April 26, 2019

Contact Name: Sara Persechino

Phone: (603) 271-3479

Email: Sara.Persechino@leg.state.nh.us

CONCORD—Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes and Senate Judiciary Chair Martha Hennessey are calling on Governor Chris Sununu to disclose the notes and back-up receipts used to justify paying members of the Sununu family, who were also inaugural fund board members, from his gubernatorial inaugural fund.

As NHPR recently reported, the Sununu Inaugural Committee is refusing to release documents, including back-up receipts, it claims justifies payments in excess of $100,000 to the Governor's family members and political advisors who also serve on its board of directors. The committee’s payments include nearly $50,000 each to Governor Sununu's sister, Catherine Sununu, and the Sununu family's closest political advisor, Paul Collins, both of whom sit on the organization's board and therefore represent conflicts of interest according to the organization's own policies. Senate Bill 105, which Governor Sununu recently endorsed, would require, among other things, the disclosure of back-up receipts for inaugural committee payments to a Governor or his or her immediate family. The House Election Law committee recently unanimously supported Senate Bill 105.

"Based on the governing policy for Governor Sununu's own inaugural committee, the exorbitant payments to Sununu, his immediate family, and his committee board members represent a conflict of interest,” said Senators Dan Feltes (D-Concord) and Martha Hennessey (D-Hanover). “If Governor Sununu's Inaugural Committee has notes from meetings or any other back-up receipts that they believe justify the committee sending more than $100,000 to the Governor's own family, he should be transparent and finally release them to public. The public has a right to know how Governor Sununu justifies paying himself and his family tens of thousands of dollars from this slush fund of corporate special interest money."