Opinion: When Justice Is Sold — How Newmarket’s Attorneys Turned the Courts Against the People

By Jeffrey Thomas Clay

The recent decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court to award attorney fees to the Town of Newmarket — and by extension to its attorneys at Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella — is more than a legal misstep. It is a moral failure that exposes how far some public officials will go to twist justice into profit.

For years, I have fought to uncover what I believe to be clear and deliberate violations of New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law (RSA 91-A). I’ve shown how Newmarket officials and their attorneys concealed records, misrepresented facts, and used taxpayer funds to silence dissent. Yet instead of accountability, the system rewarded them — granting fees to those who, by any reasonable measure, acted with deceit.

Let’s call this what it is: theft by deception.
Under RSA 637:4, obtaining financial benefit through false representations is a crime. When town officials and their attorneys secure a court order built on concealment and misrepresentation, that’s not clever lawyering — it’s corruption in a suit.

The public must understand the gravity of this betrayal. This wasn’t a private dispute. It was a calculated abuse of authority carried out by a municipal government and its lawyers, using public money to punish a citizen for demanding transparency. Every check written from Newmarket’s treasury to Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella for these “fees” represents stolen public trust — a reward for deceit.

The damage goes far beyond one case. Every false statement filed, every concealed record, and every manipulated argument has corroded the integrity of New Hampshire’s judiciary. When the courts are deceived, the entire system suffers. The message this sends is chilling: that officials can violate the law, lie to the courts, and then bill the public for doing it.

Attorney Christopher Hawkins and Town Manager Stephen Fournier should not mistake this fleeting judicial order for vindication. It is not a victory. It is evidence — evidence of how the judicial process can be weaponized when those entrusted with power choose deceit over duty. Their actions have disgraced not just Newmarket, but the very idea of open government.

The Attorney General’s Office is now reviewing these actions, and rightly so. The people of New Hampshire deserve to know whether their courts were manipulated and whether taxpayer dollars have been used to finance fraud. Accountability is not optional — it is the lifeblood of public service.

I will say this without hesitation: I will never pay a penny to a criminal.
Not because of pride, but because to do so would legitimize corruption. It would tell every citizen that lies can be bought, that justice has a price, and that truth no longer matters.

The law should protect the people — not persecute them. The Supreme Court’s decision may stand for now, but history will not be kind to those who abused the system for gain. In time, their names will be remembered not as defenders of justice, but as men who sold it.