This opinion piece was first published in the Portsmouth Herald and is republished with the permission of Peter Loughlin.

By Peter J. Loughlin

For over 30 years, I have served on the Board of Directors of the Pease Development Authority. For much of that time, I was Vice-President of the Pease Council and Chairman of the Harbor Committee. In this capacity, I worked closely with Geno Marconi, the director of the port. Geno is one of the most honest, dedicated, hardworking and competent public servants I have ever met.

In mid-April, the entire Guard Development Authority Board was summoned to Concord for a closed-door meeting with Gov. Chris Sununu and his attorney general. On April 18, representatives of the attorney general attended a PDA meeting where they had a “counsel of counsel” with the board. Immediately afterwards, without any explanation, Captain Marconi was escorted out of the meeting, relieved of his duties, forbidden from his office and from communicating with Port employees; and his phone, computer and related materials were confiscated. In addition, his texts, phone records, and financial records were seized and a grand jury impaneled.

After damaging Geno’s reputation with a public suspension; after examining Geno’s personal life and finances; after grilling several witnesses under oath before a grand jury with questions suggesting Geno had done something nefarious, and after 6 months and tens of thousands of dollars spent in public funds, the attorney general’s office found nothing to justify a suspension. alone months of torment. Instead of issuing an apology, the attorney general obtained indictment with petty charges, perhaps to try to justify this investigation.

So, an exemplary civil servant with 20 years of service was thrown out of office, suspended by the PDA at the request of the Attorney General, subjected to a six-month prosecution, without any hearing or notice; and what was the April 18 allegation that set off this draconian series of events? It was alleged that the Harbormaster gave the Chairman of the Harbors and Harbors Advisory Board information regarding a permit issued to a PDA Board member to use and access the wharf(s) in Rye Harbour. If this allegation is true, it should have been handled administratively by the portmaster’s supervisor rather than a major grand jury investigation by the Attorney General.

Since there has still been no reason for the urgency of convening a public council in a non-public meeting with the governor, it is time for a public explanation of the alleged allegations that prompted this whole extraordinary episode and who made those allegations.

As regards taxes against Geno’s wife, Judge Anna Barbara Hantz-Marconi; Is there any serious person who read the indictment and didn’t wonder “is this some kind of sick joke?” Judge Marconi, an erudite, consummate, hard-working jurist with an unblemished record, made an appointment and discussed with the governor the problem her need to recuse herself from the court. Incredibly, Governor Sununu and the Attorney General he appointed consider an open and honest conversation to be somehow the “crime of undue influence”. Now that the Attorney General has finally released all of her “evidence” on Geno, it seems clear that Judge Marconi was correct when, as alleged in the indictment, she stated that “the investigation into Geno Marconi was the result of personal actions , pettiness and/or political biases; that the charges against or the subsequent investigation into Geno Marconi were unfounded.”

The Marconi family now faces the suffering, expense and subsequent turmoil that comes with being criminal defendants fighting to clear their names.

It saddens me to think that this type of action could happen in New Hampshire and that two dedicated public servants could have their reputations impugned for doing their job.

Respectfully submitted: Peter J. Loughlin October 31, 2024

Peter Loughlin graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and practiced law on the coast for 50 years before retiring. He was joint PDA representative for Newington and Portsmouth from 1990 to 2021.

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