Rep. Elaine French’s July 24 letter attacking Gov. Chris Sununu’s nomination of Gordon MacDonald to be the chief justice of the N.H. Supreme Court is not only laughable but hypocritical. French states that MacDonald (the present N.H. attorney general) is not qualified to be the chief justice in part because he “has zero judicial experience.”
MacDonald graduated from Dartmouth, earned his law degree from Cornell, helped create our first Civil Rights office and volunteered for the N.H. Domestic Violence Program. Additionally, MacDonald received glowing bipartisan recommendations and endorsements from lawyers and judges (including past N.H. chief justices) and no fewer than 18 past presidents of the N.H. Bar Association. Some of these individuals spoke out, not only because they found MacDonald to be eminently qualified but they were horrified that a partisan litmus test was being applied to an area of government that should be as free of politics as possible.
Rep. French, of Littleton, has served just 6 months in the Legislature. Prior to serving in the House of Representatives, was she elected to serve as supervisor of the checklist? No. Has she served as library trustee? No. Has she been town clerk? No. How about election to the school board? No. Has she served as selectman? No. Rep. French has no prior experience holding any elected office.
Based upon Rep. French’s own “litmus test,” maybe she should consider stepping down as our “representative.”
NICK De MAYO
Sugar Hill