Common Sense For New Hampshire

Does anybody out there doubt that if I read in the paper that Jim Bean was the subject of a criminal investigation with regard to his actions as a Belmar councilman that I would be writing extensively on the matter?

So where are the Democrats on the Ashbritt investigation?

Do they actually believe, as Doherty claims, that the mayor’s legal troubles are somehow Jim Bean’s fault?  Is that their official line?

Yes, it was Jim Bean that made the original complaint to the Dept of Community Affairs.  But the important thing here is what the DCA did with it.  If the allegations were as “baseless” as the mayor claims, they would have dropped it.

But they didn’t drop it.  And they didn’t simply slap Doherty on the wrist for violating the department’s ethics laws (allegedly.)  They referred the matter to the Sandy Fraud Working Group of the state Attorney General’s office for a criminal investigation.

So to believe the mayor’s claim that the allegations are baseless, that its all political, and that the whole episode is a waste of taxpayer money, you would have to believe either that Jim Bean somehow forced the State Department of Community Affairs to turn his allegations over to the Attorney General’s office for criminal investigation and that he also forced the Attorney General’s office to agree to investigate.  Or you would have to believe that the DCA and the state Attorney General’s office both decided to pursue “baseless” allegations against Doherty for “purely political” reasons.  The whole idea is ludicrous.  They may decline to actually press charges, but clearly the allegations are not baseless.

So what do the Democratic candidates have to say about the topic?  Do they think that the DCA and the Attorney General’s office investigate baseless charges for political reasons?  If this is what they think they should say so publicly.

I checked their Facebook page to find out.  It makes no mention of the issue at all.  Actually, there is no mention of any real issues.  Instead all we see is fluff about  “Working together for Belmar”  and “strength, cooperation and unity” etc, etc.

Maybe someone in the media could give them a call.  They need to say something.  The voters have a right to know.