Group Criticizes Sanborns for Past Property Tax Bill Problems

A progressive advocacy group has audited the property tax records of a Republican power couple and found they were late paying a number of bills during the last two decades.

The Granite State Progress report, spread out in 26 pages of copies of property tax receipts, shows that some properties owned by state Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, and state Rep. Laurie Sanborn, R-Bedford, in Concord and Warner, were hit with overdue tax bills, interest, fees and liens during the last 20 years. The amounts ranged from a little more than $130 to $14,532, the highest amount, from May 2013 on a 2012 tax bill for the building that houses The Draft Sports Bar & Grill on South Main Street in Concord.

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The group’s executive director contends that the bills could make voters question whether or not that should be representing the state.

“Andy and Laurie Sanborn failed to pay their property taxes at least 25 times over the past 20 years,” said Zandra Rice Hawkins, executive director of Granite State Progress, said in a statement. “Those numbers are from Merrimack and Cheshire County alone as we have yet to even look at other areas of the state where they lived and worked. The Sanborn’s record of business bankruptcy, district hopping to run for political office, close relationships with the Free State Project, and now at least 25 tax liens in 20 years calls into question whether they are fit to represent New Hampshire.”

Hawkins confirmed that the group looked at some of the “tighter state Senate races” including District 9, District 12 – the Peggy Gilmour vs. Kevin Avard race in the southern part of the state – and a few others, primarily focusing on legal issues, property taxes, and other records. If the group found anything in Cheshire, Hillsborough, and Merrimack counties, they began to do more research, she said.

Hawkins stated that the group found no problems with the two properties listed in the name of Andy Sanborn’s opponent, attorney Lee Nyquist, D-New Boston.

In a statement, Andy Sanborn said he and his wife were current on their property taxes while also lashing out at the group and Nyquist.

“Like most property owners, our taxes are escrowed and paid directly from our banks,” he said in a statement. “Our taxes are current and we have no liens on our properties. Lee Nyquist, his nasty, negative friends, and his ultra liberal funded Super PAC, are desperate because they know their Obama big government agenda isn’t working.”

Sanborn said that the only way the Nyquist could campaign was to be “as negative as possible against me, so he does not have to answer any questions to voters as to why he makes a living defending drug dealers and attempted cop killers and how much money he is asking for to sell the Senate seat.”

Sanborn also noted that he and his wife had received a number of awards from small business associations and disability advocacy groups for their work in the Legislature.

“The voters know better than to believe desperate 11th hour smear tactics,” he said.