What if someone were to ask Ms. Shaheen if she would be willing to start her own FOR PROFIT, PRIVATE company to promote tourism to certain places, a, oh, we don't know, a kind of, uh, PUBLIC RELATIONS firm that could, uh, well, look for willing clients to pay freely for the service, rather than use tax money to fund half of it? How would she reply? Would she say, "Yeah! I'll just risk my own capital and see if I can give it a go!", or would she not even understand the premise of the question, because she simply sees this as appropriate, that it's just fine to seize other peoples' money to create a new "corporation" that she would like to start?

Here is the text of the press release from the Gubment of NH:

Dear Members of the NH Tourism Industry,   We wanted to let you know about efforts being made on behalf of the travel and tourism industry by US Senator Jeanne Shaheen.  Shaheen is a co-sponsor and advocate for the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (S1023), which will:

• Encourage international travel to all regions of the United States.
• Create a public-private partnership for the United States to improve travel perceptions and create promotions. 
• Establish a nationally coordinated travel promotion program to accurately communicate America's travel policies and improvements to those policies, and to promote travel to the United States.
• Establish the Corporation for Travel Promotion, an independent, non-profit corporation governed by an 11-member board of directors appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.
• Create an Office of Travel Promotion in the Department of Commerce to develop programs to increase the number of international visitors to the United States.
• Set up a Travel Promotion Fund, financed by a public-private matching program. Federal contributions will be financed by a required $10 fee paid by foreign travelers from Visa Waiver countries and collected via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

According to the US Travel Association, following several weeks off for its traditional August recess, the U.S. Senate is scheduled to hold a vote on the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (S. 1023) during its first day back in business after Labor Day.  President Obama has said that he wants to sign this bill in September to get things moving.  Please see the attached documents for more information.   Thank you!   Alice DeSouza, Director
NH Division of Travel and Tourism Development