Paranoia on full display by a Strafford County Commissioner

Strafford County Commissioner Chair George Maglaras testifying on Monday before House committee (NH House screenshot)

In a nine-minute rant this past Monday unbecoming of the Chairman of our County Commissioners, George Maglaras testified in front of the House Municipality and County Government committee on a bill by Rep Horrigan that would undo the districting for county commissioners that took place last term.

That legislation brought Strafford County in sync with the other nine counties in NH for the first time. Rep Horrigan attempted this same legislation last year and it failed. It will fail again.
The testimony was filled with outright lies, multiple mistruths and contained a heavy dose of paranoia. It can be viewed at the link at the bottom of the page, beginning at the 2:12:45 mark. Let's start with the latter, paranoia.
Throughout his testimony, Maglaras constantly stated that "this was done to get me politically," "the city of Dover was divided up to get me," and "they found out where I lived and districted to get me."

Being extremely involved with the state's redistricting committee in 2020, and the districting of the county commissioners, I can unequivocally state none of that to be true. We even gave the Democrats the option of putting forth an alternative districting map at a Committee of Conference, which they declined to do.

Maglaras then mentioned that no Republican ran against him in the recent commissioner election. If someone was truly out to get him, I think a competitor would have probably emerged, no? And for the myriad times he stated that "they" were politically motivated to get him, he finished up his speech with "I don't care about me." Based on Maglaras' testimony and his perspective, this appears to be all about Maglaras.
Maglaras mentioned that "no one in the public asked for this (the districting)".

I'm very confident Mr. Maglaras does not have access to my or other Strafford County Republican members' email accounts, so he was not in receipt of such requests many of us received. If he meant at hearings, that's possible. Though to be fair, county public hearings normally draw few to zero members of the public. So, as an example, if we relied on public testimony from citizens before we passed a budget, no budget would ever get passed!
Next, he mentions that "the county delegation should make these decisions" (for districting). Well, of course he believes that. The county delegation is made up of roughly two-thirds Democrats. If the only avenue to get Republicans who represent 42% of the county's citizens in our county some representation at the commissioner's table was to take a vote of the delegation, it would never happen. We know this as the county budget proffered by the commissioners, that every county citizen must live by, is rubber-stamped by the democratically controlled delegation each time it is offered.
Maglaras again trotted out his "I believe this redistricting to be unconstitutional" theory. Maybe he has forgotten about the lawsuit he and the other two previous commissioners brought forward based on his theory. That lawsuit failed.
He also mentioned again that "it only passed by one vote, and one vote was illegal" (regarding the House vote on the district map). Even if the vote he references would have been found "illegal" (it was not), the vote would have resulted in a tie which would have been broken by the Speaker in favor of the bill, which happened many times last session. For someone who touted his previous time in the House, I guess George never gained knowledge of the parliamentary process.
Maglaras also stated several times that "90,000 voters are now disenfranchised" by preventing them from voting (that is the approximate number of citizens in our entire county). That's an interesting and perplexing statement, one I'm not sure I or even he understands. Disenfranchisement occurs when a certain segment of a voter population has little to no impact on the overall result, or they lack representation. The only disenfranchisement that has occurred is that until this past election when the county held its first districted election, Republicans in Strafford County have been unrepresented in the Commissioner's office 58 out of 60 times. Maglaras' absurd proposition is to now take away the county's current Republican representation at the Commissioner's table by returning the county to complete Democrat control as it has been for the last 40 years of Maglaras' tenure. That is quite an illogical, but truly political, thought process. In a county that is roughly 58% Democrat, electing commissioners at-large guarantees no Republican Commissioners to represent our 42% of Republicans. That is true disenfranchisement.
Yes, it was quite the performance and very unworthy of the Chairman of our Strafford County Commissioners.
House Municipal and County Government (02/10/2025) - YouTube CLICK HERE

- State rep. Len Turcotte,

Barrington

NH House Strafford District 4