Stephen Calls On Lynch To Stop Defying Supreme Court Ruling; Drop JUA Raid Plans

Press Release

John Stephen, Republican nominee for Governor, today called on Governor Lynch to stop defying the ruling of the State Supreme Court and drop his plans to raid funds from the Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) account. Lynch, is his campaign advertisements and on the campaign trail, has repeated said that the budget is "balanced" and "has a surplus." However, the Lynch administration continues to move forward with an administrative rules plan to move the fund into Department of Insurance, giving access to the state to take monies, including the $110 million proposed by Lynch's budget that was blocked by the high court.

"If Governor Lynch truly believes that budget is balanced and has a surplus, why is he continuing his plans to raid the private property of doctors and nurses, in spite of the Supreme Court's rebuke of his efforts to steal this money?" Stephen said, "There are only two possible choices -- either the Governor does not feel that the budget is honestly balanced, and needs more money to close the gap, or he wants the funds to pay for even more spending, despite the fact that we have already seen the budget increase by 24% over the last two budgets. Governor Lynch must stop his spending addiction and give peace of mind to our medical professionals that he is no longer going to continue his quest to raid their property."

Tomorrow, the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules will meet to take up the rule change. Stephen called on Lynch to have the rules withdrawn.

"If Governor has any respect for property rights, or any respect for the rule of law, he will have the rule to raid the JUA withdrawn before the committee meeting tomorrow," Stephen added. "Let's send a clear message that New Hampshire knows that it's wrong to steal. If the governor truly believes that the state's money problems are behind us, this shouldn't be a problem at all."

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