ON THE JOB mere weeks, Attorney General Peter W. Heed has already identified some of the priorities he plans to tackle during his tenure, and has educated himself on pending litigation facing the state and the AG’s Office. In part two of a two-part Bar News interview with Heed, he discusses these priorities – from Internet crime to improving unification of prosecution throughout the state – as well as dealing with pending cases, such as clergy sexual abuse charges and multi-state class actions. Heed also shares a little about his life outside of the office.

A: I want to take a look at the way this office is organized – there are ways to make it better; to create clear lines of direction and authority. I’d like to take a good look at what we do, how we do it and how we can be better and more efficient.

Another challenge is working with the economics. For the first time in years, we’re dealing with a budget cut, a 5 percent reduction….

In terms of the workload, in the Civil Division, there are over 500 active civil actions against various state agencies or class-action suits we’re involved in. I need to identify which can be resolved without going to trial and which have to be tried.

Terrorism and homeland security are another priority. One of my initiatives will be to determine whether New Hampshire is doing all it can to protect itself and to respond to terrorism. I plan to initiate a new era of communication and cooperation between this office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement – especially regarding terrorism. It is a total law enforcement problem.

We share a border with Canada, we have a large port and nuclear power plant…we can’t be complacent.

Internet crime is also a major concern of mine. It is a completely new area of the law. With wonderful technology, comes abuse of that technology – identity theft, access to our children and distribution of child pornography….Our state, on the whole, is not well-prepared to deal with these crimes. I’m looking at ways to fight them from a more unified perspective….If I have to search aggressively for federal funds or create a task force, I’ll do that.

There has been an alarming increase in heroin abuse in this state. It has become a major problem. I’ll focus on a way to handle that.

I’d also like to improve unification of prosecution throughout the state. There is a hodgepodge of prosecutors – state police, local police, county attorneys, regional prosecutors – and not enough communication among them. The AG should be a unifying force, a conduit for communication and training. Also, the technology should allow the different levels to speak, and be informed. I have an immense respect for the public defenders – in terms of organization, communication and training, they are doing a better job right now than the prosecutors. We need to catch up. I will work closely with the county attorneys and prosecutors to develop a better system of communication and better training, so we will have a more cohesive ability to handle prosecution issues.

The Supreme Court’s decision to take all appeals will increase our workload here. We’re already spread thin, so that increased workload is something else I’ll also need to address.

A: In addition to addressing the issues I just spoke of, another challenge will be to develop a systematic way of reviewing and trying to solve unsolved felonies and homicides. We need to apply the technology of today to cases that are 10 or 15 years old, some of which we can resolve in one way or another.

Another challenge is to continue to bring a high level of service to the people of New Hampshire so that they are safe and secure while we endure tough financial times. We have to do more with less.

A: The opportunity to work with a lot of dedicated public servants who are driven by their desire to serve the public rather than by financial gain. I also look forward to making a positive difference in this office, both in terms of attitude and public perception. I’d like play a role in improving the relationship between the Legislature and the courts.

A: One of integrity and fairness, of analyzing the law correctly. My philosophy is not to have a political philosophy. When you’re attorney general, you shouldn’t be a Republican attorney general or a Democratic attorney general, you should simply be an effective AG.

A: There are a lot of them. The two big areas are environmental issues and consumer protection. The biggest is consumer protection – tobacco litigation, pharmaceutical cases.

I think these actions present great opportunities for New Hampshire to have an impact and get some benefit if there are just causes out there. One example – the federal government is trying to relax EPA standards…What we get from factories out west is their pollution that lowers our air quality, pollutes our forests, lakes, rivers….In New Hampshire, we rely on people coming to our state for the beauty of our lakes, rivers, ponds, forests, etc….So we’ve joined with a number of other Northeast states in an action to prevent the relaxing of EPA standards.

There are some fascinating actions pending. I’m in the process of learning about all of them. My intent is to keep our AG’s Office very much involved in multi-state class actions.

A: This office is involved in individual prosecutions of clergy abuse, as are the county attorneys of this state. Such prosecutions were not foreclosed by the agreement with the diocese; only prosecution of the diocese as an institution was. Those are ongoing prosecutions. We are also involved in an audit and enforcement of the provisions of the agreement. We have a formal procedure of maintaining contact to ensure that the diocese lives up to the agreement. That’s a kind of oversight we wouldn’t have had if the matter had gone to trial.

A: Our first role is to live up to the court’s expectations and show the court that the state is providing its children with an adequate education, as required by the court’s ruling. There is an issue of accountability – how do the schools give account that they’re living up to the adequate-education standard as mandated by Claremont I and II?

In terms of that kind of an amendment…it’s hard to comment on that at this point. Right now our focus is on coming up with the accountability factors and complying with the cases as they were ruled on. As far as possible amendments…we’ll cross those bridges as we get to them.

A: We’re also concerned with that area. I personally – as an attorney and as the new attorney general – am particularly concerned with it. There is an ever-increasing number of pro se litigants and with that trend there are people involved in the unauthorized practice of law. This office is going to step in to the most obvious cases and is going to vigorously go after the violators to prevent the unauthorized practice of law from occurring.

Q: Is there any pending legislation that is of particular interest to the AG’s Office right now?

A: Yes, there is always legislation of interest to this office. Almost daily we deal with legislation that is pending that would have some impact on what we do at the Department of Justice.

I am concerned with a number of bills that tend to be judicially antagonistic. The atmosphere has been extremely regrettable between the courts and the Legislature as of late. We have seen a deterioration of the relationship between those two branches over the last several years. I’d like to use what influence I have to develop more reasonable discussions between the two branches…I want to encourage separation of powers. I think the animosity should be eliminated…because the ultimate victims are the people of New Hampshire. They suffer the most when their cases are not being heard, when decisions are not coming in a timely manner.

There have been efforts to bring or increase gambling in New Hampshire. We here at the AG’s Office have always had a history of opposing such measures…we will still take a stand in opposition to them.

A: I got into canoe racing because I had accumulated injures from playing rugby. I’ve always used physical activity as a way to relieve stress. It’s my outlet; my savior….A number of years ago, I discovered canoe and kayak racing…it’s an endurance sport for the upper body and the type of people who do it are family-oriented; paddling is something I can do with my family. It turned out I was fairly good at it. I made the U.S. team and raced for our country and won several medals. The sport has taken me to Europe, Asia, the Pacific – all over the world. I’ve also served on governing bodies for the sport.

I continue to paddle at the masters’ level. I won the world outrigger competition in Hawaii. I also coach a lot of young paddlers. I still get out there when I can, but my paddling time is more limited now with this job.

A: My children and their activities. Nordic skiing. I’ve been involved in community theatre since high school – acting, singing and a little dancing. I try to make room for one show a year, usually for a charitable organization. I was recently in a production of "South Pacific" in Keene where I had to dance in a grass skirt and coconut bra!

A: My wife, Tricia, and I have been married almost 20 years….We have two teen boys, they’re 15 and 16 and go to Keene High School. They’re just fabulous kids.

A: They’re very thrilled. They know how much I care about this job and wanted to do it. There is some sacrifice for them – I’m not around as much and my wife has had to pick up some extra duties…I couldn’t do this without them.

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