10/08/2024
As DHHS Commissioner, John Stephen Sugarcoats Disqualifying YDC Abuse Record by Boasting About Unused State Funds
On WMUR Close Up last month , John Stephen again claimed credit for mismanaging his budget as Commissioner of DHHS under Governor Craig Benson and once more failed to acknowledge that under his watch, countless juveniles were subject to horrific abuse at the now-John H. Sununu Youth Services Center.
The Portsmouth Herald reported that “In [Stephen’s] resignation letter, he took pride in returning $143 million unspent to the general fund.” Additionally, Stephen boasted in a letter to the editor at the Conway Daily Sun that “over my four years as commissioner, there were no budget shortfalls for DHHS. In fact, the department never asked for even a nickel in new taxpayer funds during my time there. The $143 million returned to the state taxpayers comes from audited figures from the department and outside auditors, and represents about $450 for a family of four New Hampshire residents.”
Meanwhile, the Youth Detention Center, now called the John H. Sununu Youth Services Center, was a hotbed of child abuse with seemingly no oversight by then-Commissioner Stephen and the effects are still being felt. Per NPR, “The allegations include hundreds of cases of assault and r**e that span over six decades.” NH Business Review notes that “From the 1980s into the early 2000s, complaints frequently arose concerning appalling conditions at the state-run facilities, but most of the serious child abuse was concealed from public view.” And now “close to 1,000 men and women have sued the state alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse [at the YDC].”
“John Stephen’s conduct as Commissioner of DHHS has been nothing short of abhorrent – allowing abuse of this nature is not only devastating, it’s disqualifying,” said NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley. “Electing him to New Hampshire’s Executive Council, which plays a vital role overseeing our state government, would be a grave mistake. Granite Staters in District 4 want an Executive Councillor that is reliable – not a dishonest, con man who was asleep at the wheel while children were suffering.”
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