Lawsuit seeks to maintain Democrats' stranglehold on Strafford County

From left, Strafford County Commissioners Deanna Rollo, George Maglaras and Bob Watson (Courtesy photos)

Supporters of legislation that aligns the way Strafford County elects its county commissioners with the rest of the state were quick to condemn a lawsuit filed that would overturn the bill.
Filed on Monday by Strafford County Commissioners, the lawsuit names the defendants as New Hampshire's Secretary of State David M. Scanlan and the state's attorney general, John M. Formella, whose offices have not yet commented on case.
State rep Len Turcotte, R-Barrington, who originally sponsored House Bill 75, said on Wednesday the lawsuit was nothing more than a ploy to retain Democrats 40-year stranglehold on county government.
"Strafford County Commissioner Chair George Maglaras has been threatening to sue over this matter since the very first hearing on this legislation," Turcotte said.
HB 75, which was signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu on Aug. 4, puts Strafford County in line with how every other county in the state elects its county commissioners, by districts.
Conversely, Strafford County for decades has been electing its commissioners by an at-large vote, which ensures Democrat-controlled county governance.
Strafford County is the only county that elects its commissioners this way.
Maglaras has argued in the past that changing the way Strafford County commissioners are elected would disenfranchise county voters, but state Senator Jim Gray, R-Rochester was skeptical at the notion.
"I don't understand how it would disenfranchise people, but I'm not surprised the lawsuit was filed," he said on Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed in Merrimack Superior Court, argues in part that, "HB 75 violates Part I, Article 11 of the New Hampshire Constitution," and that "Since at least 1971, the 'policy and practice' of the New Hampshire legislature has been to redistrict county commissioner districts once every 10 years, following each federal census."
The lawsuit further states that in 2022 following the census that is taken every 10 years, legislation was passed that Strafford County would continue its at-large voting for county commissioners.
Maglaras and the lawsuit argue that redistricting can only be done following the decennial census, but Republicans say this is not redistricting because no boundary lines have been changed. It's actually districting, which is the way it's done in every other New Hampshire county.
Gray said earlier that the small, rural towns of Strafford County, in fact, felt like they were disenfranchised.
"It was towns like Barrington, Milton, Milton Mills and New Durham who said they wanted representation at the county level," he said.
The final version, as passed, redistricts Strafford County into three county commissioner districts as follows:
District 1: the towns of Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham, wards 1, 5, and 6, of the city of Rochester, and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the city of Somersworth
District 2: wards 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the city of Dover, and the towns of Durham, Lee, and Rollinsford
District 3: Barrington, wards 5 and 6 of the city of Dover, Madbury, wards 2, 3, and 4 of the city of Rochester, and the town of Strafford.
Strafford County Commissioners are being represented by Shaheen & Gordon Attorney William E. Christie.
Christie is also asking that the court expedites the process so that a verdict can be reached prior to the General Elections this fall.
Whatever the outcome, Turcotte says Strafford County taxpayers shouldn't have to bear the fiscal burden.
"I only hope they use their own money and not county funds to pay for their lawsuit," he said on Wednesday.