By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Four of the top Republican House leaders, including Speaker Sherman Packard of Londonderry, a GOP PAC and a Democratic Executive Councilor were named in four separate cease and desist letters for violating campaign finance laws after investigations by the election law unit of the state Attorney General’s Office.
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne of Auburn; Salem’s Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney’s political advocacy committee Granite Solutions; the Committee to Elect House Republicans chairman Osborne, treasurer Jim Kofalt of Wilton who is the Speaker Pro Tempore, and former treasurer Speaker Packard; along with Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, a Democrat from Lebanon, were all named in cease and desist letters regarding campaign finance violations released Friday.
New Hampshire campaign finance law requires candidates and political committees to timely and accurately report the amounts and sources of receipts and the amounts and purposes of expenditures for any amounts over $1,000.
Osborne was fined $2,000, Sweeney’s PAC Granite Solutions $500; the Committee to Elect House Republicans $1,500 and Liot Hill $1,000.
Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill
Democratic Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon was cited for failing to timely file 2024 election cycle reports that excluded improper expenditures, noting she promptly filed an amended campaign finance report for the 2024 election cycle and it was her first time running in a statewide campaign subject to the campaign finance laws.
The investigation found that her improper expenditures included purchasing clothing, urgent care, home heating oil, grocery store items, hiring a cleaning company and three gifts for campaign volunteers.
Liot Hill responded to InDepthNH.org’s request for comment: “The Attorney General’s Office has issued a letter concluding the investigation regarding my 2024 campaign. While I respectfully differ with the AG’s Office on the interpretation of certain aspects of New Hampshire’s campaign finance law, I have taken the corrective actions requested and paid the fine in the interest of resolving the matter. My campaign has fully cooperated throughout this process and will remain in compliance. My focus continues to be on serving the people of District 2 and the State of New Hampshire with transparency and accountability.”
Committee To Elect House Republicans
The Committee to Elect House Republicans’ chairman Osborne and treasurer Speaker Pro Tempore Jim Kofalt of Wilton, were named in the letter finding the committee in violation of state campaign finance laws. House Speaker Packard was treasurer of the committee in January when the election law unit notified him and Osborne of the reporting irregularities.
The Committee To Elect House Republicans was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1,500. In January, the election law unit notified Osborne as committee chairman and Packard as then-treasurer that the “Nov. 16, 2022, report for the 2022 election cycle was overdue and asking them to provide additional information related to several substantial discrepancies in CTEHRs 2024 election cycle reports,” according to the cease and desist letter from Senior Assistant Attorney General Brendan O’Donnell.
Over the following months CTEHR hired an accountant to review its accounts, provided corrected receipts and expenditures to the office and amended its campaign finance filings with the Secretary of State.
“Although this office appreciates that CTEHR voluntarily and diligently worked to correct the issues with its campaign finance filings, CTEHR’s initial failure to timely and accurately report its receipts and expenditures during the 2022 and 2024 election cycles deprived the public of this information when it mattered most – during and immediately after the 2022 and 2024 election cycles…
“Moreover, it is concerning that CTEHR’s accounting was not able to perfectly match CTEHR’s starting balance as of Nov. 2022 to CTEHR’s reported ending balance of Oct. 31, 2022,” the letter said.
“It is imperative that all candidates and political committees follow New Hampshire campaign finance laws. Here CTEHR clearly did not do so because it failed to timely file its Nov. 16, 2022 report and failed to accurately report its receipts, expenditures and balances in the 2024 cycle reports,” the letter stated.
Jason Osborne and candidate committee Friends of Jason Osborne
The cease and desist letter to Osborne and his candidate committee, Friends of Jason Osborne, said: “You filed your statutorily required campaign finance reports more than 10 months late for the 2024 election cycle and more than 33 months late for the 2022 election cycle. Moreover, it took you more than seven months to file your campaign finance reports after this office first notified you that your reports were overdue. Your failure to timely file these report deprived the public of the ability to review your reports during those election cycles. Accordingly, you are ordered to cease and desist from further violations of New Hampshire’s campaign finance law RSA chapter 664.”
Granite Solutions, Deputy House Majority Leader Joe Sweeney’s committee
Granite Solutions’s letter from Senior Assistant Attorney General McDonnell said: For the 2024 state primary election cycle, Granite Solutions filed each of the required receipts and expenditure reports through Sept. 4, 2024, then didn’t file any further reports for the 2024 election cycle. Sweeney also didn’t file an independent expenditure report related to a mailer that Granite Solutions sent Sept. 7, 2024, the letter states.
“You promptly responded to this office’s letter and worked with the Secretary of State’s Office to file overdue reports,” the letter states.
Sweeney, Osborne, Packard and Kofalt didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment from InDepthNH.org