Chandler open about her 2006 resignation from court house job

LACONIA — One of two remaining candidates for appointment to the vacant Belknap County Attorney's position voluntarily made public the separation agreement she signed detailing her departure from the court house in 2006.

Lori Ann Chandler, who went by the name Christmann at the time, was an assistant prosecutor with Belknap County until her sudden departure on Oct. 24, 2006. Several weeks later she signed a confidential agreement with the Belknap County Commission that detailed, over six pages, the terms of her separation, including three months of severance pay. Stipulations included a commitment on her part to never again seek employment with Belknap County.

In a Feb. 3, 2011 letter to Alida Millham, the chair of the Belknap County Convention that will choose the Hon. James Carroll's successor, Chandler said "the document was originally intended to be confidential" but, at the request of the Belknap County Commission's lawyer, she chose to make it public at this time.

"First," wrote Chandler, "I want to be perfectly candid to the public about my separation from the county and I believe the public has a right to know the circumstances of my departure in light of my application."

She said she also wanted to "eliminate any potential misconception that I was terminated from my position...."

Chandler and the other two applicants for the county attorney position were interviewed by the 18 state representatives who make up the convention on February 7. Later, she gathered eight votes to lead the field in an pre-election designed to narrow the field. Alton prosecutor Melissa Guldbrandsen attracted seven votes and former Grafton County Attorney Ken Anderson had three.

Background checks are now being performed on Chandler and Gulbrandsen and the convention is expected to take a final vote on March 7.

According to Chandler, she enjoyed an excellent working relationship with former Belknap County Attorney Lauren Noether, who recommended her for Assistant County Attorney of the Year in 2005 — an award she won.

Noether accepted a position with the Office of the N.H. Attorney General in 2006, leaving Deputy Belknap County Attorney Wayne Coull as Interim County Attorney until the next election.

"As a result of Lauren Noether's departure and, as to be expected, there was a significant shift in the administration of the office," wrote Chandler.

"Succinctly put, we did not see eye to eye," Chandler wrote.

Neither Coull nor Chandler returned phone calls regarding this story but, according to news accounts printed in The Citizen, at the time of Chandler's 2006 departure, the County Attorney's Office was embroiled in a case involving a young Meredith man and differing versions of his encounter with a N.H. State Police Trooper.

According to The Citizen, the young man was represented by Christopher Carter who, as part of a plea agreement, wrote a letter to Chandler on Aug. 10, 2006 that said an audio tape would show the state trooper in question "made overt false statements" to Coull regarding the case.

The Citizen article went on to say that Coull and Chandler listened to the tape on Oct. 23, 2006. Chandler resigned the next day.

The Citizen reported that Coull denied that Chandler's leaving had anything to do with the case in question but Chandler begged to differ. Without elaborating, she labeled Coull's statement as "not true".

After filing a Right to Know request for the case file, Docket No. 2006-S-0338 yesterday, the Laconia Daily Sun was told by the clerk's office in Belknap County Superior Court the file does not exist.

A second issue with Chandler's potential appointment is the clause in her departure agreement saying she would not seek reemployment with the county.

But according to Millham, the Belknap County Attorney is not an employee but is an elected official. This position is supported by the N.H. Supreme Court in Lambert v. Belknap County in a ruling that the appointment of Sheriff Craig Wiggin was a public matter.

"If Chandler is the person chosen for the position, she is an appointed official who will have to run for election when the term expires," Millham said.

Chandler has been in private practice in Laconia since leaving the court house in 2006.

Coull was defeated, by Carroll, in his bid for election to the post he held on an interim basis. He is now an assistant prosecutor in the Merrimack County Attorneys Office. Carroll has moved on the become the presiding judge at Laconia District Court.