Chief Justice MacDonald Says Justice Hantz Marconi Lied About Him And Colleague Who Got $50K Payout

By Nancy West, InDepth NH

Gordon MacDonald, who resigned Tuesday as Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, had reason to dislike colleague Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi three years before she was indicted for meeting with then-Gov. Chris Sununu during an investigation into her husband, Geno Marconi, a meeting she says MacDonald told her beforehand she had every right to seek.

MacDonald, 64, admitted wrongdoing Tuesday in handling Administrator of the Office of the Courts director Dianne Martin’s $50,000 payout in earned sick and vacation time after being laid off for three days before being re-hired as general counsel to the Office of Bar Admissions.

In his response to the Judicial Conduct Committee complaint that led to his resignation, MacDonald said while the justices were first considering Martin for the role of AOC director in 2021, “I first became aware of rumors that I had an adulterous relationship with Attorney Martin.”

“Specifically, my memory is that Justice (Anna Barbara) Hantz Marconi told other justices that her spouse (then-Ports Director Geno Marconi) had heard at a Governor and Council meeting that Attorney Martin was my ‘girlfriend,’ or something to that effect,” MacDonald wrote.

“I immediately disclosed this to the Judicial Branch general counsel and told her that it was false,” MacDonald said. “I also discussed it with each of the justices individually, telling them it was false.”

MacDonald said the rumors continued during what JCC documents now reveal was a chaotic time at the state’s only appellate court, where the five justices – who are now all Republicans – are nominated by the governor, confirmed by the Executive Council and may serve until age 70.

“I am aware that this false rumor has persisted. This rumor was and remains false and has caused great damage to me. I emphatically state that my relationship with Attorney Martin has been, is, and will remain purely professional,” MacDonald wrote.

Martin told the Boston Globe in a story published Tuesday that the rumors were false as well.

Martin told the Globe: “I have been blessed to be married to my incredible husband for nearly 25 years and anyone who knows us is well aware of how much we love each other. He is the only person with whom I have had a relationship since I met him in 1997.”

InDepthNH.org’s attempts to reach Martin were not successful.

Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest last October to a misdemeanor of seeking special favors from Sununu because of the meeting with Sununu and conversation with PDA Director Steve Duprey, her husband’s boss at the time. MacDonald later denied telling Hantz Marconi she had a right to meet with Sununu when he was interviewed by the Attorney General’s Office in her criminal case.

Hantz Marconi was found guilty last October, fined, returned to the bench, and soon retired. Then-Ports Director Geno Marconi pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of providing PDA vice chairman Neil Levesque’s confidential motor vehicle records to Bradley Cook, who was chairman of the Division of Ports and Harbors Advisory Council at the time.

But then last month, the Judicial Conduct Committee filed ethics charges against Hantz Marconi because of the same meeting with Sununu – which she said MacDonald approved of, but MacDonald later denied – making it likely MacDonald will be a key witness at JCC’s public hearing against Hantz Marconi in December.

Because of MacDonald’s resignation Tuesday, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte may have time to appoint MacDonald’s replacement before the elections Nov. 3, in which Ayotte is facing former Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington, a Democrat.

JCC documents released Tuesday said a story by NHPR’s Todd Bookman Oct. 24, 2025, revealing the unusual $50,000 benefits payout and an inaccurate press release issued Oct. 31, 2025, by MacDonald and Justices Patrick Donovan, Melissa Countway, and Bryan Gould caused the JCC to launch the investigation into MacDonald.

MacDonald said in his response to the JCC complaint that the court learned on Oct. 30, 2025, that the Union Leader newspaper was working on a story that touched on the personnel decisions relating to Martin.

“Justices (Patrick) Donovan, (Melissa) Countway, (Bryan) Gould and I decided that a response was warranted. My memory is that Periklis Kiroutas (sic), a consultant retained by the Judicial Branch to assist with communications, prepared an initial draft of a joint statement from the four justices. The draft was finalized during a call with Justices Donovan, Countway, Gould, Judge (Chris) Keating, Mr. Kiroutas and Attorney Richard Lehmann, who had been retained by the Supreme Court to assist with the Attorney General’s inquiry into this matter. All those participants reviewed and approved the final version. The statement was then provided to the Union Leader and was posted on the Judicial Branch’s website,” MacDonald wrote.

The JCC summary said of the release: “Finally, the press release issued by the Court on October 31, 2025, under MacDonald’s leadership did not accurately portray the process for Martin’s removal and rehire to a new position. It created the misimpression that her removal and rehire was part of a routine administrative reorganization of the AOC.”

The MacDonald case has already ignited a political firestorm.

Rep. Luz Bay, D-Dover candidate for Executive Council District 1, against Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, said: “It is incredibly embarrassing that my opponent, Councilor Joseph Kenney, voted to confirm Gordon MacDonald to New Hampshire’s highest court.

“Executive Councilors are elected to provide independent oversight and ask tough questions. It is clear my opponent failed to exercise the level of due diligence Granite Staters should expect from the people entrusted with confirming our state’s judges. I take that responsibility seriously, no matter who is sitting in the Governor’s Office or whose nomination comes before me. Granite Staters deserve Executive Councilors who will never treat their constitutional responsibility as a rubber stamp,” Bay said.

Warmington, a former Executive Councilor who is running against Gov. Kelly Ayotte in the Nov. 3 election, is now calling for public hearings of the New Hampshire Supreme Court justices who participated in the handling of the personnel matter underlying MacDonald’s resignation.

“While I am pleased that the Judicial Conduct Committee took action against Gordon MacDonald, there are serious questions that remain unanswered. MacDonald’s resignation followed revelations about his mishandling of an internal personnel matter involving Dianne Martin. However, last October, Justices Donovan, Countway, and Gould all joined MacDonald in a statement defending MacDonald’s actions and stating that ‘every personnel decision regarding Ms. Martin was made collectively by the Supreme Court.’ This statement warrants a full investigation into the conduct of each member of the court who participated,” Warmington said.

“Kelly Ayotte has broken with a longstanding tradition of maintaining a bipartisan court by advocating for and nominating highly partisan justices, including two who previously served as legal counsel to the Republican Party. We now have a circumstance where partisan justices joined together to support conduct that brought disgrace upon not only MacDonald but the entire court. “Granite Staters need to know that the people serving on our state’s highest judiciary body are issuing fair, impartial, and objective rulings and meet the highest ethical standards. That’s why I’m calling for immediate public hearings on this court’s conduct to identify how far MacDonald’s culture of corruption extends. The people of New Hampshire deserve answers, and we must restore public confidence in our Supreme Court,” Warmington said.

Reporter Paula Tracy contributed to this report.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.