NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
A long-time friend of Geno Marconi believes he and his wife state Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi have both been placed on paid administrative leave to pressure Mr. Marconi to resign as director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors.
Brad Cook, who formerly owned Atlantic Fishing and Whale Watching in Rye, said he believes Gov. Chris Sununu is behind the effort to get rid of Geno Marconi because Marconi doesn’t agree with the state’s latest plan to build a controversial elevated strip mall in the Rye Harbor parking lot, but prefers that money be used for other infrastructure improvements such as the seawall, parking lot improvements and pier maintenance.
And because Marconi wanted the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound to tone down selling lobster rolls in one of the shacks, which was causing traffic jams in the small harbor parking lot. The owner was able to get a waiver from Sununu to continue operating, which some viewed as special treatment from Concord.
“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 said.
Attorney General John Formella, a Sununu appointee, has now convened a grand jury to investigate Geno Marconi and while those proceedings are confidential some local people believe Formella is on a “fishing expedition” to get rid of Marconi.
“I feel that Geno was unjustifiably placed on administrative leave in the hopes that he would resign given his age and length of service,” Cook said.
And because he has done nothing wrong, Geno Marconi is standing on principle and isn’t going anywhere, Cook said. “He doesn’t want to resign under a cloud.
“I firmly believe that Judge Hantz Marconi was placed on paid administrative leave solely to further pressure director Marconi to resign,” Cook said. “They are out to get him.” Hantz Marconi is also a Sununu appointee.
Sununu declined to comment and referred InDepthNH.org to the state Supreme Court and Attorney General Formella, who also wouldn’t comment beyond the press releases announcing the paid leave for both.
2006 Investigations, Ominous Email
This week, Formella’s office released the report of an Attorney General’s investigation into Geno Marconi from July 19, 2006. The report revealed allegations that Marconi used derogatory racial and ethnic slurs.
The attorney general’s report concluded at the time: “Finally the evidence shows that the primary motivation for the complainants to come forward with the allegations does not stem from their concern about Mr. Marconi’s alleged racism or use of derogatory terms but rather from the PDA’s refusal to renew Captain A. (name redated) contract. Further the complainants timing in bringing forward allegations on the eve of Mr. Marconi’s appointment, which in some cases, date back to 2004 and the fact the complainants never have complained in the past about Mr. Marconi’s language demonstrated that the complainants are fundamentally concerned about their personal economic interests and not about Mr. Marconi’s offensive language.”
On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jessica King provided InDepthNH.org with the Supplemental report to the July 19, 2006 investigation that was dated a month later. This was after repeated requests and after the Supplemental report had been referenced two days earlier in a news report in the NH Journal.
King’s email said some of the initial 2006 report and supplemental were redacted because some information could constitute an unwarranted invasion of an individual’s personal privacy.
But more ominously, King hinted at coming law enforcement proceedings from “an ongoing investigation.”
“Furthermore, additional redactions were applied that relate to an ongoing investigation. Disclosure of the withheld information could reasonably be expected to interfere with pending or reasonably anticipated law enforcement proceedings,” King wrote, but provided no details and didn’t respond to follow-up questions.
King was apparently unaware that the redactions didn’t hold on the copy emailed to InDepthNH.org. The redactions disappeared and showed the words in full when copied and pasted into a new document.
The attorney general’s 2006 Supplemental report included allegations that Marconi inquired as to whether someone he knew could “assassinate” two port critics, used state resources for his own benefit, accepted bottles of Ouzo and cash from a Greek ship captain in lieu of docking fees and used a state truck to pick up lumber at Home Depot and dropped it off as his own home among others.
The report said the main complainant did not raise any of those issues when he was interviewed before the final 2006 report.
Marconi called the assassination allegations “ludicrous” at the time. And Cook said there is one bottle of Ouzo from the captain that still remains in Marconi’s office as he saw the public relations benefit of giving the captain a hat and T-shirt touting the port authority. And there was no truth to the cash allegations, he said.
Cook said Marconi had used a state truck years ago to pick up some lumber, but the investigation found there were no rules at the time prohibiting it.
Still, ever since, Marconi uses his own personal vehicle for work and doesn’t even put in for mileage, Cook said.
Top Officials, Top Secret.
With two top state officials out on paid leave with no explanation, the public has been left in the dark as to why Geno Marconi was walked out of a Pease Development Authority meeting and placed on leave in April. And the state Supreme Court has refused to provide any details why Justice Hantz Marconi has been placed on paid administrative leave for 90 days.
The court has said that length of leave could be shortened or lengthened, raising concerns that they could try to keep Justice Hantz Marconi off the bench indefinitely. The court can’t remove a sitting judge. That can only be done by impeachment.
The Pease Development Authority develops, maintains, and manages a variety of New Hampshire entities including the Division of Ports and Harbors. The Division maintains and develops New Hampshire’s waterways to help support and grow commerce including freight shipments through the state’s ports and the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor. It also assists in the development of salt water fisheries and related industries.
Still No Answers
Cook’s guess about what is going on at the Pease Development Authority is probably as good as anyone’s since Formella, Sununu and Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, also a Sununu appointee, haven’t released any information beyond acknowledging the two high-ranking state officials have been placed on paid administrative leave.
The New Hampshire Union Leader penned an editorial Aug. 3 headlined “Marconi Matters: Gov., AG Need To Explain.”
“…This must shake the faith that citizens should expect to have in their public institutions and those who work for them as well as those who have oversight for them,” The editorial said.
“The lack of any information or explanation is unfair to the public as it is unfair to the two individuals — Justice Barbara Hantz Marconi and her husband, Port Director Geno Marconi.
The Union Leader editorial concluded: “Gov. Chris Sununu and Attorney General John Formella are both adept at speaking out when they care to on matters of public interest and concern. This is such a time. They owe the public more of an explanation than the current ‘Nothing to see here. Move on.’”
