$1,200 Is the Cost of Criminal Activity
According to New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, this was “a sad and unfortunate case that reflects a serious breach of the public trust.”
That’s one way to describe a sitting state Supreme Court justice arranging a private meeting with the governor to discuss an active criminal investigation into her husband — and then telling the governor that the investigation “needed to wrap up quickly.” Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi called it personal. The rest of us might call it tampering.
Her punishment? A $1,200 fine.
That’s it. No jail. No probation. Not even a suspension longer than a Netflix binge. The same justice who once ruled on questions of ethics and law was found guilty of misusing her position — and can still, theoretically, return to the bench or practice law later.
Attorney General Formella said, “No one is above the law.” But the fine says otherwise. When the cost of criminal conduct from the state’s highest court is less than the average monthly rent in Concord, the message isn’t accountability — it’s affordability.
If the public trust is only worth $1,200, we should start passing the hat to buy it back. Because while Justice Marconi pays her fee and walks away, the rest of us are left footing the real bill — the erosion of confidence in the very system that claims to protect us.