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ROUNDUP: New MacDonald Revelations Deepen Constitutional Crisis Under Ayotte
New reporting from IndepthNH details damning evidence that Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald “may have misled circuit and superior court judges about his position on a new judicial performance review law.” This is the latest development in the ethics scandal that has unraveled under Kelly Ayotte and has consumed airwaves in New Hampshire.
The scandal has brought some court proceedings to a screeching halt, yet Ayotte has “declined to rule out the possibility of nominating” a replacement before the November elections. Ayotte was one of MacDonald’s most outspoken supporters for his Chief Justice nomination – saying he would “never let personal views influence him” and that he “possesses great intellect and integrity.”
Read the latest on the constitutional crisis that has the New Hampshire Supreme Court in disarray:
IndepthNH: JCC Records: Circuit Court Judge Filed Two Complaints Against MacDonald Unrelated To Martin Scandal
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Before he resigned as chief justice, Gordon MacDonald may have misled circuit and superior court judges about his position on a new judicial performance review law proposed unsuccessfully this year by the legislature over the objections of many of the state’s judges.
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Senior Circuit Court Judge Susan Carbon filed two complaints against MacDonald May 19 that suggest he made conflicting statements on his position on House Bill 1130 which would have revamped the individual judge evaluation process to include peer review and written statements from people who appeared before the judge be part of the public record, according to newly released Judicial Conduct Committee records.
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MacDonald and the other four Supreme Court justices attended a circuit and superior court training session March 20 where MacDonald was asked if the court was taking a position on the bill and he answered in the negative, yet less than a month later former chief justice and now state Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing he had reviewed the bill with the chief justice and he supported it.
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She noted the circuit court was vehemently opposed to the bill, according to a motion filed by MacDonald’s attorney Jane Young.
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Carbon also questions if the other four judges may also be at risk and alludes to an individual “who may have been paid to lobby behind the backs of the circuit court judges to support the JPE bill which the circuit bench vehemently opposes.”
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Concord lobbyist Periklis Karoutas was hired by the Judicial Branch under a no-bid contract paying $10,000 per month after NHPR’s Todd Bookman’s story detailing the internal court maneuverings to remove Dianne Martin from the court administrator position and then days later hiring her as chief counsel for Bar Admissions, while she received a $50,000 payout for her earned time.
NHPR: NH Supreme Court delays argument in case after attorney raises ethics concerns
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The New Hampshire Supreme Court returned from its summer recess on Tuesday with a slate of oral arguments.
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That calendar was tweaked, though, after a defense attorney with a case before the court filed a last-minute motion asking if any of the justices may be tied up in an ongoing ethics probe.
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The delay is the latest fallout from a months-long inquiry into the highest levels of the state judicial system.
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Sisti’s appeal comes in the wake of former Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald’s decision last week to resign, as he faced an ethics probe related to a personnel maneuver and payout involving a top aide.
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The state Judicial Conduct Committee has said it is concerned about the accuracy of a public statement the court released last October about that payout.
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While the Judicial Conduct Committee pursued a disciplinary case against MacDonald, it has not publicly confirmed if it is reviewing the other justices for their role in the payout to Martin, or the court’s public statement on the matter.
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