Suit seeking to kill HB 75 ID's plaintiffs as private citizens, county commissioners

From left, Strafford County Commissioners Bob Watson, Geoge Maglaras and Deanna Rollo; inset the lassuit's identification of plaintiffs involved

The Strafford County Commissioners chair declared on Friday he was suing the state's attorney general and secretary of state to overturn a bill that would change how the county elects its commissioners, not as a commissioner, but as a private citizen.
"I have the right to sue anyone as a private citizen, said George Maglaras, a Democrat and longtime chairman of the board. "I'm suing privately."
HB 75, first sponsored by state rep, Len Turcotte, would bring Strafford County in line with all of the state's other counties by separating the county into three separate districts, which Republicans believe would give them a better shot at getting at least one from their party onto the commission.
Right now Strafford County elects its commissioners through an at-large vote, which has kept the county in Democrat control for decades.
The lawsuit names Maglaras and fellow commissioners Robert Watson and Deanna Rollo as the plaintiffs, but when it comes to naming the "parties" in the suit they are all identified as Strafford County Commissioners, causing some confusion in the media when they report on the issue.
And while Maglaras specifically declared he was suing as a private person, when The Rochester Voice sought to confirm this through the commissioners' office in Dover, it was told they would have no comment and The Voice would have to contact the Shaheen & Gordon attorney representing them in the lawsuit.
More murkiness surrounds where the funds are coming from. The commissioners office was quick to point out earlier this week that Shaheen and Gordon were being paid by a "private party" and that "no county funds were being used," a notion that has many openly wondering who or what private entity would take on what is likely to be hefty bill from one of the state's premier law firms.

During Friday's meeting Maglaras reiterated a claim he has made many times that HB 75 "disenfranchises 90,000 voters."
Supporters of HB 75 were quick to condemn the lawsuit when it was first filed earlier this month.
Turcotte, R-Barrington, who originally sponsored the legislation, said 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.
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.
State Senator Jim Gray, R-Rochester, 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.
The Rochester Voice asked the Attorney Generals Office for comment, but since they are named as defendants in the case, they said they would have no comment. The Secretary of State's Office has said the same.
A preliminary hearing is set for next Thursday in Merrimack Superior Court.