Lang honored for work leading to LGC refund

HAMPTON — A local resident who pursued a nine-year crusade that yielded an order refunding $53 million to New Hampshire public employees, is being recognized by the New England First Amendment Coalition.

David Lang, a retired Hampton firefighter and president of the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, will receive the group's first Citizen Right to Know Award. He will be honored at NEFAC's annual luncheon Feb. 8 along with Don Stacom of The Hartford Courant, who helped expose misconduct in the New Britain (Conn.) Police Department.

NEFAC President Mary Jane Wilkinson said the honor for Lang and Stacom are an extension of NEFAC's right-to-know advocacy mission.

"We are very excited about introducing two new awards at this year's luncheon — one to honor a citizen who has fought to gain access to public records and one to a New England journalist who has overcome obstacles in using freedom of information requests," she said.

"Both awards recognize perseverance that results in significant information being made available to the public."

Lang was on the board of the Local Government Center's HealthTrust division that runs its risk management pool when he became convinced the nonprofit was mismanaging its member communities' health insurance premiums. The LGC provides member communities with multiple services, including the pool which gives member communities and school districts more leverage in buying health insurance for employees.

Saying the LGC was improperly using surpluses that should have been returned to its members to fund other ventures, Lang left the board in 2003 and used the state's Right To Know Law to obtain LGC documents that helped yield the refund order. The LGC is appealing the decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

The awards luncheon will be held in conjunction with the New England Newspaper & Press Association's 2013 convention and trade show at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Tickets may be purchased on NEFAC's Web site.