GOP Demands Inquiry Into Liot-Hill; Impeachment on the Table

Karen Lot Hill

CONCORD — The New Hampshire Republican State Committee on Thursday asked Attorney General John Formella to open an investigation into Executive Councilor Karen Liot-Hill, alleging she used her taxpayer-funded office to aid a political law firm’s challenge to the state’s voter-ID and absentee ballot safeguards.

In a letter signed by party chairman James MacEachern, Republicans said “numerous messages” sent from Liot-Hill’s Executive Council email show “electioneering on behalf of a political law firm” — Elias Law Group — and argued the conduct reflects “a pattern of unethical behavior.” The letter also cites earlier controversies involving campaign finances and references past DUI arrests as part of the party’s case for an inquiry.

“Granite Staters expect their elected officials to use their positions to serve the people, not to further their political interests,” the letter states, urging Formella to “immediately investigate” the councilor’s communications and activities.

House Deputy Majority Leader Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) followed with a separate statement calling for Liot-Hill’s resignation and vowing to file articles of impeachment if she declines to step down.

“Published emails show Executive Councilor Karen Liot-Hill used her official office to help a partisan, Washington D.C. law firm recruit plaintiffs to sue New Hampshire over our voter-ID and absentee safeguards. That’s not public service; that’s political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox,” Sweeney said.

“Under the New Hampshire Constitution, Executive Councilors can be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate for corruption, malpractice, or maladministration,” he added. “When the legislative filing period opens next month, I will draft and file Articles of Impeachment against Councilor Liot-Hill.”

Sweeney said Liot-Hill should “immediately release every record related to her coordination with outside litigants and resign from the Executive Council,” adding: “If she won’t do the right thing, the House will do its duty.”

The GOP letter references published emails indicating Liot-Hill used her official account while communicating about potential legal challenges to the state’s election laws and directing would-be plaintiffs to Elias Law Group. The party frames that as electioneering from a government address and asserts it violates ethical norms for public officials.

Liot-Hill’s office did not issue a public statement in the GOP materials circulated Thursday. The Attorney General’s Office typically confirms receipt of formal complaints before determining whether to investigate; the Republican State Committee’s request asks Formella to do so “as soon as possible.”

The five-member Executive Council approves major state contracts and gubernatorial nominations. Liot-Hill, a Democrat, represents District 2. Republicans said their request to Formella is intended to reinforce public confidence in New Hampshire’s election safeguards and to ensure that “no official…is above accountability,” as Sweeney put it.