Attorney General: Peterborough officials illegaly electioneered.

By Casey Farrar
Sentinel Staff

Published: Thursday, May 07, 2009

PETERBOROUGH — They can’t wear a candidate’s pin to the polls and now Peterborough selectmen have been told they can’t write official letters of endorsement, either.
A week before town elections, Peterborough’s board of selectmen has been told by the N.H. Attorney General that letters they sent to the editor of a local newspaper were illegal electioneering.
The selectmen sent a letter last month to the editor of the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript newspaper endorsing Carol A. Lenox for town clerk in next week’s election.
A letter from Chairman Barbara A. Miller and Joseph J. Byk endorsing fellow selectman Elizabeth M. Thomas for re-election also appeared in last week’s Ledger-Transcript.
Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte’s office ruled Tuesday that endorsing candidates, or electioneering as selectmen, is illegal, and sent the board a cease-and-desist order.
While the selectmen don’t plan to contest the ruling, said Miller, they stand behind the letters.
And in a letter to the board, the town’s attorney, John J. Ratigan, questioned the state’s interpretation of the statute, titled “Electioneering at the Polling Place.”
Ratigan wrote: “The issuance of these candidate support letters had nothing to do with conduct at the polling place.”
It would be different, Ratigan said in an interview, if an election officer wore a candidate’s pin or carried a sign at the polls, which he said is clearly against the law.
“The selectmen wear their selectmen hat 365 days of the year and three days of the year they perform official duties as election officials,” Ratigan said. “You would not expect selectmen at the polls to be glad-handing or electioneering.”
But Associate Attorney General Anne M. Edwards said electioneering, which is defined in state statues as acting “in any way specifically designed to influence the vote of a voter on any question or office,” is not limited to Election Day.
“The ruling was that selectmen are included under the definition of election officers, and under another law election officers are not allowed to electioneer,” Edwards said.
Francis X. Chapman, a Peterborough resident who filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office, said the ruling made clear the selectmen shouldn’t have sent the letters.
Town officials plan to have the two deputy clerks run the polls May 12 because Lenox is up for election, according to Town Administrator Pamela A. Brenner.
After the ruling, Chapman said, he checked with the Attorney General’s Office about whether state officials planned to run the elections to avoid a conflict of interest, but was told that the state was satisfied with the town’s plans.
The race for town clerk pits Lenox, who was appointed by the selectmen last year after Robert Lambert resigned from the position, against Linda Guyette, who was assistant town clerk for more than three years under Lambert.
Guyette applied last year for the position, but was not chosen.
On April 16, a letter to the editor of the Ledger-Transcript from Lambert endorsed Guyette and said he had recommended her to the selectmen for the job.
“My recommendations fell on deaf ears,” Lambert wrote. “Linda continues to have my full support.”
This letter prompted the selectmen to write to the paper, explaining their decision to appoint Lenox, Miller said.
“My goal was to make sure the public understands that we did due diligence,” Miller said of the endorsement letter. “We picked the most qualified candidate using a systematic approach and we wanted people to know we still stand behind Carol (Lenox).”
The selectman’s race includes incumbent Thomas, Gilborn “Gil” Duval and Anthony “Tony” Nichols.
The polls will be open Tuesday, May 12, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Town House.
Peterborough’s town meeting will be held Wednesday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at the Town House.

Casey Farrar can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or cfarrar@keenesentinel.com.