MANCHESTER, N.H.- Former Port Director Geno Marconi wants a judge to force Gov. Kelly Ayotte to bring a request before the Executive Council asking that the state cover his legal fees out of a civil suit brought against him by the owners of the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound.

According to court documents filed Wednesday in Merrimack County, Marconi’s attorney Arnold Rosenblatt says the legal fees incurred should be covered out of the suit filed against Marconi in 2020 while he was still working in his official capacity.

The new request comes after Marconi first asked the Attorney General’ office in April of 2025 if they would cover his bills in the civil case only to have the Governor denied the request a year later as she refused to take the matter before the Executive Council.

Rosenblatt says a prosecutor from the Attorney General’s office recently called Marconi to inform him his request had been denied, due to the fact both he and his wife, now-retired Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, were facing a criminal investigation.

As Rosenblatt claims the representative from Formella’s office then informed him on June 5,2025 that the state has decided it would not be involved in his client’s defense because Marconi’s conduct was “wanton and reckless in exceeding his statutory authority and wielding authority for an improper purpose“; which Marconi denies and claims allowing his appeal to be heard by the Executive Council would also allow him to rebut the charge.