By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Attorney Brian C. Shaughnessy, Gov. Chris Sununu’s choice for justice of the New Hampshire Circuit Court had a hearing on his nomination before the state’s Executive Council Wednesday.
Shaughnessy was grilled on his participation as assistant moderator for the Town of Bedford during its 2020 election in which almost 200 votes were not counted and that Shaughnessy upon knowing that it was being investigated by the Attorney General, advised others not to speak to the town’s elected leaders, the town council.
The Attorney General said the failure to count those would not have changed the outcome of the election in which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in the Presidential election. It was found that the ballots were accidentally dropped in the wrong box.
Shaughnessy has been seen as a lightning rod for that being kept secret for some time.
Executive Councilor David Wheeler, R-Milford, has been an outspoken opponent of the governor’s nomination and has called for the nomination’s withdrawal.
Sununu has not done that and during a press briefing said he supports nominees in general based on advice and who might best fit the individual role.
Councilor Cinde Warmington, D-Concord, herself an attorney, said she had no concerns about Shaughnessy’s professional qualifications and civic work but her concerns “really focus around what happened in the Bedford elections,” in 2020.
For the Nov. 2020 election were you at the polls when the votes were counted, Warmington asked Shaughnessy.
He replied, “yes.”
Since 2012, he said he has been at every election at the polls.
“I am the person who does the tapes at the end of the night,” he said.
Warmington asked if there was a vote discrepancy discovered that night, a number of missing ballots, and he said he did not believe it was noticed until later.
Shaughnessy said he was interviewed by the Attorney General’s Office.
She asked if he advised people to not discuss the matter.
Shaughnessy said he was not there as an attorney, he was talking as a matter of practical legal advice because the Attorney General’s office was investigating the missing ballots.
He warned if the town council was told RSA 91A would be invoked, meaning the public’s right-to-know law and “creating all that turmoil,” Shaughnessy said. “My concern was the email traffic.”
Warmington said, “That sounds like legal advice to me.” Warmington said. “Who is your client.”
Shaughnessy said the town moderator but noted he was not retained in the legal sense of the word.
Shaughnessy said he wanted to advise people not to talk.
Warmington said the matter could also support felony charges and that he used that as another reason to keep things quiet.
“I would submit to you that standard legal advice…is called a lawyer…you gave them legal advice,” Warmington said. “If they were relying on you they were going into an Attorney General interview not represented by counsel.”
Shaughnessy, at the outset, said “I take pride in being a good person…And I believe I get that from my upbringing.”
He was elected this week to Town Moderator in Bedford after the incumbent declined to seek reelection.
The Executive Council also had a hearing on the nomination of Jacki A. Smith who if confirmed will be a New Hampshire Superior Court Judge.
A vote on the two nominees could come as early as March 23.