This one belongs to Wheeler. State officials asked the Council to approve a $2,099,998 weapons lease running to 2035 and never mentioned the weapons had already been delivered a year earlier and were sitting in a state warehouse.
They hid it from us that’s for sure. That’s blatant disregard for the Council’s authority.
InDepthNH, December 22, 2025
New Hampshire law requires Executive Council approval for anything over $10,000. Wheeler and Councilor Joe Kenney learned the truth only after they had already voted the deal down.
Then Wheeler took the bid apart. The department wrote its specifications to require the weapons sync with one company’s body cameras, which eliminated every competing manufacturer before bidding began. On equipment at roughly $10,000 a unit, that single line is worth millions.
Unelected officials do not get to spend your money first and ask permission later. The only reason anyone knows this happened is that a councilor from Milford kept asking.
