Also on today’s menu:
Disbarred Attorney Faces Eight Class A Felonies
Boat Fire Contained On Ossipee Lake
All Or Nothing In Attempts To Control Campaign Donations
Legacy by Laconia, the team of developers planning to purchase the former Laconia State School property from the state, is moving forward with its plans, but at a scaled-down version that reduces the number of independent- and assisted-living and memory-care housing units from 590 to 195. The total number of new housing units was cut from 1,800 to about 1,260.
The loss of senior-care housing apparently is related to Jonathan McCoy’s departure from the development team. McCoy previously operated his own senior-living facility until it went bankrupt in 2017 amidst allegations that he had misappropriated money.
It is the latest change in redevelopment plans for the property that have been plagued by controversy. The New Hampshire Legislature had created a Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission to take a measured approach similar to the planning for the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, and the panel had worked on the project for years, until Governor Chris Sununu gave himself the authority in 2021 to sell the property without the traditional state oversight.
Charlie Arlinghaus, commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services, chose Legacy of Laconia to purchase the property for $21.5 million without checking the background of lead developer Robynne Alexander, who had a number of unfinished ventures, including one that was three years behind schedule and the subject of a lawsuit. The Executive Council delayed but ultimately approved of the sale.
Current plans include building a hotel, 200,000 square feet of retail space, pools, and mini-golf. Legacy by Laconia intends to use a federal tax-deferral program to raise $250 million of the estimated $400 million project costs.
While Laconia officials originally raised concerns about the state’s lack of oversight, Mayor Andrew Hosmer told The Bulletin on Monday that city officials have been working closely with the developers and were aware that they had eliminated nearly 530 units, including multi-family homes and townhouses. He said, “I’d rather have it at a scale that they can reasonably complete, so if they’ve scaled it back and increased the likelihood it will be taken through completion, then I can completely understand that.”
Disbarred Attorney Faces Eight Class A Felonies
A Hillsborough County-Northern District Superior Court Grand Jury has handed up indictments against 63-year-old former attorney David C. Dunn of Durham, charging him with four Class A felony counts of theft by misapplication of property and four Class A felony counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer while Dunn practiced law in Manchester. He was disbarred in 2022.
Attorney-General John Formella said the indictments allege that, between March 3, 2016, and June 9, 2021, Dunn took more than $1,500 from two revocable trusts and one estate; and between March 3, 2016, and June 9, 2021, he took another $1,500 from two trust accounts and one estate account over which he had control.
If convicted, Dunn faces between 7½ and 15 years in the New Hampshire State Prison and a $4,000 fine on each charge.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but an independent jury’s decision, after hearing from prosecutors, that sufficient evidence exists to warrant a court trial.
Boat Fire Contained On Ossipee Lake
New Hampshire State Police Marine Patrol is investigating a boat fire on Ossipee Lake in Center Ossipee that occurred on June 20 at 3 p.m., while members of Ward’s Boat Shop were conducting a water test on a 1998 Hurricane deck boat by Godrey Marine Company. They said some of the vessel’s operating systems began faltering. The operator, 68-year-old Kevin Wells of Freedom, was returning to the boat launch when the vessel flashed over and caught fire, resulting in him receiving superficial burns.
Marines Patrol says the boat came to rest against the docks at the Lakefront Landing Marina, causing fire damage there until firefighters were able to contained the fire and bring the boat to the launch ramp for removal.
Responding to the fire were Center Ossipee Fire, West Ossipee Fire, Action Ambulance, New Hampshire State Police Troop E and Marine Patrol, and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
All Or Nothing In Attempts To Control Campaign Donations
In attempting to limit campaign contributions, lawmakers have yet to get the right formula.
Senator James Gray (R-Rochester) attempted to place limits on how much candidates could receive from political committees, and how much they could transfer from their previous campaign, and his bill passed in 2022, capping the limit at $30,000 per cycle.
Politicians soon realized that the change meant that those having more than $30,000 in leftover campaign funds would not be able to use that money for their re-election campaign, so last-minute amendments to the state budget that Governor Sununu signed this year lifted the caps. Now any candidate, political action committee, or political advocacy organization can transfer an unlimited amount of money directly to a candidate during an election cycle.
Election reform advocates point out that the changes added in late May went through without a public hearing. Rather than restoring things to the way they had been, as intended, the change removed all constraints.
Prior to Gray’s bill, the state had a “voluntary expenditure limit” that allowed candidates to take a pledge to limit their campaign spending. Those who took the pledge were not limited on how much they could raise through political action committees, but their campaign spending for that cycle would be capped. Those who declined to take the pledge could spend freely, but were limited in how much they could raise from political organizations after filing for office.
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