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Ayotte Orders AG to Review Controversial Nashua Water Deal

Gov. Kelly Ayotte wants answers about the state officials who invited a Chinese beverage company to set up shop in Nashua, ordering the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to conduct a review.

Attorney General John Formella confirmed on Friday that a review of Nongfu Spring is now on tap.

“The governor has directed the DOJ to look into the facts and circumstances surrounding this purchase, with a specific focus on any involvement by state and local officials and what can be done to remedy any process failures and enhance reviews of these types of purchases going forward. We will report our findings to the governor upon the conclusion of our review,” Formella told NHJournal. 

Nongfu, owned by China’s top billionaire Zhong Shanshan, quietly bought a commercial property in Nashua for $67 million earlier this year, though the property was valued at around $15 million. After months of speculation about the deal, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess said it was brokered under an economic development initiative championed by Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration. 

“If you have problems with this, you’re in the wrong place. This was initiated and pursued by Concord. We are kind of just spectators to the whole thing,” Donchess said.

Tensions have been mounting in Nashua for months as concerns have grown over Nongfu Spring’s acquisition of the 330,000-square-foot industrial site and its plans to draw water from the city’s main supply system.

In February, Nongfu Spring, China’s largest packaged‑water producer, quietly bought a long-vacant warehouse at 80 Northwest Boulevard—a site valued at $15 million according to public records—triggering alarm over the staggering $67 million price tag and strategic location.

At a recent public meeting, the city’s Board of Aldermen room was packed. One resident voiced the sentiment, echoing the room: “Look at us… still here, still freaked out by this.”

Concerns were amplified by the building’s proximity to several defense-related installations—New Boston Space Force Station, Hanscom Air Force Base, Pease Air National Guard Base, and key transportation hubs including airports and naval facilities.

Ayotte’s decision to bring in the attorney general echoes her previous statements calling for heightened scrutiny. “We’re always concerned when the Communist Party, the Chinese Communist Party, or anyone associated with that party buys land in New Hampshire,” she said, questioning the inflated purchase price and demanding transparency on the company’s intentions.

Ayotte is not alone. Three Republican Executive Councilors — Joe Kenney, John Stephen, and Dave Wheeler — have written BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell asking for information about the role his agency played in promoting the purchase.

“Our constituents have expressed concerns about the transparency and oversight of the Nongfu Spring purchase in Nashua, particularly regarding who was informed, when, and the extent of the Department of Business and Economic Affairs’ (BEA) involvement,” they wrote.

Among their questions:

  • Did the BEA actively recruit the company to relocate or establish operations in New Hampshire? If so, when did those efforts begin, and who initiated contact?
  • What commitments, if any, has the company made regarding job retention or creation in Nashua, and when were these commitments communicated to the BEA?

State Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell—spearheading legislation to ban land purchases by entities from countries deemed adversarial, including China—pointed to the Nashua deal as a cautionary example.

At the federal level, Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander requested a retrospective review of Nongfu Spring’s purchase by CFIUS, expressing unease over potential threats posed by a foreign adversary acquiring land near critical infrastructure.

Rumors swirled that Nongfu might attempt to buy or control Pennichuck Water Corporation, Nashua’s semi-private water utility. But Pennichuck officials have pushed back forcefully.

CEO John Boisvert and Board Chair C. George Bower emphasized that Pennichuck is not for sale, and no water rights or land have been, or will be, transferred. Bower reiterated that Nongfu would be treated as a typical industrial customer.

Donchess insists the city had no hand in facilitating the deal and only became aware of it when Nongfu’s application for a building permit emerged, which was later withdrawn in late May. He urged residents to direct their inquiries to the state level, particularly the Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

The debate has exposed a growing unease about foreign land ownership near sensitive sites, especially when tied to national security and critical resources like water.

Lily Tang Williams, a Republican challenging Goodlander in the 2026 congressional race and a former Chinese citizen, voiced her alarm. “Why do we even sell our natural resources like water to our biggest adversary?”

State Sen. Kevin Avard represents Nashua and has spoken out on the purchase.

“I want to thank my fellow Nashua resident, Gov. Ayotte, for taking such decisive action on this important issue for our city,” Avard said.

“Since hearing about this potential sale, I have been on the front lines calling for an in-depth review. There are far too many questions about this sale that need to be answered, and getting the Attorney General’s Office involved is an important step. Our neighbors have justifiable concerns that are simply not being addressed by the local government who have tried to pass the buck at every opportunity. Gov. Ayotte’s measured action today shows once again that she is listening to the people and doing what is best to protect our communities.”

Months After Fiasco Audit, Malachi Finally Out at Human Rights Commission

Months after a state audit revealed incompetence and gross mismanagement at the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights (HRC), no-show Executive Director Ahni Malachi is finally out.

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has pledged to reform the scandal-plagued agency, which emerged as a symbol of government ineptitude during the Sununu administration. Ayotte recently appointed a new chairman, Ray Pinard, and vice chair, Dr. Stewart Levenson, tasking them with fixing the failing commission.

Malachi could not be reached for comment. Her LinkedIn profile indicates she left her position in May, though NHJournal could find no record of her departure in Executive Council meeting minutes or in publicly available HRC records.

Critics say that lack of transparency is consistent with the agency’s conduct during Malachi’s tenure.

Pinard did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Wednesday, and Levenson referred all questions regarding Malachi to the Governor’s Office. NHJournal did not receive a response from Ayotte’s staff.

Malachi’s LinkedIn also lists her current role as a full-time human rights compliance consultant for “Singnalfire (sic) Consultants.” NHJournal was unable to find contact information for the organization.

Under state law, the Executive Council must formally accept resignations and appointments for positions such as Malachi’s. At its Wednesday meeting, the council accepted the resignation of Commissioner Basra Mohammed, an immigration attorney for New Hampshire Catholic Charities. Mohammed did not respond to a request for comment regarding her departure from the board overseeing the embattled agency.

In February, the Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant released a performance audit revealing that the HRC was deeply mismanaged and essentially nonfunctional. At the time, the commission had a backlog of 237 unresolved cases, some dating back to the Reagan administration.

According to the audit, it took the commission an average of 18 months just to assign a complaint to an investigator, and nearly another year to resolve the case.

Due to those delays, the statute of limitations often expired before a decision was issued, denying complainants the ability to pursue their claims in court.

“Our review of 228 cases closed during the state fiscal year 2023 found the Commission took an average of 840 days (2.3 years) to close a case. We found 62 of 228 cases (27.2 percent) reviewed were closed after the three-year statute of limitations that would have allowed complainants to have their cases heard in Superior Court,” the audit stated.

The report placed blame squarely on the HRC’s leadership.

“We found the Commission did not perform necessary management control responsibilities such as developing a strategic plan; defining objectives; developing performance measures; identifying, analyzing, and responding to operational risks; and resolving prior audit findings,” the audit concluded. “As a result, there was an increased risk the Commission would not achieve its objectives.”

The 92-page report also included anonymous, sharply critical statements from attorneys who interacted with the agency.

“Over the last few years, the investigators in my cases never reached out or talked to my witnesses. In other words, cases were delayed for years and then decided without talking to witnesses,” one attorney said.

“This agency should either be completely overhauled or eliminated. As constituted, it serves no purpose,” said another.

“Because the investigators are not experts in the law, they fail to ask for evidence from the employers that would be required,” added a third.

“I’ve been told in several cases that none of the witnesses I listed were contacted,” said a fourth.

Malachi’s responsibilities as executive director included overseeing the commission’s daily operations, staff management, and budgeting. Before being appointed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu, she worked as a public service manager at WMUR.

She has been on extended sick leave since last year, during which time investigator Katrina Taylor has served as acting executive director. Malachi’s absence drew scrutiny within the agency after it was revealed she took time to assist the City of Concord in hiring “Cash Cow Consultant” James Bird Guess as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultant.

Ayotte Adds Voice to Chorus Calling for Magistrate in Berlin Bail Fiasco to Resign

Gov. Kelly Ayotte says she agrees that Magistrate Stephanie Johnson should resign, joining a growing chorus of voices who want the court-appointed official to face the consequences of her recent bail rulings.

The calls for Johnson to step down began on Monday when Republican Executive Councilors Joe Kenney and John Stephen publicly released a letter they sent to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and Administrative Judge Ellen Christo, urging them to immediately remove Johnson from her position.

“The release of this individual, who subsequently committed such a heinous act, represents a profound failure in our system that endangered lives and eroded trust in our judiciary,” Kenney and Stephen wrote. 

On Tuesday, fellow GOP Councilor Janet Stevens (R-District 3) joined the cause.

“Magistrate Stephanie Johnson must resign. Since she was sworn into office in December 2024, she has failed to protect the citizens of NH,” Stevens posted on social media. “In February, she released a man who later stabbed a stranger in Manchester. Five months later, an innocent 25-year-old woman is murdered by her former husband, who had been charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, and sexual assault, and granted bail by Johnson. Enough is enough.”

Gleason, 50, murdered his estranged wife, Sandra Marisol Fuentes Huaracha, 25, last week while she was working at the La Casita Mexican restaurant in Berlin. After gunning her down inside the restaurant, Gleason turned the shotgun on himself. At the time of the murder, Gleason was on bail on charges of kidnapping, domestic violence, sexual assault, and theft against Fuentes Huaracha.

MacDonald has already announced that both Christo and Associate Supreme Court Justice Melissa Countway are reviewing the Gleason case to identify red flags that court officials, such as Johnson, may have missed.

Johnson was appointed in December as one of New Hampshire’s first bail magistrates, a position created in yet another attempt to fix the failed bail reforms passed by a previously GOP-led legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Sununu. Magistrates like Johnson were tasked with hearing bail requests in the absence of a judge when one was unavailable.

Ayotte made fixing bail reform a top priority in her first term, and the changes she got through the legislature include the elimination of the bail magistrate system.

“I agree this magistrate should resign and, in fact, I advocated for eliminating all the magistrates in the stronger bail law that goes into effect in September so we can keep violent offenders and domestic abusers off our streets,” Ayotte told NHJournal. “My heart goes out to Marisol’s loved ones and the entire Berlin community, and I will continue fighting alongside our legislature to protect victims.”

House Republican leaders also called for Johnson’s resignation and highlighted Democratic opposition to some of Ayotte’s reform proposals.

“To be abundantly clear, incidents like these are why House Republicans passed, and Gov. Ayotte signed, commonsense bail reform, which will take full effect on September 21, 2025,” said Deputy House Majority Leader Joe Sweeney (R-Salem).

“We are doing everything we can to ensure that we keep dangerous criminals behind bars until their day in court. Yet Democrats stood in our way at every turn, even pushing a reckless amendment to forbid bail commissioners from reviewing prior convictions. Democrats would rather shield repeat offenders than protect law-abiding Granite Staters.”

In Berlin, the murder-suicide hit the community hard. The issue of Johnson’s handling of the case was first raised by Kenney, who represents the North Country community on the Executive Council.

“People just ask me how could this happen to a vivacious, young 25-year-old who had everything to live for and had in front of her, and it was all taken away because of a court system that basically gives a limited bail amount to this estranged husband,” Kenney said at last week’s council meeting.

On Tuesday, Mayor Robert Cone posted a copy of the Kenney-Stephen letter on his Facebook page with a two comment: “Absolutely agree.”

While removing Johnson from overseeing bail cases would be satisfying, Republicans privately acknowledged it’s also redundant. The new bail law requires all cases to be heard by judges; magistrates will be excluded from the process. Pressing for Johnson to resign, they say, is the right way to promote accountability and signal others in the judicial system that egregious rulings will come with consequences.

“Our citizens deserve better—no more delays, no more tragedies,” Sweeney said Tuesday. “The resignation of Magistrate Johnson is not about politics—it is the only way to restore faith in our justice system.”

Bail Fail: Councilors Kenney, Stephen Want Immediate Removal of Magistrate in Berlin Murder Case

In the wake of the horrific murder of 25-year-old Sandra Marisol Fuentes Huaracha’s murder by her estranged husband, Michael Gleason Jr., the state’s Supreme Court chief justice has ordered a review.

But that’s not fast enough for Executive Councilors Joe Kenney (R-Unity) and John Stephen (R-Manchester), who have written the court and asked for Magistrate Stephanie Johnson to be immediately barred from hearing more bail cases due to her troubled track record.

“Pursuant to Supreme Court Administrative Order 2024-03, which empowers the Chief Justice to remove a magistrate for cause at any time during their five-year term, we urge you to exercise this authority without delay and remove Magistrate Johnson from her position,” they wrote to state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and Administrative Judge Ellen Christo.

“This step is essential not only to hold accountable those whose judgments have led to preventable loss but also to restore confidence in our bail processes. We stand ready to support any necessary reforms to strengthen our system and prioritize victim safety.”

Kenney raised questions about the case when the Executive Council met in Coos County last week, and Stephen has been railing about Johnson since learning about her role in a previous bail fiasco.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know this magistrate’s not making appropriate decisions. And some are so outrageous, you have to question her ability to sit and judge on these cases going forward, and I want to make sure we do the best we can for our victims,” Stephen said on the NHJournal podcast Monday.

“I called on the court to immediately remove this magistrate from any of her duties. And we’ve got to be serious about bail, and we have to stop this nonsense,” Stephen added.

In late April, Johnson allowed Gleason out on $5,000 cash bail after his arrest on serious felony charges, including sexual assault, kidnapping, domestic violence, and theft. Gleason eventually posted bail and, on the morning of Sunday, July 6, made his way to La Casita Mexican restaurant in Berlin, where Fuentes Huaracha worked.

He shot her multiple times with a shotgun, then went into the bathroom and turned it on himself, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

This isn’t the first time Johnson’s been called out for allowing a violent criminal to get bail. In February, Johnson allowed Kyle Bisson, 26, to go free on no-cash bail after he was charged with stabbing a Manchester man between 9 and 13 times during an altercation on Elm Street. At the time, Bisson’s criminal record included a conviction for domestic violence. 

Stephen said he called for action against Johnson at the time. Now he says he won’t sit back and wait.

“I’m not trying to be vindictive. I just want to make sure we protect the public and safety,” Stephen said.

“I have asked the court — and I spoke to the administrative head of the courts — to please make sure this individual, at the minimum, is not hearing any more bail cases.”

State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald announced Monday he’s assigning Christo and Associate Supreme Court Justice Mellisa Countway to review the Gleason case and how Johnson handled it.

“The judicial branch will work with the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee to the extent the committee examines the circumstances in these cases,” according to a statement from MacDonald’s office.

Johnson was appointed in December to be one of New Hampshire’s first bail magistrates under yet another legislative change to the state’s beleaguered bail system. Gov. Chris Sununu first signed a bail reform bill into law in 2018, which was supposed to make it easier for non-violent offenders to get no-cash bail. Instead, many charged with violent crimes were getting out and committing new crimes due to the reform.

Last year’s legislative attempt to update the reform added magistrates like Johnson to the mix. The 2024 law required people charged with serious, violent crimes to get bail hearings before a judge or magistrate. The new bail magistrates solely set bail for people charged with serious crimes when judges were not available, like on weekends or holidays.

Johnson is a private practice attorney who has been a prosecutor for several years. She worked as an assistant attorney general for the New Hampshire Department of Justice and as a Rockingham Assistant County Attorney.

Stephen said he’s concerned by comments suggesting concerns about the costs of keeping suspects like Gleason in jail may have played some role in the magistrate’s ruling.

“The county is going to have to pay the expenses of (holding) an individual prisoner,” Stephen acknowledged.

“We shouldn’t be looking at cost in the equation of whether someone’s a risk to the public,” Stephen added. “If that’s happening, that’s wrong. And it’s got to stop.”

Gov. Kelly Ayotte pushed for a whole new bail system that keeps violent offenders in jail as soon as she was sworn in as governor this year. Her bail reform, which takes effect in January, does away with magistrates. She told the Executive Council last week that Huaracha might be alive if her reform had been in effect earlier this year.

“There’s a reason why one of the first priorities I had as governor was to make sure that we reversed some of the so-called reforms that were made that led to these unintended consequences that were very tragic,” Ayotte told the Council.

Stephen isn’t alone in singling out Johnson. Last week, Rep. Lori Korzen (R-Berlin) sent Johnson a letter demanding she resign from her post. 

“Our community deserves leaders who act with the utmost vigilance and responsibility, particularly in matters where lives are at stake,” Korzen wrote. “My deepest sympathies remain with the family of Marisol Fuentes and all those affected by this senseless act. I urge you to consider the impact of this decision and to take the necessary steps to help our community heal and move forward.”

Berlin Rep Wants Gleason’s Bail Magistrate to Resign 

When Michael Gleason Jr., 50, appeared before Bail Magistrate Stephanie Johnson in April on felony charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, domestic violence, and theft against his ex-wife, she let him out on $5,000 cash bail.

On Sunday, Gleason tracked down his ex, 25-year-old Marisol Fuentes, working at La Casita Mexican restaurant in Berlin, and gunned her down before turning the shotgun on himself.

Now, a state representative wants Johnson out.

Rep. Lori Korzen (R-Berlin) is calling on Johnson to resign from her post. On Thursday, she released a letter she sent to the magistrate urging her to step down.

“The bail system exists to balance the rights of the accused with the imperative of public safety. In this instance, I believe that balance was not achieved, and the result was a preventable tragedy,” Korzen wrote.

“Our community places its trust in the judiciary to exercise prudent judgment, especially in cases where there is a clear risk to individuals and public safety. When that trust is broken, the repercussions are felt far beyond the courtroom; they are measured in lives lost and families forever changed.”

The gruesome murder-suicide has hit the Berlin community hard. During Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting, which was held in Coos County, Councilor Joe Kenney spoke about the crime.

“People ask me how could this happen to a vivacious, young 25-year-old who had everything to live for and had in front of her, and it was all taken away because of a court system that basically give a limited bail amount to this estranged husband.”

Gov. Kelly Ayotte told the Council the incident was more proof the bail reform fix she championed was needed. Asked by NHJournal if she believes Johnson should resign, Ayotte pointed out, “The stronger bail law I championed eliminates the magistrates—and rightly so.”

Ayotte was more explicit in February when she criticized Johnson’s decision to release a stabbing suspect on personal recognizance. At the time, Ayotte used her budget speech to comment on the story and pitch for the new bail law.

“What happened in Manchester last Friday night is completely unbelievable, when an individual accused of repeatedly stabbing a complete stranger, and who has a prior conviction for domestic violence, is allowed to walk free by a magistrate. I cannot emphasize this enough,” Ayotte told the state legislators listening to her speech in the House chamber. “Send me legislation to fix this once and for all.”

Today, Korzen says Johnson needs to resign.

“Our community deserves leaders who act with the utmost vigilance and responsibility, particularly in matters where lives are at stake,” Korzen said. “My deepest sympathies remain with the family of Marisol Fuentes and all those affected by this senseless act. I urge you to consider the impact of this decision and to take the necessary steps to help our community heal and move forward.”

Ayotte-Backed Group II Retirement Fix Not Enough To Stop Class Action Lawsuit

One of Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s first signature budget wins — increasing the pension payments for firefighters, police officers, and corrections workers — isn’t enough to stop disgruntled state workers from suing.

William Woodbury, representing several state and municipal employees in the Group II retirement pool, said Ayotte’s recent reforms don’t fix the fundamental problem: The system should never have been changed in 2011, he said.

“This [lawsuit] is to show those reforms were unconstitutional, and none of the reforms since then have made these plaintiffs whole,” Woodbury said this week during a hearing in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord.

Police officers, firefighters, and corrections employees, who are all part of the Group II pool, have been fighting to restore their pension benefits since the legislature changed the plan in 2011. At the time, a serious fix was needed to keep the New Hampshire Retirement System from fiscal disaster. The 2011 legislative fix took away benefits from Group II employees who were hired before 2011, but had not yet been vested with 10 years of service before 2012.

The result, according to the lawsuit, is an unconstitutional, retroactive law that forces employees to work years past their 20-year retirement date in stressful and dangerous positions, and still see the retirement benefits they were promised before the 2011 change cut by tens of thousands of dollars. 

Since the reforms, critics of the move say New Hampshire has experienced a first responder staffing crisis. They claim the state’s pension system is often cited as a factor in candidates going somewhere else. According to WMUR in 2024, New Hampshire State Police are down more than 60 officers, Manchester Police are down 24, and Rochester is down 11. The New Hampshire Department of Corrections (DOC) had a 52 percent vacancy rate in its entry-level jobs. Under the 2011 changes, DOC staff had to work 25 years for full retirement instead of 20. 

Supporters of the changes say Americans simply don’t hold jobs as long as they used to, and employees are pulled away by higher pay and better work options today, not potential retirement payouts in the future.

Ayotte’s budget showdown with her fellow Republicans in the legislature was over their disagreement on the Group II pension issue. There are about 1,500 employees in the Group II plan retroactively impacted by the 2011 change, and Ayotte campaigned on a promise to make them whole. 

Drew Cline, president of the  Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, said Ayotte’s budget fight ended with a big win for her and the Group II employees. They didn’t get everything, but they came close, he said. New Hampshire’s pension system is underfunded, but in a much better position since the 2011 changes. Pushing benefits higher risks going back to unfunded mandates that ultimately burden taxpayers.

“We don’t want to go backwards,” Cline said.

The budget deal Ayotte got is appreciated, said Seifu Ragassa, President of the NH Group II Retirement Coalition, but it doesn’t completely close the gap.

“The NH Group II Retirement Coalition and its members are grateful to Gov. Ayotte and the legislators who supported her efforts to support our members and address the challenges faced by first responders over the past 14 years,” Ragassa said. “However, the fight to restore the benefits that were unjustly taken from first responders is far from over. We will continue to advocate until all benefits are fully restored—nothing more, nothing less.”

NH Supreme Court Rules Ed Funding Inadequate, But Won’t Order State to Pay

The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the legislature is underfunding education, but it won’t force the state to pay more.

The much-anticipated ruling in the ConVal education funding lawsuit finds the court backing an increase in the per-pupil adequacy grant to $7,300, while at the same time the justices refuse to force the state to pay up.

“I think the majority of the court had it right. The state underfunds adequacy, and that’s the core ruling in a very complicated decision,” Andru Volinsky, one of the lawyers involved in the original Claremont funding lawsuits, told NHJournal.

Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte criticized the decision, saying New Hampshire already spends more than enough on education.

“The court reached the wrong decision today. The fact is, New Hampshire is in the top 10 in the country when it comes to funding our children’s education,” Ayotte said. “We are evaluating the ruling to determine the appropriate next steps. In the meantime, I will continue working with the legislature to support our teachers and keep delivering a best-in-class education for every child in New Hampshire.”

The majority decision, authored by Associate Justice James Bassett, was accompanied by two dissenting opinions, reflecting the fact that the debate involves fundamental legal issues, such as the separation of powers within the state’s constitutional system. 

The ruling supports Superior Court Judge David Ruoff’s decision that state spending on local K-12 education must be increased by more than $550 million. Conversely, the justices also found that enforcing Ruoff’s decision by making the legislature actually pay that amount would violate the constitutional separation of powers.

Ruoff’s original decision established a proposed base minimum grant of $7,300, while also allowing the legislature to devise any other school funding system that met the constitutional obligations outlined in Claremont. Bassett wrote in the majority opinion that in so doing, Ruoff did not violate the separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary.

“Instead, [Ruoff] weighed separation of powers concerns along with the history of school funding litigation, the significance of the fundamental right to an adequate education, and the need for a judicial remedy, and determined that [he] should establish ‘a conservative minimum threshold’ that base adequate aid “must exceed”: $7,356.01. In crafting a conservative minimum threshold, [Ruoff] carefully avoided the usurpation of legislative or executive branch powers,” Bassett wrote.

ConVal was joined by Winchester, Mascenic Regional, Monadnock Regional, Fall Mountain, Claremont, Newport, Hillsboro-Deering, Grantham, Oyster River Cooperative, Manchester, Windham, Derry Cooperative, Hill, Mascoma Valley Regional, Nashua, Lebanon, and Hopkinton.

State Rep. Glenn Cordelli (R-Tuftonboro), Chair of the House Education Policy and Administration Committee, said the Supreme Court ruling does not mean the legislature will jump to hike school funding, despite the constitutional violation found by the justices.

“It was very interesting to see the split in justices on the issues of the amount of an adequate education and the immediate payment of the lower court amount,” Cordelli said. “It is also interesting that education funding was increased in the budget just passed, as well as the statement of principles regarding the separation of powers and the legislative versus judicial roles.”

The Supreme Court, though, found Ruoff did cross the line by ordering the legislature to immediately pay the difference. Basset wrote that courts can order the legislative or executive branches to make payments, but not in this case.

“Although we have rejected the proposition that the separation of powers doctrine categorically prohibits the judiciary from awarding injunctive relief like the immediate payment directive should the circumstances and the equities dictate, we conclude that, under the unique facts of this case, the trial court did not accord sufficient weight to separation of powers considerations in crafting the specific injunctive relief that it ordered,” Bassett wrote.

Which is why, rather than ordering the legislature to increase state spending, Bassett’s opinion “urges” them to do so.

“We urge the legislative and executive branches to act expeditiously to ensure that all the children in public schools in New Hampshire receive a State funded, constitutionally adequate education.”

The ConVal lawsuit, brought by the Contoocook Valley School District in Peterborough, argued that New Hampshire was underfunding education and thereby violating the state constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in the 1990s Claremont decisions, that New Hampshire students have the right to an adequate education.

After years of litigation, Ruoff determined that the state needs to spend at least $7,300 per pupil, up from $4,200, in order to come into compliance with the Claremont decisions. Cordelli echoed the complaints of many when he said Ruoff should not be making law by setting a base amount for the grants.

“It is amazing that one unelected judge can determine the cost of an adequate education to the penny. As if money determines if students will learn,” Cordelli said.

But Volinsky said the Supreme Court got it right by backing Ruoff, even if they won’t enforce his decision.

“I think there are things in this decision that make clear that the rule of law abides and that it is the Supreme Court’s responsibility to interpret the Constitution,” Volinsky said.

The Supreme Court was missing Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, who was recused, and Associate Justice Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi, who is on leave pending a criminal case. In their place, retired Superior Court Justice Gillian Abramson and former Superior Court Chief Justice Tina Nadeau sat in on the case.

Justices Patrick Donovan and Melissa Countway disagreed with Bassett in backing the $7,300 total, writing in their dissent that Ruoff had ignored the funding school districts receive in addition to the adequacy grants when calculating his number. Nadeau and Abramson wrote their own dissent, arguing that Ruoff does have the authority to enforce the payment. 

The real-world consequences of the ruling are difficult to predict, legal experts and legislators told NHJournal.

The state budget, passed last week, includes the statement that “The legislature now deems it necessary to definitively proclaim that, as the sole branch of government constitutionally competent to establish state policy and to raise and appropriate public funds to carry out such policy, the legislature shall make the final determination of what the state’s educational policies shall be and of the funding needed to carry out such policies.”

Cordelli said Tuesday’s ruling, if implemented, will lead to less local control of schools, pointing out that, with more state money comes more state influence in the classroom.

“I have been warning folks for a year that they should be careful what they wish for,” Cordelli said.

Addison Asks Supreme Court to Drop Death Penalty

New Hampshire’s sole death row inmate, Michael “Stix” Addison, is asking the state Supreme Court to lift his sentence for murdering Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs. 

Attorneys for Addison, 45, have been trying for years to avoid the pending execution. Last week, they filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking a review of Addison’s sentence in the wake of the 2019 law banning the death penalty. 

“With its legislative repeal of the death penalty on May 23, 2019, New Hampshire concluded that the death penalty is an excessive and disproportionate punishment for any crime or defendant,” the petition states. “This profound shift in community values against the death penalty provides ‘special and important reasons for’ this Court’s exercise of original jurisdiction to conduct renewed comparative proportionality review.”

The Supreme Court has twice weighed in on Addison’s fate since his 2008 conviction. In a 2013 ruling, the state’s highest court affirmed his capital murder conviction. In 2015, justices performed a sentence proportionality review and found his death penalty was “neither excessive nor disproportionate.”

However, both of those rulings came before the state passed a 2019 law eliminating the death penalty. That law included a carve-out to keep the death penalty in place for anyone already awaiting execution. Then, as now, Addison was the only person in the state on death row.

His legal team said the death penalty repeal law and exemption make his sentence unjust.

“New Hampshire’s super-majoritarian repeal of the death penalty has ensured that no one who is convicted of the same crime as Mr. Addison with a background like his will be sentenced to death. Even a defendant of far greater moral culpability than Mr. Addison will not be subject to execution. Accordingly, Mr. Addison’s sentence is now arbitrary, aberrational, and thus disproportionate, and it should be invalidated based on renewed comparative proportionality review,” the petition states. 

Addison’s lawyers argue that he is the victim of undue political influence. Gov. Kelly Ayotte pushed for Addison’s death penalty when she was attorney general, and she testified against the repeal of the bill in 2019 before the exception was added.

“If we repeal the death penalty, make no mistake, Michael Addison will not get the penalty for having murdered Officer Briggs,” Ayotte testified at the time. 

Addison’s lawyers argue politics should stay out of the question when it comes to Addison’s life.

“Such political accommodations or concerns cannot and should not impact this Court’s solemn duty to revisit proportionality review in light of the unquestionable expression of community standards that no person should ever again be subject to execution in New Hampshire,” the petition states.

Fallen Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.

Addison and his partner in crime, Antoine Bell-Rodgers, had pulled off three violent armed robberies in the days before Briggs was murdered. On Oct. 16, 2006, Briggs and fellow Manchester Police Officer John Breckenridge responded to a report of a fight at the home of Bell-Rodgers and Addison. 

The two men allegedly tried to leave when they saw the officers, but Briggs ordered the pair to stop. Bell-Rodgers did stop, but Addison kept walking away. Briggs again ordered him to stop. Addison turned around and shot Briggs in the head. Briggs hadn’t even unholstered his pistol.

Addison fled the state and was later caught in Dorchester, Mass.

Bell-Rodgers is currently serving 60 years to life for his role in the crime.

Three years before the murder, Briggs responded to a shooting scene in Manchester where Addison was the victim, providing first aid that may have saved his future killer’s life.

Ayotte Says Reform Is Coming to HRC as Emails Reveal No-Show Director Out For Months

New Hampshire’s embattled Human Rights Commission (HRC) is getting two new members and, according to Gov. Kelly Ayotte, their first priority is reforming the failing agency.

The Republican governor told reporters after Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting that it’s past time to get the HRC functioning after a damning audit by the Office of Legislative Budget Assistant earlier this year. The report found unresolved cases that were years, and in some cases, decades old. One pending case dates back to the Reagan administration.

The audit also found the understaffed office and its poorly trained investigators have been mismanaged by leadership for years.

“I’ve been quite clear that those audit findings are unacceptable, and where we are right now with the Human Rights Commission is completely unacceptable,” Ayotte told NHJournal.

The Executive Council confirmed business leader Ray Pinard to the commission on Wednesday, and Ayotte nominated Dr. Stewart Levenson to another seat. Under the law creating the agency, Human Rights Commission members are appointed by the governor, and they are responsible for overseeing the staff, including the position of executive director.

But that’s hard to do, critics say, when Executive Director Anhi Malachi has gone AWOL.

Malachi, who’s been the HRC’s director since 2018, has rarely been in the office since last summer. She reportedly suffered a heart attack and has been on medical leave through January of this year. However, after returning to work part-time for a couple of weeks, Malachi again took leave and continues to be out of the office and incommunicado.

Emails obtained by NHJournal through a Right to Know request indicate Malachi is still not communicating with the HRC staff, including current Interim Executive Director Katrina Taylor. Malachi’s lack of communication with her office dates back to the summer, based on the emails. 

After informing staff through an email on July 27, 2024, that she would be out for an extended period, no Malachi emails appeared until January of this year.

It’s not clear how much Malachi worked until she went out on leave again for medical reasons. It’s also unclear whether Malachi informed any staff about her second leave. Taylor, who has been running the agency through the LBA audit, did not find out until Commissioner Elizabeth Asch informed her on Feb. 4, according to the emails.

Malachi’s absence is even more puzzling — and perhaps ethically questionable — after the HRC staff found out last fall that Malachi had been chairing a volunteer board for the city of Concord the entire time.

“Staff brought to my attention the attached and expressed concerns (and disappointment) that it appears Anhi is semi-working in other capacities but is seemingly unwilling or unable to communicate (by way of simple check-in) with HRC,” Taylor wrote to Asch on Nov. 14.

The attached document was a copy of the Sept. 30 meeting minutes of Concord’s Diversity Equity Inclusion Justice and Belonging (DEIJB) Committee. They included a letter from Malachi explaining her temporary absence from the DEIJB, and her promise to continue working with the committee even as she was out of contact with the HRC, where she was paid to work.

Some Republicans say the HRC’s lack of action and the subsequent lack of negative outcomes prove that the entire agency should be shut down. Ayotte doesn’t agree. She’s trying to fix the agency within the current law. She’s keeping the HRC funded in her budget proposal, and she’s waiving hiring freezes to get three more investigators on the job addressing the caseload backlog.

Asked about the HRC’s performance and whether senior staff should be fired, Ayotte noted that the agency doesn’t answer to the governor or the Executive Council. She also hinted that firing would be her preferred solution.

“If (the executive director) were a governor and council appointment, and perhaps that’s a proposal that the legislature might consider as well, then we obviously would take a different tactic here,” Ayotte said.

Ayotte pointed to the appointment of Pinard as a sign that Granite Staters can expect vigorous action — and soon. Pinard is known for turning around businesses, and he has pledged to put in 500 hours of his time to get the HRC reform started. 

He offered to serve on the HRC following the release of the alarming LBA audit, and I applaud him for stepping up, offering to serve the State of New Hampshire, and willing to put in the time to overhaul the HRC, which he estimates will be 500 hours of his time. A self-described ‘change agent,’ he’s exactly what we need on the HRC right now,” said Executive Councilor Janet Stevens (R-District 3).

Reached Wednesday, Levenson said if confirmed, he wants to focus on building better policies and procedures that will serve the people of New Hampshire for years to come.

“It’s an important job, and unfortunately, I think there have been some issues in the past and that going forward we have to do better, and I think we can,” Levenson said.

Major Overhaul Coming to Fix NH Human Rights Commission Mess

After years of operating with little oversight and producing even fewer results, New Hampshire’s Human Rights Commission (NHHRC) is now set for a major overhaul. Critics say it’s long overdue.

A brutal report released in February found the agency has unresolved cases of alleged discrimination going back to the Reagan administration. Its performance is so poor that it takes on average more than two years to resolve a single case.

All the while, the agency, nominally led by Executive Director Ahni Malachi, shuffled key staff without any approval and provided annual reports that were years late.

Even with red flags about the commission’s operations, such as the years’ late reports, Executive Councilor Janet Stevens (R-District 3) told NHJournal she and the other councilors had no idea of the scope of the problem until the February performance audit released by the Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant.

For example, they were unaware that Malachi had simply stopped showing up for work, replacing herself with an “interim” director — all without oversight or scrutiny.

“The Council was not formally notified of the NHHRC Executive Director’s (Ahni Malachi) failure to fulfill the agency’s statutory responsibilities until the release of the Legislative Budget Assistant audit,” Stevens said.

The Human Rights Commission has rarely gone to the Executive Council in the time Stevens has been in her post. There was one software contract last year that needed Executive Council approval, and three appointments to the commission. The only other instances the Human Rights Commission interacted with the council is when it submitted its annual reports, sometimes a year or more late.

The LBA audit found pending cases that were years, and in some cases decades, old. The understaffed office included poorly trained investigators being mismanaged by leadership for years.

“We found the Commission did not perform necessary management control responsibilities such as developing a strategic plan; defining objectives; developing performance measures; identifying, analyzing, and responding to operational risks; and resolving prior audit findings. As a result, there was an increased risk the Commission would not achieve its objectives,” the audit stated.

Under the law that created the Human Rights Commission, the governor nominates the commissioners and the commission chair to oversee the agency, and those nominations are voted on by the Executive Council. It is the commission itself, made up of volunteers, that hires the executive director.

The Executive Council was never kept in the loop when Malachi left her post last summer due to a health problem and Investigator Katrina Taylor was made Interim Executive Director. Since Malachi and Taylor are both hired employees and not appointed, the Executive Council has no direct oversight of their jobs. That is left to the Human Rights Commission and its chair.

In January, weeks before the LBA audit was released, Human Rights Commission Chair Christian Kim resigned his post. The resignation occurred during the transition between outgoing Gov. Chris Sununu’s administration and incoming Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s. Both Ayotte and Sununu were informed of the resignation. Kim did not respond to NHJournal’s requests for comment. The commission currently does not have a permanent chair. 

Republican Ayotte announced her intention to fix the Human Rights Commission and get it serving the people of New Hampshire. 

“The long-term issues at the Human Rights Commission are unacceptable. My office is working with the attorney general to ensure the Commission is efficient and effective in investigating discrimination claims,” Ayotte said.

Ayotte wants to see more direct oversight of the Executive Director position by the Governor’s Office and Executive Council. Stevens said that is the right direction.

“Given the critical nature of these executive branch leadership positions, (Executive) Council oversight would ensure proper management and adherence to statutory obligations from the outset,” Stevens said.

The Human Rights Commission is administratively attached to the Department of Justice, and not an integrated part of the DOJ or Attorney General’s Office, under the law that created the commission. Attorney General John Formella said his office is working with commission staff to address the audit findings. 

“Right now, we are doing a lot of work to help them through this audit, the results of the audit, and to start developing plans to address the audit,” Formella told the Executive Council last week.

Stevens wants to see a remediation plan put into place that includes frequent and transparent reports about the commission’s progress in fixing the problems. 

“I remain committed to ensuring accountability and corrective action within the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission,” Stevens said.