by Ed Naile
Here is an odd one.
Newly elected State Rep. Jim Coffey of New Ipswich, NH, and a local official there at one time, was arrested for taking his own personnel file from the Hillsborough Town Office where he was the Town Administrator for 14 years.
He simply walked out with it in hand.
I know Jim Coffey and had dealings with him throughout his employment in Hillsborough. He is smart enough to know he can not take the originals from his file but can copy them.
In fact, it would have been smart and a good defense to have a certified copy of his employment file under his arm the day he left Hillsborough employment.
That leaves some questions.
Did he think he was saving his file from tampering?
Does he have evidence it was tampered with?
What the heck could be in the file that is worth being arrested over?
Boston late politician Tip O’Neil had a saying “All politics are local” which makes no sober sense if you are involved in local politics. You see your political opponents eye to eye every day and the emotions, actions, and results play out before you – as opposed to national politics where any victimized or happy taxpayers are far removed. But liberal news media like to quote liberal politicians even when they make no sense.
This dust-up in Hillsborough could be a case of clashing personalities not a problem personnel file – just my guess.
“All local politics are nasty.”