After many months of apparently keeping a fairly low profile, Laconia City Councilor Henry Lipman has recently fielded a letter to the editor in the Laconia Daily Sun (also known as Pravda by The Lake) commending and endorsing the incompetent and inept management by Belknap Delegation Chair State Rep Harry Bean of the Belknap County budgetary process that is likely to result in an increase in county taxes in excess of 30%.
The major purpose and job of the Belknap County Delegation, consisting of all 18 elected state representatives from the county, is to review annually the county budget proposed by the county commissioners, take testimony from department heads, make adjustments to the budget, and ultimately to adopt a budget that typically is quite different from that initially proposed by the county commissioners. If the Delegation does not adopt a budget by April 1 of each year, the county commissioners’ budget becomes operative.
So, Chair Bean has appointed one or more committees or subcommittees to review and work on the budget, without holding proper meetings under the open meetings law, RSA 91-A that he has flouted despite being advised of what is required by applicable law by several more experienced members of the Delegation.
And if anyone has pointed out to Bean the proper way to proceed, rather than following sound advice, Bean gets angry at those who had the temerity to suggest what would be proper.
We now turn to Henry Lipman: who is he and why did he feel motivated to come to the defense of Bean’s indefensible conduct?
Lipman is an elected City Councilor in the City of Laconia, the Belknap County location of what was formerly called the Lakes Region General Hospital (“LRGH”). And Lipman was employed by and served as an officer of the LRGH for many years, with his most recent post being that of Chief Financial Officer. The LRGH had operated for about 125 years.
Of course, as many people know, during Lipman’s tenure as CFO of LRGH, its financial condition deteriorated virtually without control, ultimately resulting in its bankruptcy filing and its subsequent acquisition by Concord Hospital only a few years ago. But by that time, Lipman had departed from LRGH to parts at least initially unknown.
There are many so-called “old sayings,” many or most of which evolved over the years after having been based in fact. A few of those old sayings come to mind in considering this situation.
One old saying involves the concept of the “Peter Principle,” which generally states that a person serving in an organization often rises up within the organization until they have exceeded their competency. Does this not sound like Lipman?
Another old saying is sometimes applied to a person whose position was inherited rather than earned. It goes something like this: they think that because they were born on third base that they had hit a triple.
Thus, Harry Bean has often referred to himself as being a “hillbilly,” but most people thought he was simply being self-deprecating about himself. Although he is well-liked in the area and owns many government-subsidized rental units in the Lakes Region, he was also astute enough to have lost a huge bundle of money by “investing” in what came to be known as the FRM Scandal.
Anyone with a reasonable degree of intelligence and knowledge about the New Hampshire open meeting laws who has attended or watched the budget proceedings of the Delegation under the Bean “leadership” should be appalled, and they might think that this is also evidence of the Peter Principle in action.
The final old saying is brought to mind when considering whatever happened to Henry Lipman.
After his ignominious tenure at LRGH, Lipman ascended to a position as the Medicaid Director of the State of New Hampshire. In other words, he is now “from the government and he is here to help us.”
So, the final old saying which might be applicable to Lipman and his support for Bean is that birds of a feather stick together.
And these birds simply have no shame about their conduct of the public’s business.
