SignalHub-New Hampshire newspaper publisher fined $620 over political advertisement omissions

DERRY,SignalHub N.H. (AP) — A judge has fined the New Hampshire publisher of a weekly community newspaper $620 after finding her guilty of five misdemeanor charges that she ran advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising.

The judge had acquitted Debra Paul, publisher of the Londonderry Times, of a sixth misdemeanor charge following a bench trial in November.

Paul initially faced a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine on each charge. But prosecutors did not ask for jail time. Instead, they requested a total fine of $3,720, plus 100 hours of community service. Paul’s lawyer asked for a $500 fine — $100 per each charge — and said she already performs a service and volunteers in the community. The judge issued his sentence late Wednesday.

Prosecutors said they warned her more than once that the ads didn’t have the required language. They said Paul disregarded the warnings.

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Her lawyer, Anthony Naro, said Paul, who’s never even had a speeding ticket and earns about $40,000 a year at the newspaper, simply made a mistake and has corrected the practice. He also said she “has dedicated her entire professional life to the community,” and does volunteer work.

“She was not disregarding the law. She misunderstood it,” Naro said.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office charged Paul last year, saying she failed to identify the ads with appropriate language indicating that they were ads and saying who paid for them as required by state law.

The office said it had warned her in 2019 and 2021. Last year, it received more complaints and reviewed the February and March issues of the paper. Two political ads leading up to a local election in March did not contain the “paid for” language and a third had no “political advertisement” designation, according to a police affidavit.

Shortly after her arrest, the 64-year-old put out a statement saying, “This is clearly a case of a small business needing to defend itself against overreaching government.”

Naro said at her trial that Paul never meant to break the law and tried to follow the attorney general’s office instructions.

Members of the community came to support her in court and others wrote letters on her behalf, including several newspaper publishers.

“I fully believe Deb when she insists she has been trying to do the right thing,” wrote Brendan McQuaid, publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, who has gotten to know Paul as a fellow member of the New Hampshire Press Association. He noted that many association members “were unaware of the strict language requirements dictated in the statute.”

State Rep. Kristine Perez of Londonderry, a Republican, spoke in court, saying she has been friends with Paul for years. She said she is sponsoring a bipartisan bill this legislative session that would remove the requirement from the law to use the “political advertising” notation in ads. She said she’s unsure that the current law “designates who has the responsibility for ads placed in the news outlets.”

Another supporter, Kevin Coyle, an attorney, said he was reminded of the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with a main character who doesn’t make a lot of money and serves his community.

“That’s what Deb Paul is,” he said. “She could have worked in business and could have made a lot more money, but she chose her passion, which is reporting.”