A UNH student who represents Bedford in the New Hampshire House of Representatives has been charged with a number of misdemeanors in relation to checks he allegedly bounced in Dover. He is also facing possible expulsion from the Legislature on grounds that he violated House ethics including abuse of power.
Rep. John Kerns, who is a political science and pre-law major currently living in Dover, was arrested in January and charged with four counts of writing bad checks and one charge of making unsworn falsification, or lying to the court.
He is also accused by the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee of bouncing a check for $4,000 with the "State of New Hampshire" written on it last summer. The panel also has said Kerns violated the House's code of ethics by using his title as representative to get a parking spot at the Dover Middle School and threatening officials after they asked him to stop parking there.
Kerns, 23, has repeatedly denied he violated any legislative rules and has said he feels his case is an example of young people in politics being singled out.
"I am young, and there are many attempts at removing legislators who the majority cannot reconcile or agree with," Kerns said in an e-mail. "I think any young person who worked at a job with 400 other people and found that only one or two of his or her peers was within 20 years of his or her age, he or she would [find] the same difficulties any minority encounters in a similar environment."
The first-term representative, who sponsored the controversial parental notification bill regarding abortions for minors which was signed into law last year by Gov. Craig Benson, has challenged the validity of the committee who has accused him of violating ethics rules. He has expressed repeatedly that the claims filed against him are groundless.
"The ethics committee is the standing witch-hunt branch of the legislature," Kerns said. "Its powers are judicially un-reviewed and unchecked and it's [an] arbitrary power that has been abused. I should not be charged with threatening to change public parking policies for the entire state. That does not characterize an ethics violation."
Kerns said he feels another reason charges are being made against him is due to a "serious neurological condition" from which he suffers, he said. He has been on medical leave from the House of Representatives since November and said the condition causes short-term memory loss, incapacitation and mistakes in judgment.
"I was diagnosed with a serious condition that affects my ability to do my job and has exacerbated situations with my peers," Kerns said. "I am a human being, which means I speak my mind, support independent causes and have transcended the political process socially."
After he allegedly wrote the bad check in Salem last summer, Kerns introduced a resolution declaring "misdemeanor offenses of any kind shall not constitute probable cause under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution." It was struck down in later debate.
This is not the first time Kerns' actions have been scrutinized by a legislative or governing body on which he served.
In December 2000 he was removed from the UNH Student Senate after the Executive Board found enough evidence to suggest he had sent a number of "terse e-mails" to a University administrator in which he described his role on the governing body.
Kerns, who was elected to represent commuter students, described these messages as "personal and not professional." He also argued he had not agreed to the restrictions put in place by the UNH Student Senate as condition of holding office, which state only the speaker can talk with the press and campus administrators about official Student Senate business.
Heidi Dufour Ames, who was the student body vice president at the time Kerns was removed, said his actions were inappropriate and they damaged the relationship Student Senate had with the administration.
"If we have a student senator acting in an inappropriate manner, it would affect the relationship with the community," she said in a telephone interview Monday. "I did not find that his conduct was appropriate as a senator."
Jenn Francque, who was a freshman senator at the time Kerns was voted out of office, said she voted in favor of the amendment introduced, which ultimately removed him from his position. She said she still thinks the decision was the right one to make considering the circumstances and the accusations made against him.
"At the time it was the right thing to do, and I stand behind that decision," Francque said yesterday afternoon. "It is not surprising [to hear about] his current situation."
Kerns acknowledged he served as a senator at UNH but denied any wrongdoing during his time with the organization. He also downplayed the role of the Student Senate in terms of its importance to holding political office.
"I wouldn't say Student Senate is any kind of a primer for actual service in a state
legislative body," Kerns said. "By comparison, [it] amounted to overrated town hall meetings."
In terms of his current situation involving the House of Representatives, Kerns said he would discuss the status of his health and his ability to perform his job with the General Court in Concord on Thursday. He said he would resign to a limited capacity as he did during his medical leave late last year.
In the meantime the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet again Wednesday to discuss its case against Kerns. He is also scheduled to go on trial in April for the charges against him in Dover.
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