Periklis Karoutas is a Concord lobbyist with a lengthy client list and deep ties to the state’s Republican Party. With experience running GOP political campaigns and a major fundraising committee for Republican Senate candidates, he’s among the most well-connected figures in the New Hampshire State House.
His newest gig, however, is for an unlikely client: the New Hampshire Judicial Branch.
Karoutas’ hiring by the state Supreme Court, done without any public notice and through a no-bid contracting process, comes at a time of increased scrutiny for the court system. One former justice on the Supreme Court — Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi — was found guilty on criminal charges in 2025. Late last year, the New Hampshire Department of Justice opened a review into a highly unusual $50,000 payout to a top ally of Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald, and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers pushed, unsuccessfully, to do the same.
Records show that Karoutas and his firm, Legislative Solutions, were hired just days after news of that payout became public. According to a copy of the contract obtained by NHPR, Karoutas was hired at a monthly $10,000 rate to help guide the court’s public response to this outside attention, among other things.
A court spokesperson said the public focus on the judiciary at that time merited a swift, and non-competitive, process to find help.
“Legislative Solutions provides unique personal services and was brought on during a time when the Branch’s administrative decisions and policies were subject to scrutiny,” Jessica King, the court’s general counsel, said in a statement to NHPR. “As a result, the contract was not competitively bid. As with Executive Branch contracts, such circumstances justify sole source contracting.”
In March, when NHPR first learned of Karoutas’ work on behalf of the judicial branch, the courts did not respond to a request for a copy of his contract. Recently, a government website that tracks all public spending provided the first conclusive proof of payments: $70,000 in public money paid to Karoutas’ firm, Legislative Solutions, on April 21.
Last week, the courts changed course and released a copy of the contract to NHPR. Along with strategic communications work, Karoutas is also being paid to assist the courts in an effort to modernize how it shares information with the public, according to the contract.
“Court communications present unique challenges,” said King. “The Branch is undergoing efforts to modernize its communication strategy and design an approach that respects judicial constraints while also focusing on transparency.”
While Karoutas is well known inside the halls of the State House as a lobbyist, he does not list the Judicial Branch as a client on the official state lobbying registry. And while there were two high-profile bills in the Legislature this session related to the courts — including a resolution that would have launched an inquiry into the chief justice’s role in the payout to a longtime ally, as well as a controversial plan to overhaul judicial evaluations — Karoutas denied lobbying lawmakers on those proposals.
“This is not a lobbying contract; we are helping the NH Judicial Branch communicate more effectively,” he said in an email. “My firm was not retained to, and did not, advocate for or against any particular legislation.”
The decision to hire a political operative with overt partisan ties could undermine the court’s efforts to appear above politics. Chuck Douglas, a former New Hampshire Supreme Court justice and Republican congressman, said the move opens the courts to criticism.
“Someone who was not identified with either party would be obviously more likely to not draw fire from one side or the other, in terms of partisan makeup,” said Douglas.
A long political resume
Karoutas has called himself a “storyteller” who works with his clients to make sure “the right audience is listening.” His resume includes numerous roles across New Hampshire Republican politics: on campaigns, in Congress, and at the State House. His most prominent early political work came as a staffer for then-Congressman Jeb Bradley. He also helped lead Bill Binnie’s failed Senate campaign in 2010.
“Whether it’s a political campaign, a legislative initiative, or an advertising campaign, it’s all about telling your clients a story and making sure the right audience is listening,” Karoutas told the Union Leader in 2015. (He declined an interview request for this story.)
Karoutas has helped run major fundraising vehicles for Republicans in the state Senate. More recently, he has become its largest recipient: Records show he’s been paid more than $147,000 by that political committee in the past two years for consulting work.
He’s also currently on the payroll for several GOP state senators seeking re-election this year, including Sens. Tim Lang, Kevin Avard and David Rochefort, among others.
Karoutas’ other lobbying clients in Concord include the pesticide industry; Satoshi Action, a Bitcoin advocacy group; and the New Hampshire Camp Directors Association. He also lists Coos County among his current roster of lobbying-related clients this legislative session.
In 2025, he began lobbying for Casella Waste Systems, according to paperwork filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office, where he overlapped with another person with deep ties to state Republican politics: Bryan Gould, the trash company’s longtime lawyer and lobbyist.
Last September, Gould was appointed to serve as a justice on the New Hampshire Supreme Court by Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Gould was legal counsel to Ayotte during her 2024 campaign, and previously worked for the New Hampshire Republican State Committee. With his confirmation, all five current members of the New Hampshire Supreme Court have now been appointed by Republican governors.
A spotlight on the high court
Karoutas’ hiring last October came at a tense moment for New Hampshire’s courts. Earlier that month, Supreme Court Justice Hantz Marconi pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal solicitation stemming from a private conversation she had with then-Gov. Chris Sununu.
Then later in October, reporting by NHPR revealed an unusual payout to Dianne Martin, a high-ranking judicial branch employee. Martin, who worked under Chief Justice MacDonald at the Attorney General’s office before they both joined the judiciary, was laid off and then rehired just days later last April, allowing her to cash out unused sick and vacation time — a perk other state employees typically cannot access when switching jobs.
In late October, the justices — with the exception of Hantz Marconi — released a rare joint statement addressing the previously undisclosed payout to Martin.
Karoutas’ contract describes the need to help “promote public trust and confidence in the Judicial Branch.” His deal was signed in January but made retroactive to Oct. 27 — indicating that his actual work for the courts predated the contract by several months. The contract capped his pay at $50,000, but the courts appear to have extended his work beyond the contract’s original terms.
Under the contract, Karoutas has a great deal of autonomy: He is “not required to devote a certain number of hours” to his work for the courts, according to his agreement, as long as his “services are performed timely.” (NHPR has requested but not yet received invoices submitted by Karoutas.)
Unlike almost every other state government contract, the one between Karoutas and the courts came about with no public bidding process, and no public notification of his hiring. The court is paying for his services out of something called the “default” fund, which comes from administrative fees levied on people who default on court-mandated payments.
The court said it regularly discloses to the Legislature how it spends money out of that fund, but Rep. Ken Weyler, the Republican chair of the New Hampshire House’s Finance Committee, which oversees the state’s budget, said he was unaware of the contract.
“I will be looking into it,” he said.
The Judicial Branch has previously argued it is not subject to the same transparency rules that apply to other state and local government bodies in New Hampshire when it comes to spending public dollars. Contracts between the Judicial Branch and outside entities, for example, are not voted on by the Executive Council — a requirement almost every other state contract is subject to.
Rep. Buzz Scherr, a Democratic lawmaker and longtime UNH Law professor from Portsmouth, said the failure to disclose contracts such as the one with Karoutas makes it harder for people to know how the government is spending money.
“That's what we need to know, and what the Judicial Branch is spending public money on,” he said.
An ‘unusual’ hiring
The New Hampshire Judicial Branch already employs two full-time workers whose job is to communicate with the media, lawmakers and members of the public. Historically, judges have testified on legislation that impacts their work, and at times, the Judicial Branch has had a dedicated staff member who acted as a liaison with other branches of government.
But there’s no clear precedent for the courts outsourcing a key communications role to a political operative. Some court observers, including former Justice Chuck Douglas, said that may be a sign of the times.
“It's the era of lobbyists,” he said.
Others said Karoutas brings skills that could help the court navigate its current moment in the spotlight.
Former Republican House Speaker Donna Sytek said the decision to hire an outside consultant with his background is “unusual,” but it may be politically expedient.
“When the Republicans are in charge, you hire a lobbyist who's got Republican connections,” said Sytek.
