CONCORD, N.H. – U.S. Sen. John Sununu is calling for the resignation of Executive Councilor Raymond Burton, a fellow Republican, for having hired an aide with an extensive criminal record.

Mark Seidensticker, 45, of Concord and Ogunquit, Maine, was arrested last month in Concord, accused of inappropriate contact with teenage boys. Based on that arrest, Burton said last week he no longer will employ Seidensticker, who is being held on $50,000 bail at the Merrimack County jail.

But Sununu said Monday Burton should resign.

“Court records and campaign reports made public in recent days make clear that … Burton continued to employ Mark Seidensticker in a public capacity despite knowledge of his convictions. Unfortunately, Councilor Burton’s continued service undermines public confidence and distracts attention from important issues facing New Hampshire.

“It is time for Councilor Burton to resign from elective office,” Sununu said.

Telephone messages left for Burton late Monday were not returned.

The Executive Council is an elected five-member body that approves state contracts and appointments.

The New Hampshire Union Leader reported Friday that Seidensticker previously has been convicted of indecent exposure, attempted sexual assault on a boy, failing to register in Maine and New Hampshire as a sexual offender, stalking a former boyfriend and violating probation. He has served several jail sentences.

The paper said Seidensticker did not respond to a written request for an interview.

Burton, 66, a Bath Republican, has served for nearly 30 years on the council. The newspaper said Seidensticker has worked on five of Burton’s last nine campaigns.

Burton described Seidensticker’s duties as “general campaign” work: mailings, phone calls and setting up work for fundraisers. He also frequently drove Burton to and from campaign stops.

Burton paid Seidensticker more than $7,200 last year, according to reports filed with the secretary of state – by far the largest amount Burton paid any campaign worker. Seidensticker earned smaller amounts in 2002 and 1998.

He said he would not allow Seidensticker to work on any future campaign.

Seidensticker joined the Burton campaign as a volunteer in 1992 but was dismissed after the assault allegations became known. But he returned to the Burton camp through the years.

In the fall of 1998, Burton paid him nearly $500 to work on his re-election campaign less than a month after Seidensticker was convicted of indecent exposure for masturbating in front of three teenage boys in Lisbon.

In Ogunquit, Seidensticker was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in 2002 and again last year.

Burton has said he knew of the 1992 Concord conviction and the latest Concord arrest. He said earlier this month he was “not totally familiar” with the Maine failure-to-register charges.

“I knew it was sort of somewhere in the background, but the details, I was unaware of,” Burton said.