Big Booze, Big Bucks - Corruption in NH

On January 13, the Union Leader published an excellent story by Kevin Landrigan called Bootleg Booze: A NH to NY Pipeline. We learn that people from other states are coming to NH to make large purchases of cheap liquor. This isn't buying 10 cases of wine for a wedding. These are bulk purchases amounting to thousands of dollars....but only purchases up to $9,995 dollars. A cash purchase of over $10,000 requires filling out an IRS form. These modern day bootleggers don't want any records that might call into question where all that cash came from in the first place, so they split the cash payment between several purchasers, or pay half in cash and half on a credit card.  The act of splitting up a transaction to avoid the federal requirements is known as "structuring." NH Liquor Commissioner Joseph Mollica almost seems to be bragging about how cleverly NH skirts the law by looking the other way. 

Fast forward a month. NHPR gives us the latest on this same story. Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky calls for an investigation into the Liquor Commission after spending some time at a store where the bootlegging activity is taking place. He sent the governor a letter detailing his concerns. Particularly troubling is the finding that employees make large cash deposits, putting them at great risk. 

One might think that a warning of  potentially illegal and dangerous activities would be met with gratitude - especially before anything hit the proverbial fan - but one would be wrong. Instead of the thanks of a grateful state government, Councilor Volinsky was greeted with hostility and accusations. 

The very same paper that published Kevin Landrigan's story, printed this editorial, mocking Councilor Volinsky for reporting the same findings their own paper had printed weeks before. The very same paper printed this story featuring Jeanne Forrester, chair of the NH Republican Party, calling for an investigation into Councilor Volinsky, a month after publishing Kevin Landrigan's story. She called Volinsky's allegations "bizarre." It's amazing how a story can go from zero to "bizarre" in a month. It's almost as if there were some kind of partisan ideology afoot here. Oh, say it ain't so! 

Governor Chris Sununu said there were questions to be answered by both sides. Bothsiderism is very popular with today's Republicans. Our governor is a big Trump supporter. You'll remember that Trump said there were "good people on both sides" of the white supremacist march on Charlottesville last year. 

There was this from the NH Republican Party Chair:

Drop the disguise? He was dressed in jeans, a sweater, and a baseball cap on a weekend - in front of security cameras. He wasn't wearing a disguise like this guy:

It seems likely there were hundreds of visitors to that same store over that weekend who wearing a "disguise" just like Councilor Volinksky's. 

Oh, and speaking of "investigations conducted above board," there was one conducted by the Republican Speaker of the NH House in 2012:

“We need significantly more oversight to determine if this is a rogue agency,” said Republican Bill O’Brien in 2012, when he was Speaker of the New Hampshire House. He launched a bipartisan Special House Committee that year to conduct a wide-ranging review of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission.

The committee, which met twelve times between September and November 2012, was charged with investigating, among other areas, the Liquor Commission’s alleged use a government-hired lobbyist, how $100,000 worth of wine went missing in Portsmouth, how the agency handled government records, and - relevant to Volinsky’s current allegations - how the agency managed “bootlegging,” an industry term for large, all-cash transactions, usually involving out-of-state buyers."

Would Forrester and Sununu consider a committee launched by the GOP Speaker of the NH House, the patron saint of the liberty caucus, "above board?" Read more at  the NHPR story, which includes a link to the committee report.

It is dazzling that reporting on potentially illegal, seemingly corrupt, and dangerous practices can be blamed on the messenger. It wasn't problematic when it was O'Brien's committee...but suddenly, the very same story is causing the majority party to clutch their pearls in horror. 

For more on the story from Councilor Volinsky, listen to him on this podcast of The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen. Full disclosure: I was the producer of the show, so I was sitting right there as Andru talked about how thousands of dollars were counted right there on the counter in front of the windows. 

There are a lot of questions that need answering. Our state liquor store employees need to be protected. Our liquor commissioner has some explaining to do - and so do Jeanne Forrester and Chris Sununu. Their knee jerk reaction to Councilor Volinsky's findings is reprehensible. 

The Valley News calls for an investigation in this editorial. Not so the Union Leader. They suggest in this peculiar editorial that by not ignoring potentially illegal and corrupt activities, Andru is trying to give NH an INCOME TAX. That's right. They want him (and all of us) to turn a blind eye so that NH can keep on raking in the big booze bucks. 

There must be an investigation - an independent investigation. The money trail is going to be fascinating. 

WGBH 16th Annual Muzzle Awards

WGBH in Boston announced the winners of their 16th annual "Muzzle" Award. They honor those folks who have done their best to thwart freedom of the press.

This year, northern New England had two winners!

Maine Governor Paul LePage gets his third "Muzzle" since he took office. (This is his third year in office).

Editors at the Bangor Daily News must have known their request for public documents about concealed-gun permits last February would be controversial. After all, The Journal News of White Plains, NY, had already set off a firestorm by publishing an interactive map of gun owners on its website.

But the reaction to the BDN was so intense that it called into question the very nature of “public” records. State legislators, especially Republicans, denounced the newspaper. A “Boycott Bangor Daily News Don’t [sic] Tread on Us” page popped up on Facebook.

The BDN was clear that they had no intention of publishing personal information about gun owners.  

LePage recently secured his 4th Muzzle when he announced he'd no longer speak to 3 of the state's largest newspapers

And speaking of petty tyrants, New Hampshire was also an award winner.  Disgraced Former Speaker of the NH House Bill O'Brien won his "Muzzle" for the day he refused to admit Concord Monitor reporter Annmarie Timmins into a press conference, because he was miffed about a cartoon that had appeared in the paper. Annmarie didn't draw the cartoon - but the petty tyrant took his miffage out on her. 

William O’Brien is not one to brook much in the way of back talk. When a protest broke out in the House gallery during a budget hearing in the spring of 2011, he ordered state police to kick everyone out.

A year later, a fellow Republican legislator became so upset with what he saw as O’Brien’s attempts to silence him that he directed a toxic remark at the Speaker: “Seig Heil.” The legislator was ejected from the chamber and forced to apologize.

The cartoon was the direct result of the "Seig Heil" incident. 

This is one award richly deserved by the former speaker, a little Napoleon who attempted to rule the State House as if it were his own personal fiefdom. 

I sat in the House yesterday in wonder, as O'Brien made a floor speech telling his colleagues that the budget they'd just passed was the result of all of his hard work. Plain old Rep. O'Brien refused a committee assignment this session, because - well - after being royalty, mixing it up with the peasants was too dreadful to even contemplate. O'Brien did no work on the budget - or anything else. He showed up on Wednesdays to vote. The hardest work he did all year was yesterday, when he asked for two roll call votes. Yet, he gave himself a big old pat on the back, and informed his colleagues that this new budget was "his legacy." 

As repellent as I find him, I do marvel at O'Brien's ability to walk through the world unencumbered by facts or logic. 

Our very own NH award winner is running for Congress.  Pass the popcorn!