NH Superior Court Judge Andrew R. Schulman Defies Logic!

NH Superior Court Judge Schulman recently ruled NH Public agencies (Cities, Towns, School Districts, etc.) act legally when they contract away their legal obligation under Right-to-Know Law (RTK), by paying taxpayer funds to have records requesters withdraw their RTK requests and who agree not to make future requests.

To be clear: Judge Schulman has ruled any citizen has the legal right to make RTK requests to any public body or agency to inspect public records only to negotiate away that request and their Constitutional and legal right to do so, in exchange for taxpayer funds. He claims such agreements do not violate public policy. Judge Schulman is, of course, wrong. Responding to records requests is the legal duty of all public agencies and bodies. Failing to comply with this duty violates the NH Constitution and RSA 91. A.

The NH Supreme Court has stated an agreement is against public policy “if it is injurious to the interests of the public, contravenes some established interest of society, violates some public statute, is against good morals, tends to interfere with the public welfare or safety, or, . . . is at war with the interests of society and is in conflict with the morals of the time.”

What act could be more injurious to the interests of the public, or contravene the interests of society more, than public officials using taxpayer dollars to cover up and hide their wrongdoing by paying off records requesters?

In response to Judge Schulmans’ illogical stance, and to prove just how ridiculous his decision is, I have recently made many RTK requests to many NH Towns, Police Departments, Prosecutors, and other government agencies, including the NH DOJ and Supreme Court seeking to inspect public records.

In each instance, I offered each public agency that I would be willing to retract my requests and agree never to make any further requests in exchange for twenty-five thousand dollars. So far, only the NH DOJ’s Dan Jimenez and Rockingham County Prosecutor Patricia Conway have rejected my proposals. Interestingly neither the DOJ nor Rockingham would state my requests for money would be against public policy.

Jeffrey Thomas Clay