Rich Bergeron: Case mishandling led to issues within county attorney's office

To The Daily Sun,

Andrew Livernois needs help. And it's not because he's overwhelmed with cases in the Belknap County Attorney's Office. He won't admit it, but he created this mess by actions like those he took in my case to condone and cover up police misconduct. This local system isn't broken, it was built this way.

Andrew Livernois made friends defending officers accused of misconduct in his private sector career. His actions in my case proved he did not want to focus on any law enforcement misconduct. The only option I was given was to cooperate against the real suspect, even if there were officers who would leak my choice to cooperate to that very suspect. Andrew Livernois called himself the chief law enforcement agent in the county, but he proved to be powerless and spineless when it came to cleaning up corruption in my case, and he's likely doing the same in other cases.

He promised not to do any civil litigation in his time as county attorney when he was elected. Yet while he's complaining about not having enough resources to handle his office's caseload, he's got time to serve on the New Hampton Zoning Board of Adjustment. When he was a selectman in Sanbornton in his earlier years in local politics he routinely missed meetings and had to apologize publicly on a number of occasions. This is not the right leader for the county attorney's office in these trying times. His track record speaks for itself.

Andrew Livernois needs help because HE IS THE PROBLEM. He has not been able to figure out what cases are worth pursuing, and he lied and misrepresented the rules and the law in my case, which is why he had to send it to some overburdened prosecutor in Grafton County.

When you err on the side of corruption this is what happens. The broken system you perpetuated comes back to haunt you. If Andrew Livernois took the time to stop corruption instead of ignoring it, he wouldn't be in this situation begging for assistance. These crooked political interests like Livernois keep asking us to throw more money at the problem instead of acknowledging their shortcomings and lack of foresight and professional leadership. Not to mention a lack of work ethic.

I believe from my personal experience with him that Andrew Livernois is a dishonest individual who does not have the capability to see both sides of each case and realize that some cases should not be prosecuted. Livernois betrayed his own deputy by asking him to pursue an unconstitutional gag order in my case. That request later had to be withdrawn after the ACLU stepped in. Livernois then stepped down and transferred the case to Grafton County. That is evidence he lacks the type of leadership experience this position requires.

It's about time the public realizes that reform starts from the top down. Andrew Livernois is not the kind of county attorney we need right now. He's the kind of county attorney we need to get rid of.

Rich Bergeron

Belmont