot Hill’s history.

According to her campaign disclosures, the Lebanon Democrat has 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.

This year, she has already been reimbursed for tens of thousands of dollars in travel and other costs, despite not facing the voters again until next year.

“It should come as no surprise that Karen Liot Hill is involved in another unethical scandal. She previously misused campaign dollars; now we come to learn that she’s electioneering with taxpayer dollars,” New Hampshire GOP Chair Jim MacEachern said. “It’s shameful that she is still in her position. Granite Staters deserve better.”

Elias Law Group founder Marc Elias is a heavy hitter in the Democratic Party. He was the DNC lawyer from 2009 through 2023 and served on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. His firm represented the Democratic mail shop that sent illegal mailers into New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District’s GOP primary in 2022. The mail shop eventually agreed to resolve a New Hampshire Attorney General investigation with a three-year agreement that included payment of a $40,000 fine.

Elias told The New Yorker in 2021 that his firm “represents only clients who meet at least one of three criteria: they must be Democrats or an organization that helps Democrats win elections; they are bringing cases that challenge laws that restrict voting; or they are a progressive group that meets the values of our firm.”

Executive Councilors John Stephen and Dave Wheeler, both Republicans, attended an Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire event Wednesday night discussing the role of Executive Councilors in state government. Neither would comment on their colleague’s actions, but Wheeler did acknowledge that if the state is forced to hire outside counsel to deal with an Elias lawsuit, that contract would come before Liot Hill and the Executive Council for approval.

“I don’t know any of the circumstances,” Stephen said of Liot Hill’s emails. “But I think the law is a great law, and I’m so proud that the legislature passed the law to show proof of identity and citizenship and residency in order to vote.”

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella is investigating an AI-generated robocall that appears to feature President Joe Biden telling Democrats to skip the First in the Nation presidential primary.

Formella’s office says the calls “appear to be an unlawful attempt to disrupt the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election and to suppress New Hampshire voters.” Gov. Chris Sununu called the messages “voter impression and illegal,” and he said he’s spoken to Formella about prosecuting the responsible parties “to the fullest extent of the law.”

But who is behind the calls? The message doesn’t include a disclaimer. And what is their motive? Are they trying to keep Democrat-leaning unaffiliated voters from voting for Nikki Haley in the Republican primary? Or is the goal to keep registered Democrats at home rather than voting in their own party’s primary, where Biden needs write-in votes to prevent an embarrassing outcome?

“This coming Tuesday is the New Hampshire presidential preference primary. Republicans have been trying to push non-partisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarky,” the fake Biden voice voice says. “We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election.”

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Monday that the voice on the call is not President Joe Biden.

The robocall spoofed the cell phone number associated with former New Hampshire Democratic Chair Kathy Sullivan, who is leading the “Write In Biden” campaign. (Biden refused to allow his name to appear on the New Hampshire ballot after failing to force Granite State Democrats to give up their “First in the Nation” status.)

Sullivan would not respond to requests for comment from NHJournal, but she told NBC News, “It’s obviously somebody who wants to hurt Joe Biden.”

Discouraging unaffiliated voters who lean Democrat from participating in the GOP primary might hurt Nikki Haley and help Donald Trump. But how would it hurt Biden? Targeting registered Democrats would have no impact on the GOP primary at all since they cannot vote in the Republican contest.

Depending on who is targeted, notes veteran GOP strategist Dave Carney, it’s just as likely that phone calls trying to keep Democrats from voting on Tuesday would help Biden.

“It’s impossible to know who did it — it could be some hacker in his basement. But if you ask who benefits, it’s Joe Biden,” Carney said.

Efforts to rescue Biden from his decision to skip the First in the Nation primary could suffer a setback if enough fed-up Democrats follow the example of North Country progressive Theodore Bosen. He received the fake call, and he tells NHJournal he plans to vote in his party’s primary for U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.)

“Half the reason I’m voting for Phillips is how pissed off I am over what the DNC and Biden have done to the First in the Nation primary,” Bosen said. “It’s terrible for the whole process –we are the best state, historically, to vet the candidates, particularly Democrats.”

Bosen also said he is motivated by his opposition to Biden’s support for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas inside Gaza. “What’s going on in Gaza with our money and our support is a war crime,” Bosen said. “And there isn’t a viable candidate who is even talking about it.”

If anger with Biden over the First in the Nation primary state or his Israel policy drives Democrats to the polls, the write-in effort has to match those numbers to keep Biden from being embarrassed in his party’s primary. The write-in effort isn’t organic; it’s organized. So the fewer Democrats that show up, the larger a percentage of the total the write-in will be.

The latest University of New Hampshire Survey shows the percentage of Democrats who say they plan to write in Biden has been slipping and now is down to the low 60s.

“Low turnout makes their write-in votes a bigger slice of the pie,” Carney said. 

But Democrats like Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan insist Biden was the target.

“I urge Granite Staters to make sure their friends and neighbors know the truth and turn out in even bigger numbers to write in President Biden’s name,” Hassan said in a statement.

Bosen agrees.

“I thought it was Trump, in part because [the fake Biden] talks about Democrats and independents taking part in the Republican primary,” Bosen said. “Only Trump thinks Democrats can vote in the Republican primary. He’s said it about five times in the last week.”

Bosen thinks the call has less to do with Biden than former Ambassador Nikki Haley. Haley’s push to take on Trump in the GOP primary is going to need all the undeclared voters it can get. The call is probably a Trump trick designed to keep those undeclared voters from helping her win, Bosen said.

“We all know independents are her only shot,” Bosen said. 

If the call did come from a Biden ally, Bosen believes, it’s because the campaign sees numbers that are not so good for the incumbent president, and they’re feeling pressure from rising support for Phillips.

“It’s a schizophrenic strategy,” Bosen said. “Biden’s biggest blunder was for him to condone the write-in. (He) is screwed if Phillips does well.”

State Rep. Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook), former Speaker of the House, is also backing Phillips.

“Dean Philips has the educational and business experience to be an outstanding president. As President Kennedy said at his inauguration, “Let the word go forth to friend and foe alike; the torch has been passed to a new generation …”

“As a senior citizen, I say it’s time for us to pass the torch. Pass it to the congressman from Minnesota, Dean Phillips.”

Formella’s office confirmed to NHJournal that it is investigating the almost certainly illegal calls. However, the Attorney General’s Office has spent more than a year investigating tens of thousands of dollars of illegal mail sent by Massachusetts Democrats to interfere with the 2022 GOP primary in the Second Congressional District. Formella and his office have taken no action or filed any charges.

Dean Phillips and his insurgent Minnesota Nice campaign could be a problem for President Joe Biden, based on the upstart congressman’s packed house in Concord Friday.

Phillips is the only elected Democrat running to unseat Biden in the primary, saying he got into the race out of concern for the 81-year-old incumbent’s age and poor poll numbers.

“I did not intend to be here, but I am running to be president of the United States,” Phillips told the standing-room crowd at Brothers Cortado, a downtown coffee shop.

About 150 people came out on a frigid night, squeezing into the coffee shop for a chance to hear him. At times defiant, in a nice way, Phillips said his campaign is the last thing the Democratic Party wants in the state the party tried to cancel.

The Democratic National Committee’s attempt to strip New Hampshire’s first in the nation primary in order to protect Biden appears to have backfired. Biden supporters have launched a write-in campaign to save Biden from the embarrassment of losing a primary in his own party. Phillips has been running a proactive retail campaign, and best-selling author Marianne Williamson is pushing hard as well.

“The Democrats tried to tell you this is ‘meaningless,’” Phillips said, referencing a statement from the Democratic National Committee. “There is nothing more antithetical to our democracy than telling you your votes don’t count.”

“Tell the DNC they can’t do this to you,” Phillips said.

Phillips’ message of reaching for pragmatic solutions and finding a middle ground with opponents struck a chord with the Concord crowd. Phillips said he wants a national healthcare system so that people caught in the trap of drug addiction can get care and recovery. He wants to reduce gun violence by focusing on mental health solutions and not gun bans. And he wants to shore up social security by lifting the earnings cap for wealthy Americans.

The reason the congressional Democrat is taking on his party and possibly destroying his own future in politics is the fact he does not think Biden is up to the job. Trump, who Phillips said ought to have been impeached after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Riot, is too dangerous to be let back in the White House. Phillips does not think Biden can beat Trump in a matchup.

Phillips tried to deliver this theme in as nice a way as possible.

“We all love Joe Biden, but we know he’s in decline,” Phillips said.

Phillips delivered his stump speech and answered questions with his “aw shucks” demeanor. At times joking, occasionally serious, but always striving to be nice. His big idea for the White House is hosting regular Americans of all political persuasions for “common ground” dinners. 

Even with the sign of a late surge, Phillips said his campaign might be further along now if he changed his personality.

“I could have been in a much better position now if, when I started this run, I had been willing to do one thing, be a total jerk,” Phillips said.

Phillip’s campaign may not last beyond Tuesday, but he said Granite Staters have the chance to shock the DNC and the country. Phillips is making a big bet on New Hampshire, and he faces a long shot on Tuesday, almost as big a long shot as getting a nice guy into the White House.