Special Board of Aldermen 09-16-2021 Page 11
As aresult, the amount of misinformation given to our residents to gain signatures for this petition is
astonishing. | personally witnesses a State Representative — actually two — in their official capacity with
name badges and all from here in Nashua at Market Basket on Amherst Street collecting signatures and
telling voters that the members of the Police Commission were State officials and not Nashua residents.
They also denied that this Board of Aldermen had already weighed in on this issue.
Let me clear up some myths about this issue. The Police Department is not going to become more
transparent with this proposed change. The Police Commission is currently encompassed of local
residents of Nashua and not some nefarious group making decisions in the shadows. The current
Governor Sununu did not appoint one person to this Commission. Rather, he chose to carry over the
appointments by the former Governor Maggie Hassan. The Police Commission is not going to be more
accountable or have better oversight because you the Aldermen under our Charter still have control over
the approval of their budget. This is nothing more than a power grab by our Mayor and the removal of one
Police Commissioner who they’ve gone to great lengths to sully the reputation of and his wife who sits with
you as an elected Alderman.
Finally, | wanted to tell you that | am proud of our Nashua Police Department. It is the envy of all police
departments in this State. Not only are we nationally accredited, well trained, and over seen by a
professional command staff. More importantly, the Nashua Police Department is free of any local political
influence.
Alderman O’Brien
Thirty seconds.
Matthew Gouthro
Thank you. My mother told me nothing good happens after midnight and in that same vein, nothing good
for this city will happen when something like this is rushed and its affects not studied. At the end of the day,
there is no compelling reason to change this and we should keep it the way it is. Thank you.
Diane Lothrop
My name is Diane Lothrop. I’m at 10 Althea Lane in Nashua. I’ve been a homeowner, citizen, and
taxpayer in Nashua for 38 years. | am absolutely opposed to this power grab by our Mayor. There have
been plenty of past indiscretions by Nashua city leaders in the city’s history and we must preserve the
integrity of the Nashua Police Commission to investigate corruption and criminal activity without fear of
reprisal. Most of us remember the Board of Aldermen scandal in 1993 when three BOA members did some
prison time after being implicated in the scandal that involved peddling influence, mail fraud, and extortion.
The three BOA members were prosecuted and convicted after and thanks to the Nashua Police
Department investigation.
Mayor Donchess has tried to downplay the Nashua PD’s role in that investigation and mislead Nashua
voters making false claims saying they had no real involvement in this case and that it was a federal
investigation. That is simply not true. Just look at the case file and see for yourselves that the investigation
began locally by the Nashua PD into a single allegation by one sitting alderman and only after the
investigation grew to three sitting aldermen and more serious charges did it become a federal issue.
Thanks again to the involvement of the great Nashua Police Department. The Mayor knows this but he
doesn't let facts get in the way.
The facts are critical to this whole debacle brought about by Mayor Donchess’ power hungry fight to build
up his empire. Changing how the Police Commission is selected will let politics control law enforcement
decisions. We need to make sure that there is no interference from the Mayor’s office into police matters.
We need to maintain the integrity of the Police Commission as a separate entity...
