Common Sense For New Hampshire

It’s always laughable to hear representatives of the most bloated and corrupt state government in the country bloviate about price “gouging”.

From yesterday’s Asbury Park Press:

Assemblyman David P. Rible said Monday that the Consumer Affairs Division will investigate the complaints of gouging by towing companies.

Rible and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, both R-Monmouth, last week asked the division to investigate reports that appeared in the Asbury Park Press that Jersey Shore residents had to pay hundreds of dollars to get their vehicles back.

Pending that investigation, Rible said, he and Angelini might draft legislation that would ensure that towing companies do not charge motorists exorbitant fees, particularly in an emergency such as a blizzard. (italics added)

The “exorbitant” charges that they are referring to are $590.  That is for driving a truck out (in a blizzard), digging a car out of three feet of snow (in a blizzard), hooking it up to the tow truck (in a blizzard), towing it back to the yard (in a blizzard), unloading it from tow truck (in a blizzard), and storing the car for two days.  There is also the great cost of buying and maintaining that expensive equipment.

Commenting on this $590 charge, Ms Angelini stated “I understand the vehicles had to be moved so the road could be plowed, but to tow their cars all the way to Trenton and charge them nearly $600 is absurd”.

So what would Angelini or Rible want to leave the cozy comfort of their suburban homes in that horrible storm and do that extremely dangerous and difficult work?  Personally, I would not do it for any price. You couldn’t pay me enough.  I didn’t even open my door until Tuesday!

The lives and labors of those tow truck operators mean nothing to Rible and Angelini.  They will cynically attack them and use government force against them if it is useful in gathering votes.  Neither of them would ever do that hard, dangerous work.  And please don’t tell me about Rible’s police career before he hurt his back and went on (taxpayer funded) disability, which he still collects to this day.  Operating a tow truck is statistically far more dangerous than being a cop, especially a suburban cop.  And the danger of operating a tow truck in the conditions we saw last week is off the charts.

If the Chuck Schumer-clones Rible and Angelini put too low a limit on tow charges in those situations, the tow truck guys won’t go out.  You won’t be able to get a tow truck.  That’s what price controls do.  I suppose our “Chuck Schumers” will then threaten to pull their tow truck licenses if they refuse to be under-paid in a blizzard.

Until the state can pass a law forcing tow operators to subsidize snow bound motorists it will subsidize them themselves (with our money, of course) and reimburse them for tow charges.  I guess the case could be made that it is the state’s responsibility to keep the roads passable and they certainly failed in that responsibility.  I propose that the state sell all its plows and contract out the job of keeping state roads clear.  The contractor would be responsible for towing any cars that get stuck due to un-plowed roads.  I’m certain it would be cheaper than what we do now, which is to pay state union workers to plow the roads, have them still un-plowed days after the storm, and then pay “exorbitant” tow charge reimbursements to those who get stuck as a result.

Talk about a “snow job”.

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I would be remiss if I did not mention that we have a new mayor, Matt Doherty.  I attended the swearing in on Sunday at the Barclay.  It was a very nice affair with a pipe band before the swearing in and a buffet supplied by some of the local eateries afterward.  I started writing a column about it but didn’t have really too much to say about it so I never published it.  Let me take this space here to say to our newly-elected and re-elected leaders: Congratulations, Good Luck, God Bless and Don’t Tread on Me!