Ethics Fail: NH Rep Chairs Hearing for Personal Friend

by: Zandra Rice Hawkins

Sun May 15, 2011 at 13:09:19 PM EDT

This is an incredible story, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. Because the real story here is not the committee or the hearing itself, but the man who chaired it.

Hours into the committee hearing, and after the receipt of a formal complaint, Chair Paul Ingbretson (R-Pike) finally saw fit to inform his committee that during the period that the petitioner, David Johnson (currently legally barred from having any contact with his daughter, custody of whom is at the heart of his petition) was allowed to have supervised visits with his daughter, the person that Mr. Johnson chose as the third person to be present at those visits -- four hours long, once every week, for a period of one year -- was ... Chairman Paul Ingbretson.

This year, four representatives, Daniel Itse of Fremont, Paul Ingbretson of Pike, Al Baldasaro of Londonderry and Carl Seidel of Nashua, asked the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether grounds exist to justify the impeachment of one of those marital masters, [name*], for maladministration and malpractice ...

The lawmakers, in an inchoate collection of ambiguous allegations, accuse [name] of charges that include unfairly treating one David Johnson by denying him the ability to present evidence favorable to him and defrauding the court by altering documents. But Johnson appealed the marital master's order first to superior court and then to the New Hampshire Supreme Court and neither body found enough merit in his allegations to accept his petition for redress. And how, one might ask, can a judge be impeached for malpractice when every point in his decision was affirmed by a superior court and the Supreme Court?

Yet, neither these facts about the case or his involvement in it prompted Rep. Ingbretson to consider a conflict of interest on his part, and he wasn't alone:

"I was told by the speaker that I should continue," Ingbretson said.

Of course, now that this is getting media attention, Rep. Ingbretson's story is starting to change.

First, note what he says regarding his role in the hearing (stated in numerous outlets so forgoing a link here):

"Fifteen minutes in, I started thinking about it. I started getting restless about it. It finally just built up to a point when it was in doubt."

But that's not quite how it went down - it was over 2 ½ hours and after lunch and a formal complaint before the good-hearted Rep's conscience started to nag at him. And even then he had to be prompted by a committee member to take a formal vote on whether he should stay - note in the video his annoyed reaction to the Representative who suggested it.

Ingbretson also told reporters that he regrets not informing the other parties in the case, particularly the mother of the child in question, about the hearing. But again, that's not really the case. We have it on good authority that when approached before, during and after the hearing proceedings about this very topic, that Rep. Ingbretson brushed off this criticism and said those parties could be invited at a later date if necessary. As the girl's mother rightly told the Union Leader, it would be difficult for her to respond to any testimony since she had never been informed about the hearing.

This same issue was raised during a Redress of Grievances Committee just a few weeks ago, when both the Epping Police Department and the Epping School Board learned by chance that the committee was hosting a hearing on a matter which involved both departments.

"There are two sides to every story, which is precisely why disputes such as this are ill-advised for this body," Munsey, the superintendent, testified. [School Board chair] Dodge said he was upset that he was never informed about a grievance that condemned his department. "How many petitions will be brought before you start containing fictitious material?" Dodge asked. "This matter is a personnel matter that should not be before this committee.

Rep. Ingbretson's response at that time was that all parties would be invited to the committee if it went any further. But of course, as the mother pointed out, those parties would have no idea what statements were made in the first hearing.

So Ingbretson's sudden regret in the child custody-and-mass-impeachment hearing is really more about being caught than any true second-guessing on his part. (It should also be noted that in the school hearing, the Police Department and School Board declined to elaborate on details of the case for privacy matters and, as Chair, Ingbretson reminded him that "the committee has subpoena powers and should use them to unearth documents if they decide this complaint should go further." In the current hearing, David Johnson discussed private details of his daughter's medical problems without authorization.)

Lastly - or at least for the sake of the length of this post - it should be made abundantly clear that Rep. Ingbretson is, indeed, completely biased in this case despite his adamant statements that he is not and Speaker O'Brien's affirmation that "As long as all you're doing is conducting a hearing, and you're not voting on anything, I don't know where a conflict exists."

Please note video clip at 2:48, where Rep. Ingbretson tells the petitioner David Johnson "In theory, you would like me to be here so I don't want you to say anything." and urges him not to speak - likely because doing so would have further informed the committee of their close relationship and mutual friendship.

At the end of the day, though, the biggest failure of the state legislature and Speaker O'Brien's leadership team is not the ethics violation of an interested and biased party interfering in private family court matters. The biggest failure is protecting the rights of our citizens:

Amanda Grady, of the Coalition on Domestic and Sexual Violence, said she'd like more details of Ingbretson's role in what is an open family law case.

"We're saddened that once again a victim has not been notified of allegations made by an opposing party," she said, "and we have serious concerns about the rights of victims in these cases."
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[She] notes this custody fight has been going on in the courts for nine years.

"How can this man say it isn't a conflict when he's been spending every weekend driving more than halfway down the state for these meetings?" Grady said. "I feel terrible for the mother, because she feels so beaten down and is fearful she is going to lose custody."

The hearing continues this week. We'll provide an update at that time, including whether Rep. Ingbretson continues to chair it.

* I do not intend to post the name of the marital master who has already had his name mudslinged by this crew enough. Check the link if you are truly interested.