Bryan Gould is an attorney from Concord and has been recently nominated by Gov. Ayotte to a seat on the New Hampshire Supreme Court. A little background on her nominee . . .
Gould, who lives in Bow, received his law degree from University of Utah College of Law and began practicing in Nevada before joining the NH Bar in 1990. He is a director and shareholder at Cleveland, Waters and Bass a law firm in Concord. Additionally, he had served as counsel to former Gov. Craig Benson, and as special counsel to the NH Executive Council. During Ayotte’s campaign for governor, Gould served as her legal counsel.
Gould has represented many land use corporate clients in both civil and appellate litigation (concerned with or dealing with applications for decisions to be reversed), including Vermont’s Casella Waste. He is lead attorney for Casella in its current lawsuit against the NH Dept. of Environmental Services, after the company was denied a permit to build a landfill next to Forest Lake State Park in Dalton. (FYI, the governor is opposed to this project.)
But what the governor is not opposed to is the school voucher program that is slowly but surely decimating the state and public education.
Upon her nomination the governor stated, “I know Bryan will uphold our Constitution as he evaluates cases that come before the Court. Granite Staters will be well served by his fairness and sound judgment.”
Let’s back up.
On July 1st, the NH Supreme Court agreed with a 2023 Superior Court ruling that the state must radically increase education "base adequacy aid" by more than $500 million per year. But, the Supreme Court reversed part of the lower court ruling that called for the state to immediately increase public school funding, leaving it to “. . .the legislative and executive branches to remedy the constitutional deficiency. . .”. Like many predecessors before her, the governor has done nothing about both court rulings, calling it a “wrong decision.” And “We are evaluating the ruling to determine the appropriate next steps.” Shortly after, she nominated her legal counsel to a seat on the NH Supreme Court.
Does Bryan Gould feel the same way about funding public education as the governor does?
He did state, “Serving on the Supreme Court of New Hampshire means making a commitment to putting the law and the Constitutions of the United States and New Hampshire over one’s personal beliefs. Having argued before courts countless times, I understand the weight a judge’s decision carries and will be dedicated to the obligation to be fair and impartial in my decision making.”
That’s encouraging.
Here’s hoping he reads the NH Constitution, especially Article 83.