‘Anti-government’ House reps in battle with commissioners

Nowhere have so-called “liberty” Republicans gained a tighter grip on power than in Belknap County, where their zeal for lowering taxes and shrinking government has sown dissension and turmoil that has put the quality of the county’s operations and the stability of its finances at risk.

“These politicians seek the power to take over and control the operations of the county,” said Brian Gallagher of Sanbornton, a conservative Republican who served as a member of the House, and thus as a member of the Belknap County delegation, from 2015 to 2017. “They are anti-government with no vision of the future and indifferent to the needs of the various departments of Belknap County — its residents, taxpayers and voters.”

County government authority in New Hampshire is shared by the county commission, composed of three commissioners elected by the voters, and the county convention, consisting of the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives elected in the county. The commission manages day-to-day operations and finances of county departments and prepares and recommends the annual county budget. The convention reviews the proposed budget then appropriates the funds to support county operations.

In Belknap County, this partnership has soured and splintered over the past decade. The collaborative relationship anticipated by statute has turned antagonistic as the convention, driven by the political agenda of its members, has encroached on the administrative duties of the commission.

The rift opened in 2014 when the convention filed suit to challenge the commission’s authority to transfer funds between department budgets in the course of managing their operations. The Belknap County Superior Court ruled that all transfers of more than $300 required the approval of the convention’s executive committee.

The ruling extended the authority of the convention from appropriating funds to overseeing management of county departments, positioning itself to apply its political will to the administration of county services and operations.

That political will was immeasurably strengthened by the 2020 election, when Republicans won all of the county’s 18 House seats. All 18 members of the convention, 10 of them freshman lawmakers, are closely aligned with the liberty faction of the GOP, which dominates the party’s caucus in the House.

Fifteen of the 18 earned the highest grades awarded by the NH Liberty Alliance for their voting records during the last legislative session while the other three fell just one mark short. And 13 received “A” scores from Americans for Prosperity NH, a political action committee that endorsed and funded their candidacies.

The chair of the delegation, Rep. Michael Sylvia of Belmont, and vice chairman, Rep. Ray Howard of Alton, were among a half-dozen lawmakers who called for the dissolution of state government and impeachment of Governor Chris Sununu a year ago. This year, the two are among seven sponsors of legislation calling for New Hampshire to secede from the United States.

‘Investigation’ of commission

Weeks after the November election, the newly elected convention reopened the long-running dispute with the commission over the transfer of funds.

On Dec. 14, 2020, lawmakers voted to form an “investigative committee” of five members, chaired by Rep. Norm Silber of Gilford, and appropriate $5,000 for an “investigator.” When the commission countered by retaining legal counsel, saying county employees would only appear if subpoenaed and proposing an independent audit of the county finances, both sides withdrew to their corners.

When the investigative committee finally met in July 2021, Silber invited a motion to retain legal counsel to provide advice and subpoena witnesses. He was challenged by Rep. Tim Lang of Sanbornton, who pressed him to describe the scope of the investigation. Apart from the question of transferring funds, Silber said, “There may be other issues that come up,” adding, “it’s not going to be a free-wheeling, no-holds-barred, looking-at-every department issue. But there are other issues.” When a motion to engage a law firm failed to find a second, Silber abruptly adjourned the meeting.

Sylvia began righting the ship a week later. The dissenting members of the committee were purged and its number shrunk to three — Silber and Reps. Barbara Comtois of Barnstead and Travis O’Hara of Belmont. When the convention met in August, Sylvia recounted the transgressions of the commission during the past five years, which he likened to “corruption” and “racketeering,” warning, “If we don’t find the cause, the problem will only get worse.”

Again, Lang balked, calling the investigation a “fishing expedition” and a waste of time and money. “Are you making an argument to support corrupt government?” Sylvia asked.

By a 13-3 vote, the convention confirmed the reformed membership of the committee, appropriated an initial budget of $5,000 and authorized the committee to investigate “excess spending” in the nursing home and “any such other matters that may come before the committee.”

Soon afterwards Silber announced the committee would not confine itself to the issue of transferring funds, “but rather would examine county operations with respect to the level of existing stewardship and problem areas.” The investigation, he said, would reach to six county departments — the Commission, Administration, Finance Department, Nursing Home, Sheriff’s Department and Corrections Department.

The investigation has stalled because the Commissioners, who according to statute must expressly authorize the expenditure of county funds, have withheld payment of the Convention’s appropriation to retain legal counsel. State law prescribes that the county must pay reasonable expenses for investigations, but only when approved by the Superior Court.

Clash with Gunstock commissioners

Meanwhile, leadership of the convention moved to bring the Gunstock Area Commission (GAC), which manages the Gunstock Mountain Resort, to heel. Owned by the county, Gunstock is a financially independent and self-sustaining enterprise managed by the GAC in accordance with an enabling statute enacted by the Legislature in 1959.

The GAC’s five members include Gallagher, Rusty McLear, the Meredith developer, and the chair, Gary Kiedaisch, whose three decades in the outdoor recreation industry include a spell as president and CEO of Stowe Mountain Resort. Silber filled two recent vacancies with political allies: Peter Ness and Jade Wood.

Silber added the GAC to the portfolio of the investigative committee. And while he sometimes speaks of leasing the resort to a private operator, at the same time he has introduced legislation (House Bill 1078) that would turn Gunstock into a county department, under the authority of the convention, which would control its annual budget.

By August, tension between the convention and GAC erupted in open conflict, turning on Ness’s role as a commissioner.

An attorney and entrepreneur from Belmont, Ness served as a ski instructor at Gunstock in the 2019-20 season but was not hired for the following season in light of his performance review, which was marked by disruptive relationships with fellow employees and senior management.

Moreover, Ness developed a software package to support ski instruction, which he pressed the management team and his fellow commissioners to purchase for use at Gunstock. He was advised such a transaction was contrary to state law and the Gunstock enabling statute, both of which prohibit commissioners from having any financial interest, direct or indirect, in the resort or its operation.

When asked by the GAC to sign the code of ethics required of all commissioners, he refused, insisting the GAC had no authority to enact such a code.

The commission engaged attorney Tom Quarles of Devine Millimet to provide an opinion on the legality and propriety of Ness’s conduct. On Aug. 25, Quarles reported, “There is sufficient evidence of general misconduct and grounds for removal from the commission.” With Ness absent, a motion expressing no confidence in Ness, asking him to resign and asking the convention to remove him, carried unanimously.

When Ness refused to resign, the GAC called on the convention to remove him.

In October, Silber told Commissioners Gallagher and Kiedaisch as well as Peter Spanos, chair of the county commission, that he controlled enough votes in the convention to ensure the attempt to remove Ness was “dead on arrival.” He also signaled that Gallagher would not be reappointed when his term expired in November, which would ensure the convention control of the GAC. Silber explained that he was simply acknowledging “political realities.”

When the GAC’s request to remove Ness was put to the convention, it was summarily rejected by an 11-5 vote, without weighing either the allegations brought against Ness or his response to them.

Silber contended that, since Gunstock had not actually purchased Ness’s software package, his conduct was neither illegal nor improper. Although dubbed a “public hearing,” Sylvia refused to allow any of the Gunstock commissioners or members of the public to speak. After Howard, vice chair of the convention, revealed he told Ness to donate the software and bill Gunstock when his term as commissioner expires, Sylvia called for the vote.

‘A foregone conclusion’?

On Nov. 6, Sylvia circulated a memo to the convention, saying the question before it is “if the actions by Commissioners Kiedaisch, Gallagher and McLear rise to the level of removal for cause.” Silber remarked that “cause” is “whatever the delegation deems it to be.”

Sylvia said the commissioners’ conduct “raises grave concerns and possible questions of criminal activity” and referred to bribery, improper influence and official oppression. He added that once the three were removed he intended to make an emergency appointment to ensure the GAC of a quorum to conduct business and fill the two remaining seats at a later date.

Anticipating what McLear called “a foregone conclusion,” the GAC instructed its attorney to seek an injunction forestalling the convention from removing any commissioners. At the same time, the GAC rallied public support. Citizens for Gunstock mounted a petition drive on Nov. 12 that drew more than 2,200 signatures and placed a full-page ad in The Laconia Daily Sun the day before the meeting.

In reaction, Sylvia dropped the item to purge the GAC from the agenda. And the day before the meeting, Judge James O’Neill of Belknap County Superior Court denied the GAC’s request for an injunction, but scheduled a Dec. 23 hearing.

When the convention met, a crowd, including many longtime patrons of Gunstock, filled the conference room and spilled into the corridor. Again, neither the commissioners nor members of the public were permitted to speak.

Reading from a prepared statement, Sylvia defended the convention and vilified the GAC. He called the allegations brought against Ness “defamatory and baseless,” adding “they should be referred to the attorney general.” Drawing from Gunstock’s budget to hire legal counsel “for their own personal protection,” he said could be cause for removal of the commissioners.

Among the “criminal elements at issue,” he said were misuse of funds, criminal defamation and conspiracy.

“My only agenda,” Sylvia insisted, ”is the open and transparent operation of a county asset. I will continue to work for good government and a successful Gunstock Mountain Resort.”

The convention, with five members dissenting, voted to appropriate $20,000 to defend itself against the suit brought by the Gunstock commissioners. After earlier refusing to authorize expenditure of funds, the convention sought to support its investigative committee, and the county commission appears ready to follow the same course again.

“I wouldn’t support the payment,” Spanos said after the vote, “and I don’t think the other commissioners would either.”

Just before Christmas, the convention and GAC returned to court. Quarles, representing the GAC, argued for the injunction, claiming removal of the commissioners would be “biased, baseless and retaliatory.”

Although the convention shrank from acting in November, he said by refusing to hear from the GAC it showed no intention of ensuring due process. He said Sylvia and Silber took the position that “we’re a political body, and we don’t have to give due process to anyone.”

Convention Attorney Cooley Arroyo said, since no action was taken or is planned against the commissioners, it would be premature for the court to forestall what might happen in the future. An injunction, she said, would prevent the convention from acting as it deems fit while setting a precedent that could lead appointed officials to litigate in anticipation of future events.

Arroyo assured the court that if the convention proceeded to remove the commissioners, it would hear testimony it considered “appropriate” and deliberate before voting.

“Just because they don’t like the due process that is being offered,” she said, “doesn’t make it insufficient.” O’Neill again denied the request for an injunction and, when the convention moved to dismiss the case, set a hearing on the motion for Feb. 16.

Kiedaisch said that, never in his career — which has included resolving thorny issues with local, state and federal government agencies — has he encountered conduct matching that of the convention.

Ongoing discord, he said, will jeopardize the master plan for Gunstock unveiled in December. That plan envisions doubling the area’s capacity and enhancing the competitiveness of the resort by adding new slopes, lifts and snowmaking as well as a hotel.

The new year opened with the convention and commission still at daggers drawn and faced with building the county budget. The commission has recommended a budget of $33.4 million, an increase of 5.3 percent, which would include raising the amount collected in property taxes from $13.1 million to $18.2 million, or 38.2 percent.

Spanos explained, “We can’t run the county as it needs to run with the same amount of money when the cost of everything we need to buy is going up.”

In a letter to The Laconia Daily Sun, Silber described the commission’s recommended budget as “severe overreach.” He recalled that a year ago, when the convention was presented with a proposed budget that would have raised property taxes by 12 percent, it ultimately adopted a budget that cut property taxes by 11 percent.

To George Maglaras, who has served for the past 38 years as a Strafford County commissioner, what’s going on in Belknap County “is not the way county government should be operating.”

According to Maglaras, who also has been president of the Council of County Commissioners since 1997, county government is “the ultimate safety net for the sick and the frail. Counties care for the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor, and they are heavily invested in law enforcement,“ referring to the county attorneys, sheriff’s departments and correction facilities they oversee.

“The political winds may change from time to time, but the need for county services is essential and ongoing,” he said. “Political conflict jeopardizes the ultimate safety net that county government provides for its people.”