Kelly Ayotte

Kelly A. Ayotte (born June 27, 1968) is the junior United States Senator from New Hampshire and a member of the Republican Party. Earlier, she served as the Attorney General of New Hampshire.

Early life, education, and career
Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire on June 27, 1968, the daughter of Kathleen M. (née Sullivan) and Marc Frederick Ayotte. Her father's family is French-Canadian. She attended Nashua High School. She received a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University in political science. In 1993, Ayotte graduated from Villanova University School of Law, where she had served as Editor of the Environmental Law Journal. She is fluent in French.

Ayotte clerked for Sherman D. Horton Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, for one year. From 1994 to 1998, she was an associate at the Manchester law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton. In 1998, she joined the office of the New Hampshire Attorney General as a prosecutor. In 2003, Ayotte became legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson. Three months later, she returned to the Attorney General's office becoming Deputy Attorney General. In June 2004, Ayotte was appointed Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire by Governor Craig Benson following Peter Heed's resignation as Attorney General.

Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
In 2003, the Federal District Court for the District of New Hampshire found the New Hampshire law requiring parental notification of a minor's abortion, the Parental Notification Prior to Abortion Act, unconstitutional and enjoined its enforcement. In 2004, New Hampshire Attorney General Peter Heed appealed this ruling to the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which affirmed the District Court's ruling. In 2004, Ayotte appealed the Appeals Court's ruling to the Supreme Court, over the objection of incoming Democratic governor John Lynch. Ayotte personally argued the case before the Supreme Court. Lynch, upon assuming office as governor, submitted an amicus curiae brief in opposition to the Parental Notification Prior to Abortion Act.

In the case, the Supreme Court vacated the ruling by the District Court and remanded the case back to the District Court. In 2007, the New Hampshire Parental Notification Prior to Abortion Act was repealed by the New Hampshire legislature, rendering a rehearing by the District Court moot.

In 2008, a Federal District Court judge ordered the New Hampshire Department of Justice to pay Planned Parenthood's attorney fees and court costs, finding that Planned Parenthood's position had been upheld at every level of judicial review. In April 2009, Ayotte, as Attorney General, authorized a payment of $300,000 to Planned Parenthood.

Prosecution of murder cases
As assistant Attorney General, Ayotte prosecuted two defendants for the "Dartmouth Murders" in Etna, New Hampshire. After she became Attorney General, she prosecuted the high profile capital murder of a Manchester police officer, Michael Briggs, in 2006. It resulted in a conviction and death penalty sentence. Ayotte has been criticized for pursuing the death penalty in the case, as opposed to seeking life without parole. Members of the slain police officer's family have appeared in television ads for her Senate campaign praising her leadership.

Two former prosecutors turned personal-injury attorneys alleged that Ayotte's conduct in the case violated American Bar Association standards of conduct which state that "in making the decision to prosecute, the prosecutor should give no weight to the personal or political advantages or disadvantages which might be involved" and "should not permit his or her professional judgment or obligations to be affected by his or her own political, financial, business, property or personal interests."

Financial Resources Mortgage fraud
Ayotte has been criticized for her former office's alleged refusal to investigate charges against mortgage investment firm Financial Resources Mortgage (FRM) which has been accused of orchestrating a $80–100 million Ponzi scheme. Scott Farah, the former president of Financial Resources Mortgage, was accused of swindling investors out of millions of dollars, using investor funds to pay other investors and his own personal expenses, and has agreed, under a plea agreement, to plead guilty to federal wire and mail fraud charges in exchange for a nearly 20-year prison sentence.

In May 2010, New Hampshire's current Attorney General Michael Delaney issued a report      faulting New Hampshire's Attorney General's office during Ayotte's tenure, the state Banking Department and the state Securities Bureau for failing to investigate complaints against Financial Resources Mortgage. Concurrently, a joint state legislative committee conducted an independent investigation and held public hearings. The Joint Legislative Committee to Review the State’s Regulatory Oversight Over Financial Resources Mortgage reached conclusions similar to those of Delaney's report, according to a draft report.

Republican candidate for Governor John Stephen has criticized Ayotte for her lack of oversight of Financial Resources Mortgage's activities. Stephens has said that Ayotte "has to be held accountable" for her and the New Hampshire Department of Justice's failure to act on complaints received about Financial Resources Mortgage's conduct.

Deleted emails
Ayotte's office deleted Ayotte's email and calendar of appointments from their computer systems prior to Ayotte's resignation as New Hampshire Attorney General. Two days before Ayotte resigned her post as Attorney General and less than one week before Ayotte filed to run for the Senate Republican primary, Ayotte's office issued a policy memorandum covering deleted emails. The memorandum states that, "While courts have not yet addressed the issue, it is our view that electronic records that have been legally deleted and are available only on system back-up storage media are properly treated as no longer subject to disclosure" under New Hampshire's Right-to-Know Law.

On September 10, 2010, the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office released copies of many, but not all, of Ayotte's deleted emails in response to Right-to-Know requests. The Attorney General's Office also reported that many of Ayotte's "deleted" emails could not be recovered because backup tapes on which they had been stored had been re-used.

The legality of the permanent deletion of Ayotte's emails by New Hampshire's Attorney General's office is the subject of a law suit currently pending in New Hampshire's Merrimack County Superior Court.

On October 11, 2010, Paul Hodes, Democratic candidate for the Senate, accused Ayotte of using a capital murder case that Ayotte prosecuted in 2006 for political gain and for politicizing the case. Hodes based his accusation upon emails exchanged between Ayotte and Rob Varsalone, currently Ayotte's campaign strategist, during 2006. The emails were released to the public by the New Hampshire Department of Justice on September 10, 2010 under a Right-to-Know request. Subsequently, Hodes has suggested, based on Ayotte's released emails, that Ayotte's political ambitions may have in part motivated Ayotte's decision to seek the death penalty in the case.

New Hampshire Institute of Politics
Ayotte previously served as a board member of the Public Advisory Board at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College while Attorney General.

2010 election


Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Judd Gregg decided to retire, instead of seeking re-election in the 2010 senate election in New Hampshire. Ayotte resigned as Attorney General on July 7, 2009 to explore a run for U.S. Senate in 2010. Ayotte was recruited by the National Republican Party (National Republican Senatorial Committee) in Washington to enter the race. On September 14, 2010, Ayotte defeated lawyer Ovide M. Lamontagne, businessman Bill Binnie and Jim Bender in the Republican Senate primary. In the general election, Ayotte ran against Democratic nominee U.S. Representative Paul Hodes, Libertarian nominee Ken Blevens, and Independent Chris Booth.

Endorsements
Many prominent GOP figures went to New Hampshire to help Ayotte in her 2010 campaign, including John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, and Rick Santorum. According to one senior GOP aide, “The addition of a Republican woman from New England who’s young, who’s a mom … all of these things broaden the Republican party’s appeal and say to different segments of the population, ‘This party has folks in it that are just like you.’”

Committee assignments (113th Congress)

 * Committee on Armed Services
 * Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
 * Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
 * Committee on Budget
 * Committee on Aging

Abortion
Ayotte is pro-life and believes that abortion should be prohibited except in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother.

Gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples
Ayotte opposes same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, which are both legal in New Hampshire. Ayotte resigned as state Attorney General shortly after Governor John Lynch signed a set of three same sex marriage bills into law to which she was opposed.

"I absolutely support and believe in marriage as between a man and a woman, and I do think it's unfortunate that our state has made a different decision on that. And I know that many of you who are out there working at the state level, running for state office, I commend your efforts to repeal that law here in the state of New Hampshire. And I think that's very important. I do not think that we should overturn DOMA because absolutely, for states to decide marriage, we don't want one state's decision impacting another state's. So I would vote against any repeal of DOMA because of that. And I wish you all well and I would love to help with any effort to get our law back in the right place on this."

- Ayotte at the June 5th 2010 Americans For Prosperity/NH – Cornerstone Action Senatorial Debate

In 2008 Ayotte joined other Attorneys General to repudiate same-sex marriages performed in other states, however she changed her position when informed that New Hampshire already recognizes these marriages.

Labor rights and minimum wage
Ayotte opposes passage of Employee Free Choice Act ("Card Check"), a bill currently under consideration by Congress that proposes to amend the National Labor Relations Act in a way that would allow unions to automatically be formed and would bypass the secret ballot whenever the National Labor Relations Board verifies 50% of the employees at a company sign authorization cards.

Ayotte opposes any increase in the minimum wage, including legislation that would increase the minimum wage based on cost-of-living adjustments.

Ayotte opposes passage of legislation that mandates that employers provide paid sick leave to their employees.

Gun rights
Ayotte supports an individual's right to bear arms and Second Amendment rights. Ayotte supported the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Washington, DC and City of Chicago gun ownership bans. As Attorney General, Ayotte fought against the reauthorization of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

In contrast, however, Ayotte opposed establishing a Castle Doctrine on the 2nd amendment. In 2006 Ayotte opposed a Republican-backed bill that would clearly establish a Castle doctrine for New Hampshire. Democratic Governor John Lynch sided with Ayotte and vetoed the bill.

Climate change
Ayotte questions the findings of scientific studies that human activity has caused significant climate change. Ayotte says that "there is scientific evidence that demonstrates there is some impact from human activities. However I don't think the evidence is conclusive."

Health care
Ayotte supports state administered healthcare programs such as SCHIP and federal tax credits that serve to reduce the number of uninsured.

Medical marijuana
Ayotte thinks marijuana should go through the FDA process before being approved.

Social Security
Ayotte has stated that she is open to raising the Social Security retirement age for younger workers.

U.S. Supreme Court
Ayotte opposed the confirmation of Justice Elena Kagan, stating that Kagan is unqualified. Ayotte has said that she probably would have voted in favor of confirming Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Government spending
Ayotte favors passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Ayotte favors ending any additional spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "Stimulus Bill") and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ("TARP").

Ayotte believes that Congress should end the process of earmarking.

"I wouldn't have supported the TARP or the bailouts," Ayotte told a reporter. "Let the market adjust and pick the winners and losers. I do not think we should have bailed out the private sector. You start a business and when you succeed, the fruits of that is profits and when you fail, you pay the price."

To counter the federal government's debt and deficit problem, Ayotte proposes that every government department cut its budget by 20 percent from current levels, though "some may cut more, some may cut less". "We are on the path to bankrupt the greatest nation in the world."

Financial regulation
Ayotte opposed passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, on her belief that it failed to directly address the "problem of" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that the Act imposes additional regulatory burdens on community banks.

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