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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.

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.