Ruth Larson: County representatives should demand hearing on citizen petition

To The Daily Sun,

Two leaders of the Belknap County Convention, Chair Michael Sylvia and Rep. Norman Silber, were recently served with a removal petition pursuant to RSA 24:16. That state law allows county residents to seek the ouster of county officials for overspending an appropriation or committing the county to pay funds in excess of an appropriation. The removal sought is from their role as county officials, not their role as legislators in Concord.

The specific charge here arises out of Sylvia and Silber’s hiring of a law firm for defense against Gunstock, without limiting the firm to the $20,000 maximum appropriation voted on by the convention. The current bill approaches $50,000.

As per RSA 24:16, the citizen petition first went to the County Board of Commissioners for review, similar to a grand jury proceeding to decide on formal criminal charges. The board ruled unanimously that the petition should proceed to the next stage, involving a hearing and decision by the county convention. Commissioner Peter Spanos, the chair, said: “if any or all of this board of commissioners were ever petitioned by dissatisfied voters in this way, I would seriously have to consider myself and fellow commissioners as being unfit for the office.”

The required hearing has not yet occurred, and Sylvia and Silber seem to think that the petition will magically vanish if they simply ignore it, clearly hoping that the convention majority will play along with their wishes and keep them in power. Their actions, or rather inaction, regarding the petition echo their attempts to hide their emails about the legal bills.

Will the other 16 representatives allow themselves to be bullied in both of these situations? Or will they seek justice and demand a full hearing on the petition, as contemplated under the law?

Ruth Larson

Alton