From the Laconia Citizen
Editor, The Citizen:
Anterograde amnesia is the inability to memorize new things.
Governor Lynch's Citizen editorial board interview commentary around the JUA was certainly remarkable. With all due respect to the Governor, to continually pursue the vested property rights of the policyholders — having lost in court three times and before the legislative committee on rules — constitutes real chutzpah.
That chutzpa is only exceeded by the Governor's remark that "... should it [the JUA] be deemed not to be a State agency ...." Unfortunately for the position of Governor Lynch, that argument has already been resolved. The Superior Court decision ruled the JUA was not a State agency. The State then failed to preserve the argument on appeal at the Supreme Court, and as any lawyer like the Governor remembers from law school, that is now law.
Efforts to cover up the State's mistake have included absurd arguments. First by not remembering why the Supreme Court did not rule on the matter; the Supreme Court did not because the State failed to preserve that argument for appeal. Second, the Governor has then tried the argument that the Supreme Court's minority opinion was some kind of road map to overturn the majority decision. The Governor's request that the Supreme Court reconsider its decision based on his novel arguments was also rejected.
Having failed to persuade the Courts that his position on the JUA surplus funds have merit, the Governor has tried a tact you would not expect of a public official; in order to get his way he continues to try to circumvent the Courts' decisions by trying to change the rules after 25 years of contracts and regulations that block his actions. He is attempting to obtain through the back door what he could not do by going through the front door. So far, reason and good sense have prevailed and the Governor's actions have been rebuffed by a bipartisan committee of lawmakers who understand that the law and the contracts are to be honored.
From the interview it is clear the Governor will continue to forget that his often tried efforts to take the JUA monies is unconstitutional, that the law is already established that the JUA is not part of State Government, and that property rights and contracts have meaning under the NH constitution.
Though I have little faith the Governor will remember that, I am obligated to at least try to help him remember.
Henry D. Lipman, FACHE
Executive Vice President/CFO
LRGHealthcare
Laconia
