Rep. Howard wants to be paid in silver dollars. Seriously!

To The Daily Sun,

As soon as the poll numbers came in for the 2018 midterm elections, I knew I had lost my run for the Belknap House of Representatives District 8 seat to Raymond Howard, Jr., the incumbent. That evening I called him to congratulate him, and I subsequently congratulated him in person.

As it turns out, additional congratulations are in order, as Rep. Howard has become a primary sponsor of legislation for the first time, in 2019 (For confirmation of this, see Citizens Count, N.H., Elected Officials). I had occasionally criticized him on the campaign trail for never having sponsored any bills and for taking a more negative approach to legislation, voting “no” time after time.

But now, early in his fifth year in office as our representative, Mr. Howard has finally found an issue worthy of his full support. Not the opioid crisis, not health care, not education funding, not family leave, not any of the issues so many view as crucial. No, Rep. Howard has put forward House Bill 525, which requires legislators (such as himself) to be paid … in silver dollars. I kid you not.

New Hampshire legislators (424 in all, 400 in the N.H. House and 24 in the N.H. Senate) are currently paid $200 for a 2-year term ($100 a year). In commentary on Mr. Howard’s bill, the N.H. Treasury and the Legislative Branch attempted to calculate how much implementation of the legislation would cost. As of December 2018, 200 silver dollar coins (the total pay for each legislator) would cost $2,898. Under HB-525, Rep. Howard’s pay would increase from $200 to $2898, a difference of 1349 percent.

Considering Rep. Howard’s consistent refusal to vote for funding the outside agencies providing vital services to our county (at minimal cost), and his votes against substance abuse treatment and county jail programs, it is astonishing that he would sponsor legislation giving himself and his fellow legislators a 1349 percent raise. If his bill passed, the taxpayers would be on the hook for $1,228,752 (instead of the current $84,800) to pay the legislators. And these numbers do not even include the cost of the armored vehicles and storage fees that silver dollar payments would require.

Does Rep. Howard believe that nursing home workers and jail officers and other public employees deserve a similar pay increase? Obviously not. We can be certain that Rep. Howard will continue to oppose almost every increase in public funding, including raises for public servants.

Fortunately, wiser heads than Rep. Howard’s prevailed in Concord, and HB-525 was unanimously voted Inexpedient to Legislate in committee, not even sending it to the full House of Representatives to consider.

Undoubtedly, I was stressing the wrong themes in my campaign.

Ruth Larson

Alton