Last night, username GASTON called attention to a WMUR story about Granite Staters suddenly being harassed by the registry for unpaid out-of-state tickets that were issued decades ago. If a prosecutor or plaintiff can’t unleash litigation over crimes and grievances that long ago, why should the registry get to?
I wanted answers, and the WMUR coverage only inspired more questions. Was it Big Brother being Big Brother? Was it about that famous motorcycle accident caused by the Russian driver? How did this situation suddenly happen?
I knew data was already being shared state to state, but what was up with this sudden FBI-style dirt-digging into ancient history? My first intuition was about taking federal money, and the closing remark, “Officials said joining the platform was necessary to comply with federal rules,” just didn’t sit well with me. I thought of the words “proper and NECESSARY” from several John Birch Society presentations. And whatever happened to the “I will not COMPLY” Live Free or Die Mantra?
Interestingly, today (9/29) is what I call “St. A’s Day,” the day Councilor Wheeler adjourned an in-progress executive council meeting that had the taking of $27M for COVID response operations on its agenda. We all know how history unfolded from that day, but have we forgotten the genesis of that scuttle 5 years ago? There was disturbing language that involved the CDC and the words ISOLATE and QUARANTINE that got the attention of people who quickly said things like “wait a minute, that is NOT ok.”
Here we are, a few election cycles later, and there have been some personnel changes in the executive branch, but it appears that nobody was paying attention in April 2025 because ChatGPT turned up the following words:
“In April 2025, the NH Governor and Council approved an additional $644,855 for Tech Mahindra to implement an AAMVA State-to-State Driver History Record system AND the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners integration, specifically saying the purpose was to meet Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration compliance requirements. The money was identified as 100% federal funds.”
We can certainly point our fingers at the whole executive council (because Items #38-40 were rubber-stamped without discussion, as heard at 1:43:45 in the archived audio file), but did anyone reach out to their executive councilors to say, “I want you to vote NO?”
The executive council failed to act as a firewall, and hundreds of Granite Staters are paying the price 17 months later. It makes me wonder what other unpleasant consequences will surface for other agenda items approved in equal haste.
Right now, as the election is just 5 weeks away, people probably only think about judge appointments (Or should I say disappointments?) when the executive council is mentioned, but how many people are keenly aware of these Trojan Horse contracts that get shoved through the chamber when not enough of the public is paying attention?
This is on all of us.
There is little we can do about who is on the ballot in November, but on the 5th anniversary of St. A’s Day, we can consider this WMUR story a wake-up call to hold our executive councilors more accountable.
