Gov. Lynch is still peeved that he couldn’t get his sticky fingers on $110 million the Joint Underwritering Association ("JUA") that he decided was his from sheer dint that he couldn’t balance his budget. Now that the Judiciary has smacked his knuckles with their ruling, as the actual owners of the fund decided to, you know, defend their private property, he still can’t let go:
CONCORD — Attorney General Michael Delaney is urging lawmakers to block a proposed settlement that will pay lawyers $27.5 million out of a $110 million malpractice insurance fund.
…Attorney Scott O’Connell of the Nixon Peabody law firm in Manchester said Delaney’s arguments are off the mark. Since the JUA is not part of state government, he argued, there is nothing in state law that requires the Legislature to bless the deal.
Still, Lynch and his mouthpiece (hey, remember, another member of the media that went to work for a liberal Democrat – how often does that happen??) still believe the money really belongs to them:
Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said the proposed settlement is a bad one for taxpayers.
Right – well, is Gov. Lynch now going to work for tort reform that would "fix" this problem? My take is that there is no problem for Government to fix, other than Lynch got
…zippo for trying a money grab except for bad PR. After all, the members of the JUA privately contracted with the lawyers for a 25% contingency fee. It’s their money, not Lynch’s and not the taxpayers, as the NH Supreme Court decided. Thus, if they wished to work or spend their money this way, to actually protect their private property against the overreach of Government, what business is it of government?
Once again, we see the Right to Private Property trampled, simply because Government could not stay within its bounds and its means. Wrapping it up with whines of "we could use it better than you" is not a sufficient reason to just believe it is yours.
If they are so concerned with this problem (a creature entirely created by government), are Lynch and his fellow Democrats ready and willing to take on the lawyers in a similar way they did the Payday / title loan companies? Are they willing to write and advocate for capping those contingency fees (hey, its gambling on an outcome, just like the 10% levy they put on other gambling fees while the Dems totally controlled NH – and were stumbling for revenue grabs then too). I’d love to hear the howls on this – am betting that the Bar would turn on them quicker than an F1 racer on a hairpin turn.
Actually, that would be great fun to watch – go, Gov. Lynch, go for it!
