Opposing Anne Edwards Nomination to the NH Superior Court

[dsumneri...@gmail.com]

Posted by Deborah Sumner, April 28, 2023

Governor Chris Sununu nominated Associate Attorney General Anne Edwards on April 12 and the public hearing on her nomination will be held May 3, 

https://www.nh.gov/council/meetings/public-hearing.htm.

Support or opposition from NH citizens can be sent to individual Executive Council members and  gc...@nh.gov

Below is my communication.

To Honorable Members of the Executive Council and Gov. Sununu,

I ask that Governor Sununu withdraw his nomination of Anne Edwards as a Superior Court Judge and that if he doesn’t, the Executive Council vote against it. I also ask that this communication be included in the public record for this nomination

Anne Edwards has been “overseeing” election law attorneys in the Attorney General’s office since at least 2000. My concerns with that office’s election enforcement/non-enforcement began in 2010.

I am one who has suffered great hurt and harm because of her years of “looking the other way” and protecting people in the system instead of the public’s interest. I don’t want her to be 1) rewarded for NOT serving us or to be in the position of hurting more people and damaging public trust in the court system as she has done in her position in the AG’s office. (This is a long-time entrenched systemic issue, not the fault of a particular individual. The CULTURE is the problem.)

I am concerned that NH seems to have many judges who pass through the AG’s office on the way to the court. (Judge John Kissinger was one of them.) I would have expected him to understand the concept of “evidence” and expect claims made by the Attorney General and Secretary of State were backed up by facts (in my 2012 and 2014 cases.) He didn’t.

In my first case, when I discovered ballots I wanted to see had reportedly been destroyed by the town clerk before I filed the suit (another questionable claim, not investigated by the AG’s office), he didn’t even mention that in his opinion!

The AG’s office eventually issued the town clerk a cease and desist order, warning if she did this again, action MIGHT be taken against her. Destruction of public records in the case was a violation of both federal and state law, with a federal penalty of a fine and jail time. If an AG investigation showed she destroyed them AFTER I filed the suit, following someone’s advice, the penalty would have been tougher. The AG chose NOT to investigate, NOT to look for or find that evidence.

I believe Kissinger’s bias favoring the executive branch and against me as an ordinary citizen trying to argue for the public’s interest as a pro se is currently “normal” in our court system. 

I would expect Ms. Edwards to demonstrate the same bias favoring her former colleagues and other state officials and willingness to look the other way as Kissinger did, thus removing the checks and balances expected of and needed from an independent judiciary.

Below I have copied communication that alludes to three unresolved issues in election law. In each case, if Ms. Edwards had done her job for the public, they wouldn’t have happened. Once reported, they could have been easily resolved. She chose to leave them unresolved.

The court needs judges who have a proven track record for fairness and a commitment to serve the public’s interest. Based on my experience, she doesn’t qualify.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Deborah Sumner

Jaffrey NH 03452

copies: Members of the media

PS I am attaching an opinion piece I wrote April 21, 2021, comparing election integrity and government integrity issues.

I wrote: BOTH stories reveal a culture where good old boys and girls will be protected by the system and fails citizens who have a reasonable expectation government will protect them. 

…Connolly shared his astonishment when then Deputy Attorney General Bud Fitch asked, in front of a witness, “Where do you want to be in five years?” 

The implication was he should look the other way as others in state government had been willing to do.