Steven JP Dionne: Real issue for Gunstock is political manipulation

To The Daily Sun,

In case you haven’t noticed we are in a period of socio-political upheaval whereby any behavior and/or practice exhibited by folks holding public office is ok, as long as the perp is a card-carrying party member in good standing. It’s not often we have the fun of watching local events rise to such a level of gross stupidity and political ineptness. But alas, here we are left to deal with the outfall of the looming disaster being created by the Belknap County Delegation.

It seems local business and community leaders are very concerned over any interruption of the Gunstock operation, really, as a college professor once told me "don’t state the obvious, it's not illumination... it’s rhetoric."

The real issue here is the worst kind of political manipulation, darkroom deals and committee stacking not often witnessed in local politics. Think I’m wrong, seems Mike Sylvia and Norm Silber (S&S) have publicly acknowledged the personal recruitment of Jade Wood and Peter Ness to the Gunstock Area Commission, two individuals who are counted on to support the outright lease of the Belknap County Recreation Area, favored by many of the BCD Members. Seems to further achieve their agenda, Sylvia & Silber are prepared to summarily dismiss without cause three members of the GAC, who just happen to oppose leasing of the BCRA.

S&S’s claim for dismissal stems from the recent vote of no confidence against GAC member Peter Ness. The vote being the initial step toward the dismissal of Ness from GAC. Said vote was taken on the heels of the Tom Quarles investigative report of Ness’s performance as a ski instructor and a member of the GAC during the 2019-2020 ski season. A performance so abysmal it gave cause to the Snow Sport Department to inform Mr. Ness he would not be rehired the following season.

For his part, Ness calls the report nothing more than hearsay and innuendo.

Ok, let’s suppose for a moment the entire investigative report is a fabrication, unseal the document, let the public see the evidentiary, let’s hear from the folks on the frontline. This of course won’t happen for a couple of reasons... the S&S team would prefer the public didn’t find out about the purported behavior of an individual they desire to promote to chair of the GAC... or just maybe, this has nothing to do with Ness or Wood…. and everything to do with promotion of an agenda to give away Gunstock to corporate America.

By the way Silber’s comments regarding "increased revenues" from a leased property is a pipe-dream at best. When a corporation waltzes into a lease agreement, just whom do think has all the bargaining power, a county with an idle property or a corporation already sitting on a pile of assets? Please let’s not be stupid here, seems there’s already plenty of that going around.

Steven JP Dionne

Laconia