This is amusing. Gordon Darby Holdings has asked a federal judge to hold some New Hampshire state employees in contempt for ignoring that judge’s order requiring citizens to pay for their services. Gordon Darby makes money from emissions testing as part of state inspections that are no longer required. And while judges can’t levy taxes, this one tried, and the State has repeatedly told them to go pound sand.
There is no contract, no legal requirement, and as I noted the other day, New Hampshire’s air quality is rated better than that of numerous states with no passenger vehicle emissions testing requirements, including Kentucky (Hat Tip to a reader for that one!).
New Hampshire’s air quality is about 16.5% better than Kentucky’s, where Gordon Darby’s US headquarters are in Louisville, which has no requirement for passenger vehicle-emissions testing.
None of their employees who drive passenger cars or trucks (including their lawyers, if local) is required by law to submit for or pass any state emissions testing.
Historical Context
A vehicle emissions testing program was previously implemented in three northern counties but ended in late 2005. The decision to discontinue the program was based on improved air quality and the potential for alternative methods to reduce air pollutants.
To my knowledge, New Hampshire has not made any specific effort to improve air quality to meet any EPA or other requirement as part of abandoning the inspection, but we already meet it. If that turns out to be an issue in the future, the Legislature can make a determination about our obligations under the Federal Clean Air Act, if they even care, which has nothing to do with the tax-happy judge everyone is ignoring or the out-of-state vendor who lives in a state with no passenger vehicle emissions mandates and air that’s not as clean as ours.
And, as a reminder,
Neither [Department of Safety, Robert Quinn, and Department of Environmental Services, Robert Scott] answers to Gordon Darby or some judge. They are employees of the Executive Branch, which includes the Executive Council and the Governor. There is no contract for them to honor, and a Judge cannot constitutionally approve one. A judge cannot execute by force of law a tax on vehicle owners. It cannot create the contract, approve it, and then manage it. The judiciary has no Constitutional power to make law. I am therefore curious on what grounds Judge Landya McCafferty would hold Scott and Quinn in contempt.
No word yet on what the judge thinks they can do to appease Gordon-Darby, but before any orders are issued, no one is going to pay any attention, so now might be a good time to just let it go before you embarrass yourselves further.
