In their lawsuit, Berry and Murphy objected to questions about abortion rights, public school funding, and LGBTQ+ issues, while also claiming the questionnaire would be illegal regardless of the topics addressed. They accused the library of violating the state law that prohibits public employees from using government resources for electioneering.
Get N.H. Morning Report
A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox.
But only the New Hampshire Attorney’s General’s Office has authority to enforce state election laws, and nothing in the anti-electioneering statute even implies private parties have any legal right to file civil litigation of their own, according to Tuesday’s ruling from Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Michael A. Klass.
Advertisement
As a result, Klass concluded Berry and Murphy were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their case. He denied their request for a temporary restraining order and dismissed their lawsuit altogether.
Berry said he was “deeply disappointed that the judge sidestepped the core issue” in this case.
“While I respect the court’s decision, I fundamentally disagree with the notion that citizens cannot seek relief through the courts when public employees violate election laws,” he said.
Dianne Hathaway, director of the Goffstown Public Library, said her team appreciates the court’s expedited decision and remains confident library staff didn’t violate the law. Work on the questionnaire is “proceeding on schedule,” and library trustees will make the final decision on whether to publish the responses as planned, she said.
“Our goal is to post information by early next week,” she added.
Advertisement
A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Department of Justice told The Boston Globe the DOJ’s Election Law Unit was still working on its response to a formal complaint regarding this dispute.
Murphy said Tuesday he hopes the attorney general will “do his job” and find that Goffstown Public Library violated the law.
The second floor of the Goffstown Public Library in Goffstown, N.H.Steven Porter/Globe Staff
In a preliminary assessment of the situation, Brendan A. O’Donnell, chief of the DOJ’s Election Law Unit, wrote in a Sept. 27 email that the library sent the questionnaire to all candidates on the ballot in local races for New Hampshire House and Senate and offered to publish their answers unedited.
“If a candidate disagrees with the premise or wording of a particular question, there is no reason the candidate could not use part of their answer to explain why they disagree with the premise of the question,” he wrote.
Advertisement
O’Donnell concluded municipal entities aren’t blanketly prohibited from engaging in candidate forums and questionnaires, though the law does impose limits on how employees may use government resources to talk about election-related issues.
Generally speaking, the type of electioneering that is off-limits for public employees using government resources is that which “expressly advocates for the success or defeat of a candidate or measure being voted at an election,” O’Donnell said via the DOJ spokesperson.
That initial assessment didn’t stop Berry and Murphy from filing their lawsuit without hiring an attorney to represent them.
In an interview after a court hearing Friday, Berry said the idea that a government entity would assemble this questionnaire is so wrong that he “shouldn’t need an attorney to fight it.”
“If this is allowed to happen and the questions are allowed to be biased, you can imagine what 2026 is going to look like or what the municipal elections are going to look like,” he said.
Advertisement
A teen-oriented section on the second floor of the Goffstown Public Library in Goffstown, N.H., prompts visitors to vote on whether zombies or vampires would win in a head-to-head showdown.Steven Porter/Globe Staff
The anti-electioneering law says it’s a misdemeanor for any public employee to use government property or equipment “to act in any way specifically designed to influence the vote of a voter on any question or office.”
Berry argued that means a public library cannot collect and publish even basic biographical facts about candidates, such as their ages, without running afoul of the law.
“There is no information they can present that won’t in some way ‘influence the vote of a voter,’” he said during Friday’s hearing.
Steven M. Whitley, an attorney for the library, contended that his client seeks to help voters understand candidates’ positions on certain timely topics, not tell them which candidates to support or oppose.
“The library’s position is that the intent is to educate the public. That is the intent of the questions,” he said. “That is why they contain some topics that are politically charged.”
Advertisement
Of the 14 candidates who were invited to complete the library’s questionnaire, Hathaway said Tuesday the library had received responses from five Democrats and zero Republicans.
“However, since the published answers will be in a digital format, late responses can be added if candidates change their minds,” she added.
Two of the Democrats who responded to the questionnaire, F. Eric Emmerling and Marie B. Morgan, are running in Hillsborough County’s House District 44 against Berry and fellow Republican nominee Lisa Mazur. The district has two seats.
The other three Democrats who responded — Jim Craig, Judith Gaynor Johnson, and Melanie Renfrew-Hebert — are running with fellow Democrat Judi Lanza in Hillsborough County’s House District 29 against Republican nominees Joe Alexander Jr., Sheila Seidel, Henry R. Giasson III, and Sherri Reinfurt.
Michael York, the Democratic nominee challenging Murphy for his Senate District 16 seat, didn’t respond to the library’s questionnaire and has not responded to the Globe’s inquiries regarding this lawsuit.
Advertisement
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
Three people suffered injuries in a two-vehicle collision early Tuesday morning in Hooksett, New Hampshire.Courtesy of New Hampshore State
Three people suffered serious injuries Tuesday in a two-vehicle crash in Hooksett, N.H., police said.
The head-on collision happened around 5:40 a.m. on Interstate 293 northbound, State Police said.
Police said that Timothy Hubbard, 43, of Rome, Maine, was traveling south when he lost control of his car and crossed the median into oncoming traffic, police said.
Hubbard, his passenger, and the other driver were taken to hospitals to be treated for serious injuries, police said. The injures were not believed to be life-threatening.
Advertisement
Police said speed was believed to be a factor in the crash, which is under investigation.
Hannah Goeke can be reached at hannah.goeke@globe.com.
Franklin, NH – Sara Jane (Sanford) Doherty, 79, of Franklin, New Hampshire, passed away peacefully at her home on June 11, 2026. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Sara was born on June 5, 1947, in Hanover, New Hampshire, to Harold and Sadie (Pettengill) Sanford.
As the daughter of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employee, Sara spent her childhood moving throughout New England, living in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. She graduated from high school in Hudson, Massachusetts, and later returned to New Hampshire, eventually settling in Franklin, where she made her home for more than forty years.
Sara built a successful career in the textile industry. She worked as a seamstress at Howland Originals before joining Star Specialty Knitting, where she began as a stitcher and, through hard work and determination, advanced to Plant Manager. She retired in 2003, and one of the greatest joys of her retirement was caring for several of her grandchildren, whom she adored.
Advertisement
Sara was a remarkably talented and creative artisan. She sewed clothing for her children when they were young and later created outfits for her grandchildren and their dolls. She was a gifted painter and artist whose extraordinary drawings and paintings brought joy to those around her. An accomplished seamstress, knitter, crocheter, cake decorator, and musician, Sara had an exceptional ability to create beauty in many forms. Her handmade gifts and treasured creations will be cherished by her family for generations to come.
Her talent for cake decorating blossomed into a successful side business that spanned more than thirty years. Sara created hundreds of stunning and imaginative cakes, including wedding and birthday cakes for her own children and grandchildren. Her passion for baking was so well known that for many years her license plate proudly read “CAKES+.”
Sara also had a remarkable gift for bringing people together. She hosted countless family reunions, each one more creative than the last. With elaborate themes, games, prizes, delicious food, and endless laughter, she created memories that her family will treasure forever. She was also known for her generous holiday gatherings, often welcoming more than thirty family members and friends into her home for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Summers brought cherished Fourth of July cookouts by Webster Lake, where Sara delighted in decorating the waterfront and gathering loved ones to enjoy the annual boat parade.
Sara’s love of giraffes was known by all who knew her. She spent years collecting hundreds of them, giving each a special “G” name. Before her passing, she shared one of her favorites, “Geebri,” with her granddaughter Sydni, who is expecting Sara’s first great-grandchild.
Her warmth, creativity, generosity, and love of family touched everyone who knew her. To say she will be missed is a vast understatement. She was truly the heart of her family.
Advertisement
Sara leaves behind her devoted husband of 43 years, Joel Doherty; her sons, Todd (Michelle) Chapman of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, and Paul (Cheryl) Chapman of Northfield, New Hampshire; her stepdaughters, Ali (Oliver) Frates of Amherst, New Hampshire, and Kate Hodge of Durham, New Hampshire; and her beloved grandchildren, Shelby, Sydni, Morgan, Owen, Duncan, Calum, Macy, and Elyse, and Step-grandchildren, Matthew, Jennifer, Eric, & Kevin.
Sara was predeceased by her parents.
Sara’s family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to Franklin VNA for their rapid and seamless response in setting up hospice, and to The Payson Center for their dedication and care, which gave us more precious time with her.
A graveside service will be held on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 11:00 AM in Franklin Cemetery, Thompson Park in Franklin.
For more information or to leave the family an online condolence, please visit www.smartmemorialhome.com.
Advertisement
Click here to sign the guest book or honor their memory with flowers, donations, or other heartfelt tributes
A staple of many New Hampshire town fairs, the pig scramble may soon look a little different.
A bill signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte last week requires the commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture to create best practices for any event in which people compete to capture a pig. Those guidelines will be published before the 2027 fair season, so they won’t be in place for any fairs with pig scrambles this year, such as the upcoming Deerfield Fair in the fall.
Generally, a pig scramble involves people of the same age competing to capture pigs that have been let loose in a large pen. Contestants have to catch the pig in a drawstring bag, and the first one to do so can take the pig home.
Rep. Cathryn Harvey, a Democrat from Spofford, is the prime sponsor of the bill. She said each fair has different rules for their pig scrambles, meaning some can be more humane than others. One aspect of the events she hopes will change is the bags pigs are captured in.
Advertisement
“They’re putting an animal in a plastic bag on a hot summer day,” Harvey said. “It isn’t a great idea.”
Although some fairs already use more breathable bags out of burlap, Joan O’Brien, president of the New Hampshire Animal Rights League, said she’s also seen pigs being kept in plastic bags for long periods of time after the event. Not only would a burlap bag improve the pig’s ability to breathe in the heat, she said, but she also wants fairs to require participants to bring an animal carrier for the trip home. Her organization was ultimately in favor of the legislation.
“If you don’t have a carrier, you should not be allowed to leave your pig lying in a bag,” O’Brien said, adding that some fairs already ask contestants to bring carriers. “You should be taking them right home.”
The Deerfield Fair has implemented another rule that O’Brien and Harvey hope becomes part of statewide best practices — having parents supervise their child in the pen. O’Brien once witnessed a child hang a pig upside down by its legs and then lower it headfirst into the bag.
“In the heat of the moment, the kids get excited and they just do whatever it takes to get the pig in the bag,” O’Brien said. She said parents should work with the event referee to make sure their kid is handling the pig humanely.
Advertisement
Harvey’s bill originally called for pig scrambles to be banned around the state, but both she and O’Brien feel that universal guidelines for fairs would still make the experience better for the animals. Even seemingly small things, Harvey said, like giving the pigs water after the scramble, would be an improvement to the current situation for them.
“I think that the bill will embolden people to speak up at these events,” O’Brien said. “If they think a pig is being mistreated, they’ll be able to say to themselves, ‘I know that there’s supposed to be a rule, so I’m going to say something.’ So I think that would be a good outcome.”
