NH has a 425 member volunteer legislature. There are 25 state senators and 400 state representatives. All of them serve two year terms and are paid $100 a year for the privilege. As the old saying goes, the legislators we wind up with are "rich, retired, or crazy." It's easy to make the case that they could be all three.
The average age of a NH legislator is 66. These are people whose idea of the future is firmly entrenched in 1953. They file some bizarre legislation. For example, HB 541 is being heard by the NH House Legislative Administration Committee this week. This bill requires legislators to be paid in silver dollar coins. Why would sole sponsor, 85 year old State Rep. Dick Marple of Hooksett want to do this?
Rep. Marple doesn't believe that US federal reserve notes (aka US paper money) is legitimate currency. He's not too sure that he believes that the US federal government is legitimate, either.
That would mean the state treasurer would need to acquire and store 85,000 silver dollars per biennium. Maybe we can name the new storage facility "Fort Marple."
Marple's not big on laws. He was arrested on Election Day on a bench warrant from a 2014 motor vehicle stop where he was found to be in possession of an expired driver's license.
Marple does take federal reserve dollars as legal tender for his own business. (He makes custom name tags for his fellow legislators.)
ReplyDeleteI think his theory behind his bill is that silver dollars were the only legal tender at the time the state constitution was amended to fix legislative salaries at $100/year. Unfortunately for him, that amendment was passed in 1889, at which time, the USA was already using "fiat money" as legal tender. The Federal Reserve system (and Federal Reserve Notes) didn't exist yet in 1889, but the US Treasury had been issuing United States Notes (aka "legal tender notes") since 1862 (and continued issuing them until 1971.)
I think you're giving him too much credit for rational thought.
ReplyDeleteNH is too cheap to provide name tags for its legislators?! Why am I not surprised.
ReplyDeleteAnyone notice that Totally Responsible Gun Owner Max Abramson has turned full right wing teabagger nutter pushing the alternative facts that 'millions' of Massachusetts were bused in NH on Election Day to vote democrate ticket. LOL as if N93 can handle that traffic.
ReplyDeleteIs Max trying to give that as the excuse for why he didn't win the governor's seat?
ReplyDeleteAlex's openly anti-women's rights, anti-trans rights, anti-immigration rights. How is Free State Project doing on that liberty and freedomy thing. Sounds like they are all coming out of the closet as red-hatted trump fanboys
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