Local New Hampshire newspaper publisher found guilty of political advertisement omissions
CONCORD, N.H. — A judge has found the New Hampshire publisher of a weekly community newspaper guilty of five felonies in which she placed ads for local races without properly marking them as political ads.
The judge on Thursday acquitted Debra Paul, publisher of the Londonderry Times, of a sixth offense after a trial in November. She will be sentenced on December 20.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to one year in prison and a $2,000 fine.
The New Hampshire attorney general's office sued Paul last year for failing to identify the ads with “appropriate language,” indicating they were ads and saying who paid for them, as required by state law .
The office said it warned her in 2019 and 2021. Last year it received more complaints and reviewed the February and March issues of the newspaper. Two political ads in the run-up to local elections in March did not contain the “paid” language and a third did not have the “political ad” designation, a police statement said.
Shortly after her arrest, the 64-year-old issued a statement saying: “This is clearly a case of a small business having to defend itself against an overreaching government.”
Her attorney, Tony Naro, said during her trial that Paul never intended to break the law and tried to follow instructions from the attorney general's office.
Naro said in an email Friday that while disappointed with the convictions, we are “considering all legal options” after Paul is convicted.
“What should not be lost in this story is that my client is a small business owner who provides an important service to the community,” Naro said. “With the rapid disappearance of small independent newspapers, I hope the community will continue to support the Londonderry Times.”
Paul was also a member of Londonderry City Council, but did not stand for re-election in March. She responded to a request for comment Friday by addressing another judge's recent order on a Right-to-Know lawsuit she filed against the city to make public a complaint the city manager filed against her in February submitted. The judge ruled in her favor and called the complaint frivolous. The complaint and lawsuit are related to the political advertising case, she said.