Matthew Plache was elected as a Carroll County Commissioner in 2020, after promising to focus on “repairing the current fiscal disarray.” During his campaign, he also pointedto his three-decade career as an attorney, and his background in “environmental and telecommunications law.”
Since September 2022, Plache has also served Carroll County in another capacity: He was selected as a paid consultant for a broadband planning committee, a position he secured in part by offering up his legal expertise.
Those overlapping roles — serving as a county commissioner, while also getting paid to advise the county on its broadband strategy — have raised concerns among some who say it represents a conflict of interest. But Plache’s credentials as a lawyer have also been the subject of formal scrutiny since before that contract was finalized.
By the time he announced in March his intention to resign as a county commissioner, Plache was indefinitely suspended from practicing law in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Supreme Court of Maryland. The suspension in Maryland — where Plache was admitted to the bar — was issued four days before he announced his intent to resign. (As of publication, Plache has not set a date for that resignation).
According to records reviewed by NHPR, Plache's suspensions are still in effect, and he is awaiting disciplinary decisions from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Attorney Discipline Office in New Hampshire.
NHPR made multiple attempts to speak to Plache, by phone and email, with no response. We also requested to speak with him directly during the most recent Carroll County commissioners’ meeting, but he was not present for the public comment and media periods. As of press time, we have not received a response.
And now, Plache could be facing more scrutiny. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office confirmed on June 29 that their Public Integrity Unit is investigating a complaint against Plache related to his consulting contract for the Carroll County Communications District Planning Committee.
How the case against Plache started
On the resume he submitted when applying for the consulting contract, Plache said he graduated from University of Chicago Law School in 1986 and has since done legal work for the states of Texas, New Mexico and Iowa, as well as the city of Los Angeles.
Plache’s application for that contract, and the agreement itself, acknowledge that he’s admitted to practice law in Maryland, not in New Hampshire. But his application also said he could provide legal expertise and “serve as a legal liaison” with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office. NHPR verified with the New Hampshire Bar Association that Plache has never been a member.
The disciplinary actions against Plache stem from a 2017 lawsuit filed on behalf of a New Hampshire woman seeking recourse through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which allows people to pursue civil action in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for injuries from vaccines.
Plache first filed the case in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in 2017 on behalf of his client, Sarah Geschwindner. But, according to court and disciplinary records, he repeatedly failed to file necessary documents or respond to the court and the opposition. He also allegedly neglected to communicate with Geschwindner as the case proceeded.
At times, the documents say, Plache was unresponsive for months.
“I trusted Attorney Plache to handle my vaccine injury case and unfortunately he let me down without any real explanation why,” Geschwindner said in a statement provided through her current legal counsel. “I tried multiple times to reach Attorney Plache and he never got back to me.”
In one instance, the court presiding over the case didn’t hear from Plache for eight months, from late October 2020 until June 2021. During this time, Plache ran for his first term as Carroll County commissioner, was elected and began serving in the position.
While the court ultimately awarded financial compensation to Geschwindner for her vaccine injury claim, the final ruling noted there was insufficient information for parts of the case.
Meanwhile, documents show Plache repeatedly failed to respond to communication from multiple courts about his potential violations in his conduct as an attorney.
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims, where the vaccine injury case originated, first tried to contact Plache about “ethical violations he may have committed” in connection with that case in April 2022, according to a court order.
Plache never responded to that letter, the order says. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims sent a follow up letter in June 2022, which said he had 30 days to explain his behavior or he’d be “indefinitely suspended from practice.”
Plache did not respond and was indefinitely suspended by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 7, 2022. It is uncommon to see attorney discipline proceedings that originate in front of this court: Since 2010, there have been 16 such proceedings, according to a staff attorney for the court.
Disciplinary proceedings against an attorney in one court system can carry over into other jurisdictions where that attorney is licensed to practice through a process known as “reciprocal discipline.” That has since proven to be the case for Plache. The Supreme Court of Maryland indefinitely suspended him from practicing law on March 24, 2023.
According to other court documents, Plache is also facing potential discipline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Plache must reply with why an indefinite suspension would be unwarranted by mid-July. Otherwise, he may face the same punishment.
Pending action in New Hampshire
Geschwindner also filed a grievance against Plache with the Attorney Discipline Office of New Hampshire in June 2022. That proceeding is still pending, but the allegation was deemed significant enough to progress past an initial round of vetting.
In a statement provided through another attorney representing her in that matter, Geschwindner said her lawyer encouraged her to file the grievance because of the lack of communication.
“What he did by failing to communicate with me and failing to pursue my case as he promised to do is against the New Hampshire rules governing attorneys in New Hampshire,” Geschwindner said in a statement through her attorney, Heather Menezes of Shaheen and Gordon.
The state’s Attorney Discipline Office confirmed that it issued a notice of charges against Plache in March, and he has since started participating in those proceedings.
In New Hampshire, it’s rare for lawyers to be investigated for potential wrongdoing — and even rarer for lawyers to be charged.
Last year, 220 grievances were filed against attorneys in New Hampshire, according to the most recent annual report from the state’s Attorney Discipline Office. Those grievances go through multiple rounds of vetting, by fellow attorneys and members of the public, to determine whether they are verifiable and significant enough to open an investigation.
In proceedings where there’s enough information to prosecute the lawyer, the discipline office issues a notice of charges. From there, the proceeding could head to a hearing committee, another panel of lawyers and members of the public, to decide whether disciplinary action is warranted. In 2022, only three proceedings in New Hampshire progressed to that stage.
The New Hampshire Attorney Discipline Office said three proceedings had a notice of charges issued this year to date.
Plache received county contract for legal services
Expanding broadband access has been a major policy priority for years in Carroll County, where many areas lack robust, consistent internet service. Plache has been involved in addressing the issue in several ways, including as the Vice Chair of the Carroll County Broadband Committee. Plache advocated for broadband expansion when campaigning for his seat as a county commissioner.
In March 2022, the broadband committee created another committee: the Carroll County Communication District Planning Committee. This committee would eventually hire Plache as a consultant using county money.
The communications district committee was created to help communities partner to expand broadband service. This committee is not formally part of the county government, but it serves the county and receives funds through the county commissioners. Meeting minutes from August 2021 show that commissioners reviewed a request to allocate $30,000 from the American Rescue Plan — a federal COVID-19 relief package — for the committee to hire a consultant.
In June 2022, the communications district committee started soliciting proposals from prospective consultants. Plache applied for that consulting position in July 2022. He acknowledged that his position as a Carroll County commissioner presented a conflict of interest but said he would “abstain from votes on matters affecting Carroll County Broadband District Planning Committee, if [illegible].”
Out of two applicants, the communications district committee selected Plache as their consultant in August 2022. At the time, meeting minutes show one committee member asked about “any potential conflict with respect to payment since Matthew Plache is a County Commissioner,” but another pointed to Plache’s vow to recuse himself.
Plache was awarded a one-year contract starting in September 2022. The section of his application that listed his statement of qualifications focused entirely on his career as an attorney.
By this time, court documents show that Plache was already indefinitely suspended from practicing law in front of at least one court.
According to documents obtained by NHPR, Plache was indefinitely suspended from practicing law in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 7, 2022. His application for the consulting contract is dated July 6, 2022.
The contract between Plache and the broadband planning committee identifies him as an attorney admitted to the bar in Maryland. At the time the contract was signed, Plache was indefinitely suspended from practicing in front of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, but was still permitted in Maryland. A petition for disciplinary or remedial action was filed against Plache in the Supreme Court of Maryland in November 2022.
In an April meeting, representatives for the committee that hired Plache said he had only used up part of the money set aside for the consulting contract and they were looking to transfer the rest to other uses.
Future in county government remains unclear
It’s been a turbulent time for Carroll County government, more broadly. Their nursing home was recently issued a hefty federal fine, and several issues have cropped up in recent years regarding accounting and the removal of staff, as chronicled by the Conway Daily Sun.
It’s unclear what these disciplinary measures might mean for Plache’s role as a county commissioner or a consultant. Public comment periods at Carroll County commissioner and delegation meetings have grown heated at times as people have criticized the stewardship of county resources.
The latest Carroll County Commissioners meeting opened, as it often has for the past few months, with a question about Plache's future as a public official.
“He said he would stay until the end of June. It is now the end of June. Has he formalized his resignation?” one person asked during the public comment period.
“He has not,” said Terry McCarthy, who chairs the county commission. Plache, at this point in the meeting, wasn’t present. When asked if Plache would be formally resigning soon, McCarthy said she “could not answer that.”
Plache first announced his resignation plans in late March, setting an initial deadline of May 15. At the time, he said, he’d been thinking about it for a few weeks, and it was time to move on. But to this day, Plache remains in his position.
Another commissioner also stepped down in May, and Plache’s exit would have left just one active commissioner — on a panel that usually includes three — overseeing the finances and operations of essential county functions, ranging from the public-funded county nursing home to the local jail.
At a May 31 meeting, Plache said he opted to stay for the time being, “to have some continuity and ease the transition.”
“I don’t know that people are in a hurry to see me leave,” he said.
