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Letter to Speaker O’Brien and Majority Leader Bettencourt

Speaker William O’Brien
Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt
New Hampshire House of Representatives
State House
107 N. Main St.
Concord, NH 03301

                                                                                                                                                   Friday, May 25, 2012

Dear Mr. Speaker and Representative Bettencourt:

I write with concern about today’s Union Leader story regarding the taxpayer-funded political work of Bob Mead, and the suggestions by the Majority office and the Speaker’s Office that they were not aware of his activities.

Rep. Bettencourt is quoted as saying: “I have no knowledge of what State House employees do during their off-hours.” The Speaker’s Office Chief of Staff, Greg Moore, is quoted as saying: “I was not aware of any action that took place that violated any state law or legislative ethics guidelines.”

The statements in the Union Leader article seem to contradict the document that I am enclosing – a schedule for a Republican House candidate training showing both of you participating with Mr. Mead. From this document, it appears that it was very clear Mr. Mead had a significant role in candidate recruitment and training. Given your mutual participation in the same training, it is difficult to believe you were unaware of Mr. Mead’s candidate recruitment work.

While each caucus is assigned partisan staff, the duties of those staff members have always been focused on legislative work – not campaign work.

The people of New Hampshire deserve to know whether they were funding a state employee to recruit and train Republican House candidates.  This article again raises the question of what Bob Mead was actually doing for his tax-payer funded salary and whether he received comp time, in addition to his mileage reimbursements, for his attendance at Republican committee events outside the normal work week.

Charging taxpayers for Republican political recruitment is an abuse of the public trust and of taxpayers’ money.  Republican leadership’s attempt to mislead the public about their knowledge of Mr. Mead’s activities is disingenuous at best. The people of New Hampshire deserve a full explanation for these events and leaders who take responsibility for their actions.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I anticipate your prompt reply.

Representative Terie Norelli