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A Jamaican national living in New Hampshire has been charged with illegally voting in three elections, and he’s offering a novel legal defense.

U.S. immigration law, he claims, is unconstitutional.

Naseef Fernando Bryan, 34, was arrested Tuesday and charged with three Class B felony counts of wrongful voting. Each charge carries a potential sentence of 3½ to 7 years in prison. According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, Bryan voted illegally in the 2023 Manchester municipal election, the January 2024 presidential primary, and the November 2024 general election.

Shortly after his arrest was announced, Bryan took to social media to outline his legal theory.

“The U.S. Constitution did not say establish a uniform Immigration and nationality Act, let’s be honest,” Bryan wrote on Twitter/X.

Despite being a lawful permanent resident for more than 12 years, Bryan is not a U.S. citizen and therefore not eligible to vote in federal or state elections.

Bryan describes himself online as an “AMERICA FIRST Traditionalist.” (Emphasis original) His legal activity reflects a similar defiance of federal authority. Within the past year, he has filed multiple lawsuits against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claiming the agency unlawfully delayed his naturalization application. In those suits, he sought a declaration of citizenship, a U.S. passport, and a sum of gold coins. None of the cases were successful.

A frequent litigant, Bryan has filed lawsuits in both state and federal courts against a variety of entities, including the Merrimack Police Department, the University of New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office. His court filings are often unconventional and rarely succeed.

Bryan sued the Merrimack Police over a 2019 arrest in which he was charged with brandishing a firearm during a road rage incident. A Hillsborough County grand jury declined to indict him, and his civil suit was later dismissed because it was filed five years after the incident—well beyond the three-year statute of limitations.

He also filed suit against UNH after the school rejected his transfer application, arguing that New Hampshire’s in-state tuition policy created a constitutional right for him to attend. That case, too, was dismissed.

“Bryan points to no other state policy or law that guarantees him a place at UNH,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Talesha Saint-Marc in her recommendation to dismiss the case.

In yet another suit, Bryan named the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office as a defendant, though the court noted his complaint lacked any specific allegations.

“Mr. Bryan’s complaint contains no factual allegations regarding any actions taken against him by the State of New Hampshire or its Secretary of State,” U.S. District Judge Andrea Johnstone wrote. “He asks this court to issue a writ of mandamus to compel the defendants to perform some unnamed actions that would correct a situation where he is ‘unable to perform basic functions that humans need.’”

Bryan was not held in custody following his arrest and is currently free pending further court proceedings.

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.

Prosecutors did not hide evidence by failing to ask New Hampshire Lottery Executive Director Charles McIntyre about calling Concord Casino owner Andy Sanborn a “lying sack of trash.”

Sanborn faces criminal charges for allegedly filing false financial information in order to get COVID relief money. He’s also fighting the state in court over the forced sale of his casino. His lawyers wanted to depose McIntyre, as well as Director of Taxpayer Services Lisa Crowley, claiming the state failed to pursue questions that could clear Sanborn during their separate interviews with investigators.  

Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger recently ruled that Sanborn’s defense lawyers are free to ask their own questions during witness testimony at trial, but they don’t have the right to get either McInTyre or Crowley to sit for sworn depositions. McIntyre expressed a personal animus toward Sanborn during his interview with investigators, which defense lawyers claim demonstrates a potentially disqualifying bias.

But Kissinger wrote in his order that Sanborn likely already knows if McIntyre does not like him as a person, and prosecutors are not responsible for plumbing the depths of their relationship.

“To the extent, for example, that the defendants seek to explore Mr. McIntyre’s alleged animus toward Mr. Sanborn, the Court finds that whatever animus exists is known to Mr. Sanborn and may be properly addressed in cross-examination,” Kissinger wrote.

Prosecutors have already had their knuckles rapped by Kissinger after he found they violated attorney-client privilege when executing a search warrant last year. 

“The Court finds that the NHAG exhibited gross negligence at several points throughout its execution of the warrant and subsequent taint review of the seized material that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct,” Kissinger wrote in January.

Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy and forensic accountant Don Swanson were both kicked off the case by Kissinger as a result.

McIntyre’s January 2024 interview with members of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office included numerous anecdotes about Sanborn’s behavior and truthfulness. In one answer, McIntyre told investigators the Lottery Commission had long dealt with Sanborn’s non-compliance when it came to following audit and cash management regulations. For his part, Sanborn blamed the Lottery Commission for holding back his business, McIntyre said.

“I mean, certainly first the cash management, and then the expansion, where he basically lied to us and said: ‘Oh, you’re the last thing holding us up.’ And then I find out he didn’t get approval for his fire sprinkler system yet. It’s like: ‘You lying sack of trash.’ Like (sigh). Yeah, so, correct. It was, it was a constant catching up with him,” McIntyre said in the transcript.

McIntyre painted Sanborn as a difficult person who tried to bully his way through licensing procedures and audits with the Lottery Commission. He was constantly trying to get around the process by essentially calling ‘the manager,’ McIntyre said, including McIntyre’s own cell phone.

“I made the mistake of giving it to him, and I regretted it from that moment until I stopped answering his phone calls,” McIntyre said.

Sanborn even tried to use supposed political allies like House Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) and former Gov. Chris Sununu to weigh in on his behalf, to no avail, McIntyre said.

“It was, like: ‘Oh, we’re going to bring the speaker in, you’re going to get yelled at.’ And the Speaker never said anything, he never said ‘You need to do this, you need to do this.’ (Packard) never once did. And Sununu, the same way. I don’t, like I said, I don’t want to waive a privilege, but he never asked me for any — to do anything for them,” McIntyre told the investigators.

Sanborn is a former Republican state senator whose career highlights include a failed bid for the GOP nomination in the First Congressional District in 2018. While a state senator for Bedford, Sanborn was investigated for alleged sexual harassment of a Senate intern in 2013, though he maintains it was a misunderstanding about a crude joke.

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.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi continues to push for a dismissal of the criminal charges against her, saying there’s no evidence she did anything illegal.

Merrimack Superior Court Judge Martin Honigberg is considering her motion to dismiss after Monday’s hearing in Concord. Hantz-Marconi is facing felony charges for allegedly trying to pressure former Gov. Chris Sununu and Pease Development Authority Chair Steve Duprey into dropping the criminal investigation of her husband, Geno Marconi, the former state ports director.

Hantz-Marconi’s lawyer, Richard Guerrero, told Honigberg that witness interviews recorded by prosecutors demonstrate no crime was committed.

“Our position is that even Supreme Court justices have a right to speak to public officials about matters of public concern and about matters of private concern, and we don’t think that these indictments, any of them, state a crime,” he said.

But Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham argued a jury ought to decide if a crime was committed based on Hantz-Marconi’s intent, not just the words she allegedly spoke to Sununu and Duprey.

“So that is the ultimate issue, frankly, in this trial: what was her intent? Was it a benign protected First Amendment intent, or was it a corrupt criminal intent?” Fincham said.

If Hantz-Marconi was intent on pressuring Sununu to drop the investigation, the key prosecution witness seems to have not noticed. According to the transcripts filed with Hantz-Marconi’s motion to dismiss, Sununu told investigators she never tried to get him to interfere in the Geno Marconi criminal investigation.

“No, there was no ask, there was nothing ‘Governor, I wish you could do this,’ or there was nothing like that. She was expressing frustration. Clearly not asking me to do anything,” Sununu told investigators. “I, I didn’t get the sense that, I didn’t get the sense that anything was illegal about the conversation.”

Hantz-Marconi met with Sununu on June 6, 2024, in his office, along with Rudy Ogden, Sununu’s then legal counsel. At the time, Hantz-Marconi was recusing herself from sitting in on Supreme Court cases involving the New Hampshire Department of Justice due to the investigation into her husband.

Geno Marconi was placed on leave from his job in April, and a criminal investigation took off. By October, Geno Marconi was indicted for allegedly giving another person the private driver’s record of an individual known as N.L., and for destroying evidence.

Hantz Marconi was indicted the same week for her alleged attempt to pressure Sununu and Duprey into dropping the investigation. The charges are based on a phone call Hantz-Marconi made to Duprey and the June 6 conversation with Sununu. Ogden told investigators that Hantz-Marconi never asked Sununu to get involved in her husband’s investigation.

“[T] hat’s why I say in terms of her not asking for anything, it – it never was, it never went more than saying this needs to end quickly…Like it was never it needs to end quickly and geez, if you talk to them you should tell them that, or this needs to end quickly and I think you can do that. It was never anything like that,” Ogden told investigators.

Duprey told investigators he spoke with Hantz-Marconi as a friend, and listened as she expressed her frustrations with the ongoing criminal investigation.

“I think she was very appropriate in not trying to cross the line,” Duprey said.

Duprey and the PDA had placed Geno Marconi on paid leave in April after being told of the investigation by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. That disclosure occurred in April at the Department of Justice in a meeting attended by Sununu.

Facing criminal charges, Geno Marconi recently submitted paperwork to retire from his state job. He’s also a defendant, along with the PDA, in a new lawsuit brought by owners of the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound. The lobster shack owners claim Marconi used his position as ports director to hurt their business in order to help friends and family with competing businesses.

Geno Marconi’s sister owns the nearby Geno’s Chowder & Sandwich Shop, a restaurant started by their parents.

A Superior Court judge slammed the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for prosecutorial misconduct in the Andy Sanborn criminal case, saying its mishandling of privileged communications seized through a warrant amounts to “gross negligence.”

Attorney General Formella’s office, on the other hand, says it’s a “simple mistake.”

“The Court finds that the NHAG exhibited gross negligence at several points throughout its execution of the warrant and subsequent taint review of the seized material that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct,” Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger wrote in an order released Wednesday.

Though Kissinger is not dismissing the charges against Sanborn as defense lawyers asked, the judge is disqualifying Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy from the case and suppressing any evidence Lovejoy improperly viewed. Kissinger is also booting forensic accountant Don Swanson from the case as he also improperly viewed privileged material.

The documents in question include a confidential memo written by Sanborn’s defense lawyers analyzing the legal issues in the case. Financial documents improperly viewed by prosecutors reportedly lay out core defense strategies, according to Kissinger’s order.   

Michael Garrity, spokesman for the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, called Wednesday’s ruling a win since Kissinger did not dismiss the charges or order the state to pay attorney’s fees in the matter, as Sanborn’s team wanted. The fault for the prosecutorial misconduct rests with the software vendor the state used to handle documents, according to Garrity’s statement.

“What actually occurred was a simple mistake, which the New Hampshire DOJ deeply regrets. When the New Hampshire DOJ hired a third-party vendor to duplicate a database of seized materials, the contractor inadvertently included privileged documents. As soon as the NH DOJ became aware of the error, our prosecutors raised the issue in court and informed Mr. Sanborn’s lawyers and the Court, including the fact that one of our prosecutors and a forensic accountant inadvertently had contact with privileged documents.

“As a result, that prosecutor and the forensic accountant will no longer be involved in the case. This was not intentional misconduct, but a single, unintentional mistake that was promptly addressed,” Garrity said.

Zachary Hafer, Sanborn’s attorney, declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.

Sanborn is charged with theft by deception for allegedly filing a fraudulent application for state COVID relief money, taking more than $140,000 he was not entitled to for his Concord Casino. Sanborn’s Win Win Win LLC is also charged with theft by deception for the same alleged crime.

According to Kissinger’s order, parts of which are redacted, prosecutors failed from the start to take appropriate steps when they seized documents during the investigation. When investigators obtained a warrant to seize business documents from Sanborn, they did not tell the judge signing the warrant about the potential for attorney-client records being included, Kissinger found.

The exact date the warrant was issued, as well as the location it was executed, is redacted from the public order. Kissinger does state that both Andy Sanborn and his wife, Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) were present when investigators seized the records.

Instead of having a taint team ready when the warrant was executed, the prosecutorial case team, led by Assistant Attorney General Dan Jiminez, did nothing to protect Sanborn’s rights until his lawyers complained, Kissinger found. The investigators even recorded the fact they were taking a desktop computer that displayed documents on the home screen marked “Zach,” or “Zach Hafer,” according to Kissinger.

Attorney-client communications are protected by law and, generally, cannot be disclosed without the permission of the client. The privilege is in place to safeguard the right to a fair trial. 

In cases where sensitive material, such as attorney-client communications, are potentially part of evidence in a criminal investigation, a taint team is used. Those teams are a separate group of lawyers called in to review all the material to separate out anything that legally ought not be seen or used by investigators and prosecutors.

The state did not act to protect the privileged documents until Sanborn’s lawyers contacted Jimenez on May 24. All investigators were then told not to view any of the documents, and then the taint team was assembled.

But Kissinger faults Jimenez for setting ground rules for the taint team’s disclosure decisions without consulting either a judge or Sanborn’s attorneys about what should be considered privileged before it was released. The taint team finished its work on July 9 and subsequently made the documents available through Everlaw, a legal document software program. 

First, on July 12, David Portal, Senior Infrastructure Technologist for the Attorney General’s Office, went through a document folder in Everlaw marked “clean” and deleted the privileged documents, according to the order. 

Sanborn’s lawyers filed their lawsuit over the privileged documents on July 30, under seal. After a review in August, Sanborn’s lawyers told the court there was a large volume of privileged material in the “clean folder.” On Sept. 19, Portal learned that the investigating case team prosecuting Sanborn made a copy of the “clean” folder before he deleted privileged documents on July 12, Kissinger states.

The dispute over the documents may explain why Sanborn has not been charged over allegations he committed federal COVID fraud.

Much of the privileged material prosecutors took deals with Sanborn’s defense against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. The commission first accused Sanborn of improperly obtaining more than $840,000 in federal COVID funds and spending it on sports cars and paying himself rent. Before Kissinger made an order in the documents lawsuit, Sanborn was arrested for state-level fraud allegations.

Sanborn continues to fight over his now revoked casino license, claiming the state interfered with his efforts to sell his business. Sanborn was ordered to sell last year after an administrative law judge sided with the Lottery Commission. One of his appeals in the revocation fight is headed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. 

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.”

At Wedensday’s public hearing on the proposed sale of Catholic Medical Center to HCA Healthcare, speaker after speaker made one fact clear: CMC needs help, and it can’t continue serving the community without it.

“CMC is in a very weak financial position,” said independent consultant Tyler Brannen. He was brought in by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to analyze the proposed deal.

“It’s been operating at a loss for years. They can’t continue to operate at these losses indefinitely.”

Mary Ann Dempsey, Director of Public Trusts at the New Hampshire Department of Justice.

The state’s Director of Charitable Trusts, Mary Ann Dempsey, opened the public hearing and represented the state Department of Justice.

“Our review of the transaction will take into consideration expert analysis such Mr. Brannen, as well as input from the two parties, from community stakeholders, and from the public,” Dempsey pledged before an audience of some 300 people at Manchester Memorial High School.

One attendee was retiring state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro (D-Manchester). He told NHJournal moving ahead with the sale is the right thing to do.

“We need CMC, we need a vibrant CMC. We need a financially secure CMC. This is one way to make it happen. And I think that’s very, very significant,” D’Allesandro said. “All the services that have been provided must continue to be provided, there can’t be any deviation, we need that commitment.

“But this is a deal that’s got to happen.”

A non-profit controlled by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, CMC loses millions of dollars a year operating one of Manchester’s only two hospitals. CMC leaders have been looking for a fix for years without success, according to Tim Riley, chair of CMC’s board of trustees. A proposed merger with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system fell apart in 2022 after years of work on the deal.

“That left CMC in a vulnerable position,” Riley said.

Tennessee-based HCA, a for-profit company that operates 180 hospitals throughout the U.S., including three in New Hampshire, says it’s ready to step in. Dr. William Lunn, president of HCA’s Capital Division, said the deal to join would end up with a stronger CMC, buoyed by investment and resources from the parent company.

Several speakers noted the proceeds from the sale would go to a charitable foundation controlled by the Diocese to further CMC’s charitable goals. Riley and Lunn said HCA will also respect CMC’s Catholic identity, and the hospital will still adhere to Catholic ethical standards for medical care.

“First and foremost, we required a partner that would maintain and embrace our Catholic identity,” Riley said. “This means following the ethical and religious directives for Catholic healthcare. It was important that our Catholic identity was not suddenly tolerated but fully embraced.

“HCA is a partner who is committed to our Catholic legacy and identity,” Riley added.

Critics of HCA say they fear the company will put its profit margins over public service. They point to the company’s takeover of Frisbie Memorial Hospital, where HCA shut down the labor and delivery department after promising to keep it open. 

And while the sale makes sense out of necessity, Brannen said there are likely going to be cost increases for patients and a possible loss of local control. Added to those concerns is the strength of the language in the contract when it comes to charitable care.

HCA is also the target of a lawsuit brought by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein accusing the company of failing to provide the care it promised when it bought the Mission Health System. Lunn said many problems at the Mission hospital have been corrected, and noted that Stein filed the lawsuit while he was seeking election to become North Carolina’s next governor. 

Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais spoke at the public meeting, praising HCA’s commitment to investing in the west

Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais.

side of his city beyond just the hospital itself.

“I’m thrilled to hear about the investment that you’re making, not only to the infrastructure in the hospital, but the infrastructure that you’re looking to create within our community as well. And I know that you would want the city to be a partner in that process,” Ruais said.

Alex Walker, CMC’s CEO, announced Wednesday that Dartmouth-Hitchcock will no longer provide labor and delivery at CMC. He also addressed concerns that the deal might push the hospital out of the business.

“We deliver about 1,000 babies a year. We have been delivering babies at Catholic Medical Center for the last 50 years. We’ve been delivering babies in the city of Manchester for the last 130 years,” Walker said. “So you need to hear from me on behalf of our Board of Trustees and the bishop: Labor and delivery services are a vital part of Catholic Medical Center. It is, in a lot of ways, our essence and what we’re all about.”

The public hearing is part of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office review process for the proposed sale. Mary Ann Dempsey, Director of Charitable Trusts, will continue to accept public comments about the proposed sale until Nov. 1. Those comments can be emailed to charitabletrustsunit@doj.nh.gov. 

New Hampshire Ports Director Geno Marconi is formally facing criminal charges a day after his wife, Associate Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, was indicted for interfering in her husband’s criminal investigation.

A grand jury indicted Marconi on two class B felonies – Tampering with Witnesses and Informants and Falsifying Physical Evidence. He’s also charged with four class A misdemeanors – two counts of Driver Privacy Act Violations and two counts of Obstructing Government Administration.

Also charged on Thursday: Bradley Cook, chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council and a longtime fishing boat captain. Cook was indicted on one class B felony charge for Perjury as well as two counts of class A misdemeanor False Swearing.

Marconi illegally provided Cook with the confidential driving records of another person, known in the indictments as N.L., according to the indictments. Marconi is also alleged to have deleted a voice mail in order to hinder any investigation, the indictments state. Cook is accused of lying to the grand jury when questioned about N.L.’s driving records.

The purpose of the alleged lying and leaking of confidential records by two public officials is not yet clear. Cook spoke to the press before he was called to testify before the grand jury in September. Cook blamed the whole drama on Gov. Chris Sununu and a development plan for Rye Harbor that both Cook and Marconi opposed.

“I would say all of this is because Geno would not bend a knee to Chris Sununu, wouldn’t do what the governor wanted, and instead supports what is right and fair for other people,” Cook told InDepthNH.

Cook did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Marconi’s attorneys also did not respond.

Granite State political circles have been buzzing about the Marconis since Geno was placed on leave from his Ports job in April without explanation. That was followed by the stunning news that Justice Hantz Marconi was put on 90-day administrative leave in July, also without an explanation.

It now appears punitive action was taken after she allegedly approached Sununu in a private meeting. Hantz Marconi had been recusing herself from Supreme Court cases involving the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for months. The Supreme Court issued a new order Thursday extending Hantz Marconi’s leave indefinitely as she deals with the criminal charges. 

Hantz Marconi, 68, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017 after being nominated by Sununu. She is close to the mandatory retirement age of 70 for New Hampshire judges. Her term ends in February 2026.

Cook and Marconi both opposed the Pease Development Authority’s (PDA) $1 million plan to develop a raised platform at Rye Harbor for retail shops and restaurants. Though it had backing from the PDA and Sununu, the plan was amid local opposition shelved in August.

Cook and Marconi are due in Rockingham Superior Court on Nov. 27 for arraignment. Hantz Marconi is due for her arraignment in Merrimack Superior Court on Nov. 21. She’s accused of trying to pressure Sununu to drop the investigation, and she is alleged to have sought private information from PDA Chair Steve Duprey. 

Republicans who spoke to NHJournal on background are split on the matter. Many are friends of Justice Hantz Marconi and find it hard to believe she would intentionally break the law, even on behalf of her husband. Others complain that, once she knew the situation she was in, she should have resigned and allowed another justice to be appointed. And there is widespread criticism of how Formella is handling Justice Hantz Marconi’s part in the scandal.

“If he has enough to charge her, then he should have enough to get her to resign and avoid this mess,” one Republican activist told NHJournal.

Another Republican with close ties to Pease said the information blackout is a problem.

“It’s the biggest mystery out there. Somebody should let us know what the hell is going on. This has been going on forever.”

This isn’t the first time in recent memory a New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice has been in trouble. In 2000, Associate Justice Stephen Thayer’s divorce wound up before the state Supreme Court, forcing two of his fellow members to recuse themselves. That resulted in Chief Justice David Brock appointing two different judges to a panel overseeing the Thayer divorce. 

In the mess that ensued, Thayer was forced to resign to avoid criminal charges and Brock was impeached. He was acquitted in the Senate.