The Monitor buried the lede
Your recent profile of Ward 5 Councilor Stacey Brown buried the lede.
This is not primarily a story about golf clubhouses, council seating charts, or whether a councilor is “scrappy” or “polarizing.” The real story is that Councilor Brown has aligned herself with Jason Gerhard — a former state representative who served 12 years in federal prison for aiding and abetting Ed and Elaine Brown during their armed standoff with law enforcement — and is now attempting to influence a grand jury investigation into the City of Concord.
That is extraordinary. And it deserved more than a passing mention.
Gerhard and Councilor Brown were recently tabling outside the Merrimack County Superior Courthouse, seeking to persuade a grand jury to investigate the city. Grand juries are intended to operate independently, free from political pressure and public manipulation. When an elected city official publicly partners with a convicted accomplice in a notorious anti-government standoff to push for a criminal investigation of her own city government, that is not routine dissent. It raises serious questions about judgment, respect for legal process and the boundaries of responsible public service.
Reasonable people can disagree about city finances. They can disagree about the Beaver Meadow clubhouse. They can debate tax policy and reserve funds.
But attempting to rally public pressure around a grand jury — alongside an individual whose criminal history stems from aiding an armed confrontation with federal authorities — is in a different category altogether.
Concord residents deserve vigorous debate. We deserve watchdogs. We deserve accountability.
What we do not deserve is the normalization of tactics that blur the line between civic disagreement and attempts to weaponize the criminal justice system for political ends.
That is the real story.