NH high court: Retirement system must release info

On Nov. 3, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Union Leader, which was seeking the names and salaries of the top 500 pension earners, names the state retirement system was hoping to keep secret.

The Nashua Telegraph reported that the Union Leader newspaper sued the state retirement system for access to the names under the state's Right-to-Know Law. The Union Leader itself quoted Associate Justice Gary E. Hicks' writing in an 11-page report:

“The public has an interest both in knowing how public funds are spent and in uncovering corruption and error in the administration of NHRS. It appears then, that Union Leader seeks to use the information to uncover potential government error or corruption. We cannot say that there is no public interest in such a use.”

In a statement, retirement system officials said they would "comply with the court's decision," but they were maintaining the privacy rights of the 27,000 government retirees.