Court: County attorney can return

The Eagle-Tribune The Eagle Tribune Fri Apr 25, 2014, 12:06 AM EDT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Thursday that it will not delay suspended Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams’ return to office while the state appeals a lower court ruling that could put him back on the job.
In its order, the Supreme Court denied a request for a stay that would have kept Reams out of office until the appeal from Attorney General Joseph Foster can be argued.
A Superior Court judge ruled April 10 against Foster’s bid to keep Reams out of office until the court hears a petition for permanent removal. The judge postponed the effective date of his order until early next month to allow Foster to seek a stay from the Supreme Court.
Reams may be able to return to office as early as mid-May. Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office is pursuing its petition to permanently remove Reams.
A call to Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young after hours Thursday was not immediately returned.
Reams and his lawyer, Michael Ramsdell, have denied the allegations that he used lewd language, inappropriately touched women staffers and retaliated against women who became pregnant.
They also say there’s no merit to charges that he mishandled office funds. Reams has challenged the legality of his suspension from the outset on that grounds that Foster does not have the power to suspend Reams without criminal charges being filed, as was the case the only other time a county attorney was suspended from office decades ago.
The Supreme Court also denied Foster’s request for an expedited hearing.
Reams has said he won’t run for re-election to the office he was first elected to in 1998. His term expires in January.
The superior court trial on the removal petition is scheduled to begin Aug. 4.

Consentino complains that the details got out to the public

Atkinson controversy continues post-election

By John Toole jtoole@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Wed Apr 02, 2014, 12:17 PM EDT

ATKINSON — Newly elected Selectman Phil Consentino said yesterday he has complained to the state Human Rights Commission, the Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service about the distribution in town and disclosure of details from a human rights case and confidential settlement.
Consentino also said he has hired an attorney who has private investigators looking into the matter.
Consentino, the town’s former longtime police chief, said the information went to people’s homes, town employees and senior citizens he knew when he was the town’s elderly affairs director, both in stamped, anonymously sent mail postmarked in Boston and handouts dropped in their mailboxes and at homes.
It happened before the town election in March and again since his election as selectman.
“I wish they’d leave me the hell alone,” Consentino said.
A complaint Atkinson police dispatcher Lynne Cunningham filed against the town last year with the Human Rights Commission was sealed.
Cunningham and the town reached an out-of-court settlement for $50,000.
Consentino has declined to comment about the Cunningham case.
He was terminated as chief and elderly affairs director last year “for cause.” Officials have not disclosed why and Consentino was questioned by citizens about the dismissal during the selectman’s campaign.
Consentino admitted he was offended by an attachment to a commission document he saw in town that he said read, “predator alert.”
“That’s as close to defamation of character as you can get,” he said.
The information has caused himself and his family aggravation and humiliation, he said. He said there would never be enough punishment for the individuals involved to satisfy him.
Consentino said he knows who distributed the information in town, because their actions were witnessed by others, but he wouldn’t identify them.
“I’m not interested in what it said. My point is, if this letter was sealed by a state agency then how did this information get released?” Consentino asked.