NH HB 514 - NH State Reps having a "I want my free lift ticket" hissy fit bill - Granite Grok

NH HB 514 – NH State Reps having a “I want my free lift ticket” hissy fit bill

HB 514 – can you say “Give us a perk that mere voters can’t have”?  Whiners, they are.  Talk about voting something from the Public Larder Treasury!  Grant Bossie from NH Watchdog has the sordid tale of the “NH State Reps who want free skiing” (reformatted, emphasis mine):

(CONCORD) Some New Hampshire Representatives want their free lift ticket back. After getting free passes to state-owned Cannon Mountain Ski Area for years, a Legislative Ethics Committee letter last winter found that the freebies violated the Legislature’s ban on gifts over $25. But a trio of lawmakers have introduced a bill that would exempt Cannon Mountain from the gift ban.

 And who are these fine, upstanding ethical NH State Reps that want us to pay for their skiing?  The ones that are supposed to be leaders here in the State?

Representatives Gary Coulombe (D-Berlin), Andrew Schimdt (D-Grantham), and Herb Richardson (R-Lancaster) are sponsoring HB 514, which adds an exemption to the ethic guidelines for House and Senate members to receive passes to Cannon Mountain. The House Legislative Administration Committee takes up the bill with a public hearing Thursday morning at the Legislative Office Building in Concord.

 Hey, why not?  Don’t like the current definition of what true ethical behavior is?  Simple – with our descent into relativism and subjective morals, all one has to do is simply redefine what ethical behavior is?  Isn’t that the lesson that the Progressives have given us with post-modernism and deconstruction?  Neitzsche nihilism – does anything matter?  It used to: “Live Free or Die; death is not the worst of all evils” – strong words built on a strong philosophy of knowing what was right – and what was wrong.

These chuckleheads could take a lesson from that wise saying – they really should.

Cannon Mountain, which is run though the state Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED), is one of two state-owned ski areas in New Hampshire. The Legislature privatized operations at Mount Sunapee Ski Area over a decade ago, and profits from Sunapee have been subsidizes capital improvements at Cannon ever since. A recent New Hampshire Watchdog investigation found that taxpayer subsidies of Cannon have totalled more than $9.2 million since 1999.

 Just like Belknap County’s Gunstock Recreation Area, Cannon is, IMHO, a vanity operation.  In no way can someone tell me that operating a ski area is:

  • a governmental responsibility
  • a necessary government operation
  • competition with the private sector

Just think – if it were in private hands, it would be just one less temptation for Legislators that cannot practice self-restraint.  HB 514, because nothing says avoiding an ethics slapdown like legislating it out of existence….

Tell me, can you tell me if there is any difference between these rent-seekers and another rent-seeker of Government – Sandra Fluke?  Sure, she wants free contraceptives – they want free skiing.  Same Principle though – they want other people to pay for their jollies.  The only difference is that Sandra Fluke can only be a mouthpiece and hope that others can make the changes for her (either legislatively or via regulations (which HHS has done by “Rule)) – these sad sacks can actually vote a goodie for themselves.

 

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