This op-ed was first published in the Portsmouth Herald and is re-published with Peter Loughlin’s permission.

By Peter J. Loughlin

For over 30 years, I served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Pease Development Authority. For much of that time, I was vice chair of the Pease Board and chair of the Port Committee. In that capacity, I worked extensively with Geno Marconi, the port director. Geno is one of the most honest, dedicated, hardworking and competent public servants that I have ever met.

In mid-April, the entire Pease Development Authority Board was summoned to Concord for a closed-door meeting with Gov. Chris Sununu and his attorney general. On April 18 representatives of the attorney general appeared at a PDA meeting where they held a “consultation with counsel” with the board. Immediately thereafter, without any explanation, Captain Marconi was escorted out of the meeting, relieved of his duties, barred from his office and communication with Port employees; and had his phone, computer and related materials impounded. In addition, his texts, phone records and financial records were seized and a grand jury impaneled.

After damaging Geno’s reputation with a public suspension; after examining Geno’s personal life and finances; after grilling multiple witnesses under oath before a grand jury with questions implying that Geno had done something nefarious and after 6 months and tens of thousands of dollars of expenditure of public funds, the attorney general’s office came up with nothing that would justify a suspension, let alone months of anguish. Instead of issuing an apology, the attorney general obtained indictments on petty charges perhaps to attempt to justify this investigation.

So, an exemplary public servant with 20 years of service was marched out of his office, suspended by the PDA at the request of the attorney general, subjected to a six-month criminal investigation, without any hearing or notice; and what was the allegation on April 18 that triggered this draconian series of events? The port director was alleged to have given the chair of the Ports and Harbors Advisory Council information regarding a permit issued to a PDA Board member to use and access the pier(s) at Rye Harbor. If that allegation is true, it should have been resolved administratively by port director’s supervisor, rather than a major investigation by the attorney general with the impaneling of a grand jury.

Since there still has been no reason given for the urgency for summoning a public board to a non-public meeting with the governor, it is time for a public explanation of what alleged charges prompted this entire extraordinary episode and who made those charges.

As to the charges against Geno’s wife, Justice Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi; is there any serious person who has read the indictments and not wondered “is this some kind of sick joke?” Justice Marconi, an erudite, accomplished, hardworking jurist with an unblemished record, made an appointment and discussed with the governor the problem her need to recuse herself was causing for the court. Incredibly, Gov. Sununu and the attorney general that he appointed, feel that open, frank conversation is somehow “the crime of improper influence.” Now that the attorney general has finally revealed all of his “evidence” about Geno, it seems clear that Justice Marconi was accurate if, as alleged in the indictment, she stated the “investigation into Geno Marconi was the result of personal, petty, and/or political biases; that there was no merit to allegations against or subsequent investigation into Geno Marconi.”

The Marconi family now faces the further suffering, expense and disruption that comes with being criminal defendants fighting to clear their names.

It grieves me to think that this type of action could be happening in New Hampshire and that two dedicated public servants could have their reputations impugned for doing their jobs.

Respectfully submitted: Peter J. Loughlin Oct. 31, 2024

Peter Loughlin graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and practiced law in the Seacoast for 50 years before his retirement.  He served as the joint representative to the PDA for Newington and Portsmouth from 1990 until 2021.

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