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Former Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave earned at least seven years in prison for the multitude of lies he spun out to cover up his thefts and affairs, prosecutors say.

“The truthfulness of law enforcement officers, and the sanctity of their oath to tell the truth in official matters, is central to the concept of ordered liberty in the State of New Hampshire,” Assistant Attorney General Joe Fincham and Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Monday.

Brave, New Hampshire’s first elected Black sheriff and a former rising star in the state Democratic Party, torched his career when he was caught stealing taxpayer money to fund multiple extramarital affairs. Brave was given multiple opportunities to show remorse and tell the truth, prosecutors say, but he chose his own path.

“Instead, during the investigation into the defendant’s conduct, the defendant publicly and repeatedly accused the State and other local government officials of conspiring to pervert justice and persecute the defendant without any factual or legal basis – motivated, the defendant claimed, by base political vendettas and racial biases,” Lovejoy and Fincham wrote.

“Throughout the investigation and prosecution, and in an effort to conceal his charged crimes and other frauds he perpetrated upon this Honorable Court, the defendant chose to repeatedly lie to the State, chose to repeatedly lie to the Strafford County Grand Jury, and chose to repeatedly lie to this Honorable Court – all in an effort to avoid and pervert the system of justice that he was sworn to uphold.”

Brave is scheduled to be sentenced this month in Strafford Superior Court on two felony counts of perjury, the only charges in his plea agreement yet to be resolved. Brave pleaded guilty in February to the perjury counts as well as charges of theft by deception, and falsifying physical evidence. 

The plea deal allows Brave to get suspended sentences for the theft and falsifying evidence convictions, but the perjury Brave committed during his testimony before a Grand Jury in 2023 is a different matter. Lovejoy and Fincham argue Brave knew what he was doing when he swore to tell the truth during that testimony.

“The defendant then spent approximately one hour and 45 minutes lying about virtually every aspect of his repeated thefts – sometimes repeating old lies, sometimes telling new ones, and sometimes attempting to reconcile differing lies. A complete accounting of all of the defendant’s material lies to the Grand Jury would be monumental. The aggregated lies in the five perjury indictments in this case provide just a sampling of the contempt for the truth, for the sanctity of the defendant’s oath, and for the authority and solemnity of the Strafford County Grand Jury that so permeated the defendant’s testimony,” they wrote.

Monday’s sentencing memorandum will likely inspire a response from Brave and his attorney, Leif Becker, ahead of the sentencing hearing. The state wants Brave to get 3.5 to 7 years in prison on each perjury conviction, and wants those sentences to run consecutively, not concurrently.

According to Lovejoy and Fincham, Brave is beyond hope of rehabilitation and needs prison to punish his lies, to restore public trust in law enforcement, and to discourage other public officials from following his example.

“The sentence in this case must aid to repair the damage done by the defendant’s crimes to the public perception of the integrity of the criminal justice system and government institutions generally, including assuring the public that law enforcement officials (and other individuals) are sufficiently deterred from undermining the integrity of proceedings by committing Perjury,” the prosecutors wrote.

There were at least three women Brave was romancing with taxpayer funds, according to court records. Monday’s filing makes clear his lies and fraud extended to his paramours. One woman, Kenisha Epp Schmidt, gave Brave $2,300 so he could help her buy a used car. But that deal followed the typical Brave playbook for money and relationships.

“She had given the defendant $2,300.00 to help with purchasing a new car because she trusted him at the time, but the defendant never delivered the car and always had excuses for why there was no car and why he could not give her the money back. Ultimately, Schmidt had to file a police report with the Dover Police Department concerning the defendant’s actions,” Fincham and Lovejoy wrote. 

Democrat Jonah Wheeler stood alone before a capacity crowd in the Peterborough Town Hall as critics, leaders in his own party, and even some childhood friends railed against the 22-year-old state representative’s vote for legislation deemed “transphobic” by progressive activists.

Wheeler (D-Peterborough) was unapologetic during Tuesday night’s question and answer session sponsored by the Peterborough League of Women Voters as he explained why he broke with his party and voted for HB 148. The bill protects the right of local institutions to keep biological males out of women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.

“Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are,” Wheeler said. “We can respect trans women, and we can respect the rights of women who object to having trans women in their spaces.”

“You can do whatever you feel like, but your rights end when the rights of another begin. Government is about the balance of rights,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler explained that some biological women had approached him asking that he protect their spaces. “What was I supposed to do — ignore these women?” Several people in the crowd said, “Yes! Yes!”

“For some of you, the answer is ‘yes.’ For me, it’s ‘no.’ I’m not going to ignore these women,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said he’s been getting angry calls, emails, text messages, and even death threats since he voted for the bill. The overflowing meeting room in the Peterborough Town Library was packed with people angry with Wheeler, as well as many supporters thankful for his heterodox vote.

New Hampshire Democrats have repeatedly and publicly accused Wheeler, who is Black, of supporting “Jim Crow” policies by supporting women’s-only spaces.

At one point, the League of Women Voters’ video stream of the event was hijacked, replaced with graphic images of sex, along with a racial slur. The stream had to be shut down.

HB 148 does not impose a blanket ban on transgender people, but allows local institutions and local sports authorities to set their own policies they deem appropriate. Wheeler refuses to consider the women who spoke to him in favor of the bill as somehow bigoted or transphobic.

“I voted the way I did because I did represent my constituents,” Wheeler said.

As attendees vented their anger at Wheeler, he maintained his composure throughout. When an attendee shouted, “How do you sleep?” Wheeler responded, “I sleep just fine, having done my research and having voted on the bill as it was written.”

Wheeler is one of two Democratic representatives to vote for HB 148, and both are from Peterborough. Rep. Peter Leishman was not at Tuesday night’s event, leaving Wheeler to face the angry throng alone.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, the lone Democrat on the council, stood up to condemn Wheeler’s vote, saying the bill is part of the “racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic” Project 2025 movement pushed by Republican President Donald Trump.

“I’m very sad to think New Hampshire is rolling back civil rights protections for Granite Staters,” Liot Hill said.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D) denounces Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) at an event at the Peterborough Town Library.

Dan Grosz, with the Peterborough Democratic Executive Committee, read a statement on behalf of the party condemning Wheeler and Leishman’s vote. 

“We must express our deep concern and disapproval over your recent voting records,” Grosz

read. “While we respect your right to vote your conscience, our conscience compels us to publicly voice our opposition to your actions.”

Wheeler noted neither Grosz nor anyone else from the local party had reached out to speak to him about his vote before issuing the condemnation. Instead, Democrats turned out to call him a “fascist” and “useful idiot” at Tuesday’s event.

“The moral line of the party that’s been drawn by the Democratic Party is why this party has atrophied so much in the last 25 years,” Wheeler said.

The party in New Hampshire is dominated by affluent, White progressives who have little tolerance for differing views, Wheeler said.

“There’s so much fervor on the left that if you bring up one counter opinion from the orthodoxy, then you’re shouted down, screamed down. People don’t respond well to that,” Wheeler said.

Things got personal for Wheeler as childhood friends stood up to condemn him for his vote.

“You stabbed me in the back,” said Jane, a transgender woman who grew up with Wheeler.

Even Wheeler’s former grade school teacher, Mary Goldthwaite, tried to put him in a time out.

“I proudly voted for you, and I am ashamed of what you have done out in the world,” Goldthwaite said.

After the event, Wheeler told NHJournal the problem with the New Hampshire Democratic Party isn’t having representatives who vote their own way. It’s that the party leadership that is adrift and ineffective.

“The state party is failing,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler also decried the Democratic Party’s reliance on corporate donors.

“Look at the donors of the Democratic Party nationally. Look at the donors of the Democratic Party statewide. Why is Ray Buckley still our state chairman? We’re living with a corrupt party,” Wheeler said.

Jamie Reed, a former Missouri pediatric gender clinic case worker turned whistleblower who identifies herself as a “lifelong Democrat” was at Tuesday’s event. She said the way Wheeler was treated by the League of Women Voters and the moderator “shows they are not a nonpartisan organization. They had an agenda from the start.”

She also recounted a conversation she had with Dan Grosz, during which she pointed out that the vast majority of Granite Staters support Wheeler, not the extreme position his party is pushing.

“Are you familiar with events in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s?” Grosz responded.

Asked about his comparison to Nazi Germany, Grosz said, “The pattern of autocratic movements is to first pick on the weak and marginal parts of society and normalize discrimination against them first.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Mr. Grosz’s name and add his responses.

Facing criminal charges for stealing political signs he didn’t like, Stratham Democrat Committee Chair Jonathan Caldwell claims Democrats have special rights over political sign real estate.

But that did stop police from arresting and charging Caldwell, 72, and Stratham Democrat Committee Secretary Heidi Hanson, 53, with Class B misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property. The charges were brought after Caldwell was caught on video stealing a political sign from state-owned public land in Stratham, and Hanson got caught with another sign that had an electronic tracker attached.

“Since 2018, our town committee has been granted explicit permission by the Stratham Circle property owners to place signs of Democratic candidates during election season,” Caldwell said in a statement issued by the Stratham Democratic Committee.

But the lot in question is the state-owned section of the Stratham traffic circle where political signs are allowed. Caldwell got caught in November removing a sign Republican Peter Lessels had put up in the circle. 

“This is what should be,” Lessels told Seacoastonline. “If you’re going to be involved in politics, play by the rules. And I believe that for both sides. If Republicans take signs, the same thing should happen.”

Lessels first placed a sign on the traffic circle close to signs for Democratic candidates. Lessels’ sign alerted people to the fact that all of the candidates “Supports men in women’s sports.”

“They do support that. That’s just a fact,” Lessels told NHJournal in November.

After that sign was stolen, Lessels placed another and spotted Caldwell taking it a few hours after it was placed. Lessels confronted Caldwell about taking the sign. In an interaction caught on video, Caldwell said the owners of a nearby antiques store wanted the sign removed. 

In his “official statement” following the arrest, Caldwell again claimed the property abutters had asked him to remove the offending sign.

After telling Caldwell he was breaking the law, Lessels followed Caldwell’s car and called police. Caldwell was soon pulled over and the sign found in the trunk of his car.

A third sign Lessels put up was also stolen, but this time he had placed a tracker on this sign. Lessels contacted police, again, who reportedly quickly found the stolen sign at Hanson’s home, with the tracker still attached.

Both Caldwell and Hanson are due to be formally arraigned in March. If convicted, they do not face any jail time for the misdemeanors. The maximum possible penalty is a $1,200 fine. 

Former Portsmouth attorney and one-time congressional hopeful Justin Nadeau is now indicted on 15 felony counts related to his alleged scheme to steal close to $300,000 from a mentally impaired client. 

He’s just the latest New Hampshire Democrat to find himself in legal peril.

A grand jury convened in Rockingham County handed up 11 indictments for falsifying physical evidence, two indictments for financial exploitation of an impaired adult, and one count each for theft by deception and forgery. 

The charges stem from information that came out during Nadeau’s ethics case before the state Professional Conduct Committee. Nadeau was ultimately disbarred after he was allegedly caught falsifying evidence during the PCC investigation.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau went before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him close to $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Before his fall from grace, Nadeau had political ambitions and ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2004 against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R). 

Nadeau isn’t the only Seacoast Democrat in the dock. Former Stafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is facing trial for theft of county funds to pay for his affairs. The Democrat hoping to replace him, former North Hampton police chief Kathryn Mone, is facing questions about her handling of a wrongful arrest case during her last job, a case that cost North Hampton $150,000.

While Nadeau is at the beginning of his criminal prosecution, the legal struggles of former state Senate Democratic leader Jeff Woodburn of Coos County are coming to an end. Woodburn is expected to be sent to jail at his sentence imposition hearing on Wednesday in Grafton County. Woodburn was convicted of criminal mischief after he was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend in a domestic abuse case.

And then there are former state Reps. Andrew Bouldin and Stacie Laughton. A former Manchester representative, Bouldin changed his name to Andrew Kennedy and was seeking another term in the House in Lee, N.H. But he dropped out after NHJournal reported on an investigation into allegations of “grooming” — plying a teen with alcohol and making sexually suggestive comments, according to a police report.

Laughton is behind bars awaiting trial on a federal charge of sexual exploitation of children, and aiding and abetting. Laugton is a biological male who identifies as a female and allegedly committed the crimes with his girlfriend, who worked at a Massachusetts day care.

Nadeau is due in Rockingham County Superior Court on Oct. 23 for his arraignment.

Looking to retake the Strafford County Sheriff’s Office after Mark Brave’s notorious exit, Seacoast Democrats are backing a former North Hampton police chief who left her job following a controversial  — and expensive — wrongful arrest case.

Kathryn Mone’s time leading North Hampton’s department resulted in the town paying $150,000 to resident Colleen Loud, according to a settlement agreement obtained by NHJournal. 

North Hampton police took Loud out of her house in handcuffs, brought her to jail, and searched her home without a warrant for the alleged crime of drinking beer while watching baseball in her own living room. According to an independent investigation into the incident, Mone initially praised the arrest of a lone woman drinking in her own home.

Loud’s settlement is not surprising given statements made about Mone’s leadership during the subsequent investigation.

“[Mone] would rather get sued for taking action than not,” a police officer told investigators with Municipal Resources Inc. (MRI).

Loud was arrested in October 2022 after police sought to speak to her as a potential auto accident witness. The Granite Drive resident agreed last August to waive any legal claims against the town in exchange for a $150,000 payment, made through the town’s insurance carrier, according to the settlement agreement.

Mone quit her job in North Hampton on March 31, 2023, with no explanation, months after Loud’s arrest. She’s been working as a sheriff’s deputy in York County, Maine, since then.

Loud’s arrest occurred when two North Hampton officers responded to an auto accident at her home. Loud was watching television when a car crashed into a bush on her property, according to the MRI report. Loud told the officers she did not see or hear the crash.

But one officer started wondering about Loud’s condition, according to the MRI report. While Officer Matthew McCue did not notice anything unusual about Loud, Sgt. Asa Johnson told McCue he smelled alcohol and thought she might have been drinking.

“[McCue] said he did not observe any sign of impairment at that point. He explained that [Loud] seemed steady on her feet and he could not observe any odor [of alcohol] at that time,” MRI’s report states. 

Johnson, who was the lead officer, wanted to investigate further.

“Does she need to be p.c.’d?” Johnson reportedly asked McCue. (P.C. is short for a protective custody arrest.)

Officers returned to Loud’s home to further question her and noticed the unclean condition of the home. Loud later told officers she had not cleaned in 10 years, according to the police report. (Having a dirty home is not a crime in New Hampshire.)

Asked if she had been drinking, Loud said she stopped off after work and drank a few beers before coming home to watch baseball. She said she might have had some hard lemonade at home. She was reluctant to submit to a Breathalyzer test in her own home, but she was given an ultimatum from Johnson, according to the report.

The test registered a blood alcohol percentage (BAC) of .086 percent. While that is above the .08 percent legal limit for driving, New Hampshire doesn’t have a legal limit for alcohol consumption while in your own home watching a baseball game, or any other televised sporting activity.

Based on the BAC test, however, Johnson took Loud into custody.

Loud was handcuffed, placed into the back of a cruiser, and transported to the Rockingham County House of Corrections. After the arrest — and without a warrant —  the officers entered and searched Loud’s home, taking photos of the alleged mess.

According to McCue, Johnson said if the test showed she was not capable of driving, they would take her into custody. McCue conceded to MRI investigators that Johnson’s reasoning did not make sense.

Johnson told investigators Mone initially praised his decision to make an arrest. Days later, however, she told him she disagreed with some of the things he did but said she could not discuss it.

Mone told MRI she did not agree with the officers’ actions.

“Jail would not have been what I wanted, and there could have been and should have been a better resolution than that,” she said. 

Mone also said the officers were wrong to enter Loud’s home and take photos. She told investigators she had questions about the officers’ judgment. But she didn’t pursue additional training for them after the arrest. 

Asked what the officers should have done instead, Mone — who is currently running to oversee the Strafford County Sheriff’s Department — told investigators, “I don’t have an answer for that.”

Mone is running to fill the vacancy left by fellow Democrat Brave. The former sheriff is facing up to 60 years in prison if convicted on charges of theft and perjury. Brave allegedly used $19,000 in taxpayer money to fund his love life, including airfare and hotel rooms for out-of-state liaisons. 

Last week, prosecutors signaled they could be looking to add charges against Brave. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office filed a motion seeking documents on Brave’s original bail order and the court appointment of a public defender based on his allegedly bogus financial disclosure.

Prosecutors allege Brave lied about his finances in order to qualify for a free defense attorney. The documents now being sought could be used for a grand jury presentation to justify new criminal charges for allegedly misleading the court.

Brave’s case is not likely to go to trial until next year, barring a plea agreement. Brave has already rejected one plea offer, as well as a mediated plea settlement. Prosecutors said last week negotiations are ongoing.

Interim Strafford County Sheriff Joseph McGivern has been leading the agency since Brave’s arrest last year. He is not seeking election due to the age restrictions. Mone will face Republican Scott Tingle in November.

A Democratic lawyer who once had dreams of elected office is facing prison time for allegedly stealing money from a disabled client and then doctoring evidence.

He’s the second New Hampshire Democrat to be hit with news of potential jail time in the past 24 hours.

Police arrested Justin P. Nadeau Wednesday on charges of theft by deception, forgery, multiple counts of falsifying physical evidence, and financial exploitation of an elderly, disabled, or impaired adult.

The charges stem from information that came out during Nadeau’s ethics case before the state Professional Conduct Committee. Nadeau was ultimately disbarred after he was allegedly caught falsifying evidence during the PCC investigation.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau went before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him close to $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Nadeau allegedly told Fahey that until the defamation lawsuit was resolved he was “strapped for cash.”

It was a tough 24 hours for New Hampshire Democrats.

Portsmouth’s Nadeau was the Democratic nominee in New Hampshire’s First Congressional District in 2004, losing to incumbent Republican Jeb Bradley by nearly 30 points. 

Nadeau’s defamation lawsuit against the Portsmouth police arose from an arrest of Portsmouth man Christian Jennings. Jennings was allegedly found with quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy, amphetamines, a loaded gun, and $42,000 in cash. According to police, Nadeau was handling an $85,000 marina investment for Jennings before the arrest, though the marina deal never closed. Nadeau brought the lawsuit when police opened an investigation into whether or not he was laundering drug money. The defamation case was settled in 2019.

Nadeau also allegedly hid the $165,000 he collected after he sent Fahey to a Massachusetts attorney to handle her injury case, according to the PCC investigation. Nadeau reportedly collected referral fees from the Massachusetts attorney as well as other money related to Fahey’s case.

Nadeau slow-walked producing documents related to the case for the PCC. The Democrat even destroyed his computer before the hearing, according to court records. Nadeau claims he made all the appropriate conflict of interest disclosures and eventually produced printed copies of the letter he claimed he sent her.

However, James Berriman, the computer expert hired by the PCC, looked through Nadeau’s office server and found the dates on the documents Nadeau gave to the committee were fake, and the documents were created well after he took the money from Fahey.

“As a member of the PCC observed at oral argument before the PCC, ‘the Berriman Report and the spoliation of evidence, in my mind . . . is one of the most significant violations I have seen in decades of practice before the ADO before joining this committee,’” a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling states.

Nadeau appealed his disbarment, but the Supreme Court ruled in April that he crossed too many lines to be let back into court, at least not as an attorney.

Nadeau is due in Rockingham County Circuit Court in Portsmouth for an arraignment on Sept. 9.

Disgraced Democrat Jeff Woodburn is heading to jail after the New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected the appeal of his criminal mischief convictions.

The court released its decision Tuesday ruling against Woodburn’s quest for a new trial on those convictions, leaving the former state senator to serve the two 30-day sentences connected to the domestic violence case that ended his career.

“Today, the New Hampshire Supreme Court denied Jeffrey Woodburn’s motion for a new trial, leaving in place his sentence of 30 days of incarceration for his prior convictions,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement. “After a lengthy and challenging legal process, this decision is consistent with our steadfast commitment to justice and our ongoing support for victims of domestic violence. We remain dedicated to upholding the law and advocating for those affected by such crimes.”

Woodburn is still free for now and his attorney, Mark Sisti, is still fighting. Sisti told NHJournal he plans to oppose any state motion to impose the sentence.

“We will be stridently objecting to any incarceration,” Sisti said.

All of the charges stemming from Woodburn’s alleged assaultive conduct against the woman were either dismisses by the state, or a jury, Sisti said. A 30-day jail sentence for criminal mischief is out of proportion to the crime, Sisti noted, especially considering Woodburn has been free on bail for five years without incident.

Woodburn isn’t the only former Democratic state legislator facing jail time. Former Nashua state Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton, 39, of Nashua, N.H., is facing federal charges of sexual exploitation of children and aiding and abetting, and state charges of child pornography. Laughton was elected three times as a Nashua Democrat, always with the endorsement of the state Democratic Party.

The legal drama surrounding Woodburn’s case has been dragging out since 2018, when the former Senate Minority Leader was first arrested for allegedly abusing his then girlfriend. He was convicted on counts of domestic violence, simple assault, and criminal mischief after his first trial in 2021, but a later Supreme Court ruling overturned the domestic violence and simple assault charges, sending them back for a second trial.

That second trial ended with a hung jury earlier this year, and Formella opted to drop the case rather than go for a third trial. All the time, Woodburn has been trying to avoid jail and get the criminal mischief counts overturned.

Woodburn wanted a new trial on the two convictions, claiming his prior defense attorney did not provide effective counsel during the 2021 trial. According to Woodburn’s appeal, his first lawyer should have severed the charges and had the criminal mischief counts before a separate jury. Having all of the counts at one trial resulted in the jury being biased against him, according to the appeal.

But the justices ruled Woodburn failed to show his original lawyer performed in a substandard way that would trigger overturning the convictions. The justices also found that the 2021 jury found Woodburn not guilty on several counts, and therefore he could not show a particular bias. 

“The strength of the evidence related to the criminal mischief charges, in combination with the jury’s multiple not guilty findings as to other related charges, indicate that it was the direct evidence of the underlying conduct, rather than any extraneous relationship information that may have been rendered admissible due to the joinder of multiple charges, that prompted the jury’s guilty findings on the criminal mischief charges,” the justices wrote. 

Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said Tuesday’s decision shows Woodburn cannot escape the convictions.

“This is a small measure of accountability for an offender who tried to avoid it at all costs. No one should think they are above the law,” Grady Sexton said. 

Woodburn lost political support almost immediately after he was charged in 2018, with Democratic Party leaders calling on him to step aside. Instead, Woodburn ran and won a primary to retain his seat in the Senate. He then lost the general election to a political unknown. Woodburn has been out of politics since.

Court records show Woodburn was planning a run for governor before he was arrested, and that he was grooming the woman to a “first lady.”

The state’s brief filed in the appeal paints a picture of Woodburn as a controlling man with a drinking problem who made his new girlfriend fear for her safety months before he was charged in 2018. According to the brief, the woman, 17 years his junior, worked as the Democratic Party chair for Coos County and helped get Woodburn elected. He started pursuing a romantic relationship with her in 2015 as his marriage was falling apart, according to the filing.

Soon after they got engaged in 2017, the state says, Woodburn began publicizing their relationship to help his political career.

“[Woodburn] posted pictures on social media and told the victim that this was ‘very important to him,’ because dating her would help him with his career,” the filing states. “Although he liked the way that the victim could ‘approach a stranger with a Bernie sticker,’ he also told her that she should ‘behave like a first lady.’ He told her that she was not to criticize  him, ‘especially in public, because he hoped to be governor.’”

In 2002, the first Harry Potter movie hit the big screen, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen was making her first (unsuccessful) bid for U.S. Senate, and Nelly was singing it is “Hot in Herre.”

And the per-pupil school revenue for a New Hampshire public school student was $14,184.

Twenty years later in 2022, that number was $22, 738 — an increase of 60.3 percent and the third-biggest jump in inflation-adjusted revenue per student in the country. Only Illinois (61 percent) and  New York (81.4 percent) rose more.

And yet, despite the explosion in spending, New Hampshire Democrats at the state and local level say taxpayers need to pay even more.

In Nashua, the school board has approved a new $131,061,021 budget, a 4.49 percent increase over the prior year’s operating budget, on top of record spending.

In Concord, residents will see a 2.9 percent education tax increase thanks to the $107.9 million school budget. That total is 1.58 percent higher than Concord’s previous school budget — once again, already a per pupil record.

Manchester is also considering a record $227.9 million school budget. Mayor Jay Ruias calls the school total a compromise figure, and part of his overall effort to get the school and city budgets under control after years of former Mayor Joyce Craig’s leadership. 

At the state level, both former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington support even more tax dollars for public schools. Craig is running on a pledge to “boost the state’s investment in public education.” And Warmington wants to shut down Education Freedom Accounts entirely and add that funding to public schools.

Neither Craig nor Warmington responded to a request for comment about soaring school spending, or the fact that it coincides with standardized test scores that are flat or falling.

The reason for New Hampshire’s high rank in per pupil spending is its decline in enrollment.

“Since 2002, student enrollment numbers in the Granite State have dropped from 207,684 to 165,095, which represents a decrease of 42,589 public school students, or about a 20.5 percent decline during the past 21 years,” the state Department of Education reported last year. The state’s public schools lost another 2,262 students (1.4 percent of enrollment) in 2022 alone.

Drew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, says nobody should be surprised by these numbers.

All that spending for public school students comes as the state faces a potentially expensive court case on education funding. The ConVal decision, currently appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, almost doubles the state’s portion of per pupil spending.

The ConVal decision increases the state’s adequacy aid grant $4,100 per student to at least $7,300. If the decision stands, it would represent a minimum $500 million annual tax increase.

Both Craig and Warmington have been endorsed in prior political campaigns by the state’s two teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Educators Association. The union presidents, AFT’s Deb Howes and the NEA’s Megan Tuttle, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Warmington, Craig, and the unions, are all staunch opponents of New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts, the school choice program that allows families to opt out of the public school system.

“We don’t take taxpayer dollars to subsidize private schools,” Warmington told WMUR last year. 

Both of Warmington’s children attended the elite Tilton School for secondary education, an independent boarding and preparatory school in New Hampshire. Tilton charges $38,500 for day school and nearly $67,000 for boarding school.

Craig said earlier this year if elected governor, her first budget would see an increase in spending for public schools.

“We need to fund public education in this state,” Craig said. “Right now, we are not.”

Former rising Democratic Party star Mark Brave once thought he could play the race card and beat the rap over his alleged mishandling of taxpayer funds.

After he was arrested, the former Strafford County sheriff appeared to believe he could leverage a sweetheart deal by rejecting plea bargains from prosecutors.

Instead, after delaying the case for months, Brave may now face even more criminal charges if he decides to face a jury.

Brave is currently facing up to 64 years in prison on Stratford County charges for allegedly stealing taxpayer money to pay for his extramarital affairs and then repeatedly lying about it to a grand jury.

Assistant New Hampshire Attorney General Joe Fincham told Rockingham Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman in a June 12 motion he plans to seek more indictments against Brave if the case does go to trial as scheduled on Aug. 5. 

Brave, who made history when he was elected New Hampshire’s first Black sheriff, could get another record in the books by becoming the state’s first elected sheriff to go to prison. He was a progressive favorite who ran a pro-Black Lives Matter campaign to reform law enforcement before he was caught stealing money to pay for multiple out-of-state liaisons with many different women who were not his wife, according to court records.

These possible new indictments would likely cover Brave’s alleged misdeeds as sheriff in Strafford County and his lies to Rockingham County court officials after he was charged. According to Fincham, Brave knew he could be charged with more by turning down a deal and going to trial.

“During prior hearings in this matter, the state informed the court and counsel for the defendant that in the event a plea agreement was not reached in this matter, the state would consider superseding the Strafford County indictments currently pending in this matter, as well as potentially seeking additional indictments in Rockingham County for conduct that has occurred during the litigation of the Strafford County indictments,” Fincham wrote. 

While he was being investigated last year, Brave accused members of the Strafford County Commission of targeting him because they were racist. All three members of the commission are elected Democrats.

Once he was indicted, Brave’s case was moved to Rockingham County to avoid a conflict of interest. It’s in Rockingham County where Brave is accused of lying to court officials about his income and his place of residence. 

Brave was assigned a free public defense attorney last year when he claimed he was essentially broke following his divorce. However, it came to light Brave was, in fact, flush with cash after the sale of his marital home in Dover. He had enough money to buy a 1968 Porsche and pay a year’s lease on an apartment in Massachusetts, according to court records.

On top of hiding the money from the court, Brave also violated an order from Schulman to live in New Hampshire pending trial. Brave got around that order by telling the court he was living in a Dover apartment while he was really living in Massachusetts. 

When Brave’s lies were discovered, Fincham threatened to charge him with theft for receiving his New Hampshire sheriff’s salary while living out of state and revoke his personal recognizance bail. According to Fincham, Brave is required to live in New Hampshire as an elected official. Brave had been collecting his salary while out on paid administrative leave.

Brave got out of that jam by resigning his position in December in exchange for not going to jail right away.

Brave turned down a plea agreement offered by prosecutors earlier this year, and refused to sign on to a mediated plea agreement reached last month. That forced Schulman to schedule a trial for the first week of August.

Fincham’s motion seeks to hold the trial schedule since there’s still a chance the case can be resolved with a negotiated plea. According to Fincham, talks between prosecutors and Brave’s attorney are ongoing.

If those talks fail and the case goes to trial, Fincham said the new indictments he plans to seek could come weeks before the jury is selected, giving little time for either side to file any necessary motions on the charges.

Fincham notes he will also need more time than Schulman has scheduled to call the numerous out-of-state witnesses he has planned. 

The Rockingham County venue for the trial is another issue that needs to be resolved before trial, according to Fincham. Brave has the constitutional right to have the trial on the original charges held in Strafford County. So far, there’s been no court finding that Brave cannot have a fair trial in Strafford County, and Brave has not formally asked to change the venue from his home county, Fincham wrote.

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled this week that Granite State courts have seen enough of Portsmouth attorney Justin Nadeau, disbarring him after he was caught doctoring evidence in his ethics case before the Professional Conduct Committee.

“It’s difficult for me to imagine something worse for a lawyer to do,” one PCC member said, according to the court records.

Nadeau, once a Democratic candidate in the First Congressional District, was brought before the PCC after he allegedly got a client who was impaired by a traumatic brain injury, Exeter woman Shawn Fahey, to give him $300,000 in loans in 2018. Nadeau allegedly secured the loans with a condo he did not own, tax liens, and the anticipated proceeds from a pending defamation lawsuit he had against the Portsmouth Police Department.

Nadeau allegedly told Fahey until the defamation lawsuit was resolved he was “strapped for cash.”

The lawsuit against Portsmouth’s police stems from an arrest of Portsmouth man Christian Jennings. Jennings was allegedly found with quantities of marijuana, Ecstasy, amphetamines, a loaded gun, and $42,000 in cash. According to police, Nadeau was handling an $85,000 marina investment for Jennings before the arrest, though the marina deal never closed. Nadeau brought the lawsuit when police opened an investigation into whether or not he was laundering drug money. The defamation case was settled in 2019.

Nadeau also allegedly hid the $165,000 he collected after he sent Fahey to a Massachusetts attorney to handle her injury case. Nadeau reportedly collected referral fees from the Massachusetts attorney as well as other money related to Fahey’s case.

According to the Supreme Court’s disbarment order released Tuesday, Nadeau slow-walked producing documents related to the case to the PCC. The Democrat even destroyed his computer before the hearing. Nadeau claims he made all the appropriate conflict of interest disclosures and eventually produced printed copies of the letter he claimed he sent her.

However, James Berriman, the computer expert hired by the PCC, looked through Nadeau’s office server and found the dates on the documents Nadeau gave to the committee were fake, and the documents were created well after he took the money from Fahey.

“As a member of the PCC observed at oral argument before the PCC, ‘the Berriman Report and the spoliation of evidence, in my mind . . . is one of the most significant violations I have seen in decades of practice before the ADO before joining this committee,’” the court ruling states.

Nadeau argued that disbarment is too harsh a penalty, but the Court found that his “deliberate, multi-year effort to deceive the disciplinary authority” and the ethics complaints involved in Fahey’s case make un-lawyering him appropriate.

Nadeau’s father, J.P. Nadeau, agreed to resign from the New Hampshire Bar Association in 2009 after he was investigated for a conflict of interest for representing a construction company involved in a dispute with Justin Nadeau.

Nadeau once had hopes of higher office, running an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against then-Congressman Jeb Bradley (R). Nadeau’s campaign was spearheaded by Steve Marchand, Portsmouth’s former mayor who ,himself went on to unsuccessful runs for higher office. In recent years, Marchand has been warned by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for skirting campaign laws.