by Ed Naile, Chairman
I have a perfectly sound explanation as to why I don’t go to legislative hearings in Concord. If I simply spend a few bucks at a comedy club I can control the time I am there – show starts at – ends at. But these legislative hearings can drag on and on and I am a busy guy. Here is one I missed. The NH AG and his budget requests.
Our New Hampshire Attorney General is lamenting the cost of all the pesky Right to Know requests the office has to respond to. And in this “news” article [no longer available] the taxpayers asking for public information are called “gadflies.”
Is this all you got Mr. Delaney, crying about RSA 91-A requests?
How about all the money you saved from the “gadflies” at The Coalition of NH Taxpayers. We wouldn’t bother asking your office for anything, or for that matter reporting any crimes or fraud.
There you go, problem solved! Years of ignoring taxpayer requests for help or documentation has resulted in a sure savings to your office.
We don’t waste our time and you save money, glad to help out a useless, politicized office any way we can.
Once, just for laughs, CNHT reported to your office, in excruciating detail and with tons of paperwork for back-up, the fact that Selectmen in the Town of Windsor let 22 friends and relatives off the property tax rolls for about ten years. In a show of farce, several State Troopers confiscated most of the town’s records, several years ago, and nothing has been done or will be done. We get it, you’re too busy responding to “gadflies.”
On a lighter note: I was thanked recently by one of our activists from Windsor who had has his property taxes go town about 50% since CNHT got involved in exposing the corruption there. Seems when everyone pays their taxes the burden is lighter over all.
Back to the AG.
But the real problem with the Right to Know requests to OUR Attorney General’s Office is how expensive COVER-UPS are. That, I expect, is what takes up the time.
Using the Attorney General’s Office as a springboard for elected office carries a heavy burden of cleaning up embarrassing details that Right to Know requests might expose.
So there you have it. It’s really not that bad an investment if one considers the value of having a clean past history at the AG’s Office when one takes flight for better things as a candidate.
Please don’t be so hard on us “gadflies.”
Here is my humble suggestion to save money involving RSA 91-A requests:
Instead of redacting with a black magic marker, most of the information you do hand over, as required by our laws and Constitution, why not just use a paint roller? You can cover more ground in less time – just a thought.
Maybe I should post some examples?