Fish and Game Commission recommends suspension of colleague
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May 22—CONCORD — The Fish and Game Commission voted 5-4 to recommend that Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council suspend Commissioner Susan Price of Moultonborough after concluding she broke a state law by suggesting she would clean house if she became interim director of the agency.
Following marathon deliberations on Tuesday, the commission approved the complaint of Col. Kevin Jordan alleging Price had told Human Resources Administrator Diedre Grimes that if she took over, she would get rid of Jordan or his wife, Lisa, who works as his administrative assistant.
"I thought it meant somebody wasn't going to be working upstairs any longer, you or someone else," Grimes told Jordan, who acted as his own counsel in this case.
The alleged conversation took place Dec. 19 in the first-floor hallway of the Fish and Game headquarters.
Price denied the conversation occurred and said she will appeal the decision to Associate Attorney General Thomas Velardi, who has acted as the presiding officer for the unprecedented proceeding.
"There are serious due process and constitutional flaws with this entire process. I was never given the opportunity to make my case," Price said during a telephone interview Wednesday.
"I haven't lost any sleep over this because people know I'm a person of good character and I would never engage in something like this."
Price has until June 27 to make an appeal; if Velardi rejects it, she said she would further appeal the dispute to the state Supreme Court.
If the Executive Council and Sununu agree with the recommendation, Price would no longer be a commissioner.
In 2021, Sununu had nominated and the Executive Council confirmed Price, a former Liberty Mutual director, to represent Carroll County on the 11-person commission with a term that ran through June 2026.
The commission noted that its decision is not final until it meets June 18 and reviews Velardi's report about the findings of fact and conclusions of law in the matter.
Executive Director Scott Mason said he won't seek another term running the agency and the commission has already begun a search to replace him.
Price did say she spoke with Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, about her interest in serving as interim director.
In a key ruling Tuesday, the Fish and Game Commission agreed, 7-3, with Jordan's conclusion that Price's discussions with Grimes met the legal standard of having "engaged" in personnel discussions with agency staff in violation of state law.
Cheshire County Commissioner John Cavaney of Spofford said to him it didn't rise to that level.
"If it was an offhand comment ... I can't find where she said she was going to act on that now as a commissioner," Caveney said.
Sullivan County Commissioner Bruce Temple of Claremont said he thought Grimes was "spooked" by the discussion she had with Price.
He did not believe to be serious the notion that either Jordan or his wife could lose their jobs.
"Col. Jordan, over 30 years of impeccable service to the community, he is not going to lose his job because of a hallway conversation," Temple said.
A short time later he added, "I don't think the commissioner was engaging in trying to get some action going."
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ray Green of Milford disagreed and said Grimes had every reason to fear for her job if she testified against Price in this matter.
"I take that as a threat. You say that to me, it's a threat," Green said.
Price's lawyer, William Woodbury, stressed during the hearing that even if the conversation had occurred, the statements alleged did not amount to any threat or rise to a violation of law.
