Larry Major, Pike Industries Governmental Rent-Seeker, is at it again. - Granite Grok

Larry Major, Pike Industries Governmental Rent-Seeker, is at it again.

Well, I already put up a post where Pike paid rent-seeker Larry Major, with the title of “Government Relations”, (would that be an incestuous one?) was flogging the independent truckers that haul for Pike to go roust their NH State Reps and Senators to urge passage of HB617 which would enrich Pike Industries’s coffers but would most likely deflate their wallets, along with the rest of non-truckers, via a huge uplift in NH’s gas tax.  At least there he made clear he was an employee.  Now he’s got Letters to the Editor out doing the same thing – but without letting people know that his company directly benefits from it and flogging them to support it is part of his job (after all, money grubbing from government generally takes a PAID hack to be successful).  My response that has been submitted to my local papers:

To the Editor,

Larry Major in his Letter submitted to you attempts to make the case that passage of HB617, that raises the gas tax ere in NH, is a thing of beauty.  After all, we here in NH have supposedly let our roads go to ruin from neglect.  Er, anyone else remember thinking “hey, didn’t they JUST repave Rt 106 by the track a couple of years ago when Obama’s Porkulus money did it again?  So, Larry, was that stretch in “ruinous shape” then? As opposed to repairing truly needy roads?  Was that such a good use of “free money from the Feds”?

But more importantly, Mr. Major simply signed his name to his Letter as “Larry Major, Loudon”.  Just a concerned Citizen that has taken little notice that the Highway Fund, which should be solely for paying for road repair,  has become a sieve of a leaky bucket.  Instead of demanding that politicians do the right thing and stop thieving from it for other purposes, or that HB617 be SOLELY dedicated to the roads (it is not), he simply want more taken out of our pockets.  After all,   I believe Pike did the work on Route 106.

Er, that would be Mr. Major’s employer where his title is “Government Relations” (see http://granitegrok.com/blog/2013/03/troopers-are-not-the-only-rent-seekers-so-is-pike-industries where he implores Pike’s contract truckers to advocate for higher taxes on the rest of us to inflate Pike’s coffers.

Nicely done, Mr. Major, on being so “open” and “transparent”.

Kindest regards,

Skip Murphy

His Letter after the jump

To the editor,

No one likes taxes, even if it is a user fee — a road toll collected at the pump. But modern society relies upon the safe and efficient movement of people and goods on a well-maintained transportation network.

New Hampshire has enjoyed a stagnant gas tax rate for 20 years now — albeit at the cost of our decaying highway system. It was last raised by Governor Judd Gregg in 1991. In fact, Governor Gregg, a fiscally conservative Republican, saw fit to increase the rate twice in two years to address the growing need for construction and maintenance of N.H. roads and bridges.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that an increase in the tax would not increase the actual price at the pump at all. N.H. has the lowest rate of any state in New England and among the lowest in the nation. Yet our gas prices are comparable to surrounding states and the national average. That leads me to question whether we are lining petroleum companies’ pockets at the expense of one of our state’s greatest assets — our transportation system.
While taxes, or in this case a user fee, are easy for politicians to demagogue, it is important that the driving public consider the true costs of not maintaining our roads. Last year, as a result of bad roads, I had to replace both front coil springs in my pickup. The total cost of the repairs exceeded $750. I would have to drive over 100,000 miles to realize that cost from a 15-cent increase, if reflected in the pump price. Yes — over 100,000 miles!
So what would an increase in the state’s gas tax mean for me? Under the proposed increased (15-cents phased in over four years), a trip in my truck from Nashua to the Canadian border (200 miles) would cost an additional $1.50 in year four. That’s only 40 cents extra in year one for the privilege of using this state resource for the four hour ride! This is an insignificant increase when compared to the cost of wear on tires, reduced fuel efficiency, and broken suspension that results from that same trip on roads in poor condition now.

We’ve been watching our roads decay for 20 years. We need good roads for a thriving economy. We need good roads for the safety of our communities. Politicians from both sides of the isle recognize that the declining condition of our roads presents a serious problem however many have lacked the courage to provide leadership on this issue. They’ve fought to hold the line on the gas tax while saddling today’s motorists with higher maintenance cost, our state with a highway infrastructure in major disrepair, and our kids with $1 billion in road repairs that will continue to escalate in cost.
New Hampshire citizens are a frugal lot, but we understand responsibility and protecting our investments. We have an opportunity with House Bill 617 to stand up and responsibly say that we are willing pay to maintain this critical resource. Contact your elected officials and tell them it is time to take responsibility for New Hampshire’s largest investment. Pushing this problem on to future generations is unfair and unwise. After all, it has been a generation of doing nothing that has brought us to this point. We must recognize the heavy cost of doing nothing and the drag of poor roads on N.H.’s economy.

Larry Major
Loudon

 

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