NEW HAMPSHIRE WEEKLY / POLITICAL DIARY / LAURA A. KIERNAN

Betty Tamposi joins the Dole leadership

By Laura A. Kiernan, May 23, 1999

Betty Tamposi of Nashua, whose family has deep roots in Republican politics, took some hard hits in Washington when she was an assistant secretary of state in the Bush administration. She was very publicly fired in 1992 during an uproar over her staff poking around in then-candidate Bill Clinton's passport file. Quietly back home with her family, Tamposi waited out a three-year investigation by an independent counsel, who finally cleared her and others of wrongdoing. President George Bush apologized to Tamposi, according to published reports, and said she should not have been dismissed.

Last week, Tamposi was back in the high-visibility fray of presidential politics -- as part of the New Hampshire leadership team for Elizabeth Dole.

"I harbor no ill will," Tamposi said when asked if there had been any chance she would have supported the former president's son in his run for the presidency. It's just that "my support and enthusiasm are clearly with Elizabeth Dole," Tamposi said.

Tamposi, along with her 12-year-old daughter, Maggie Goodlander, had a private meeting with Dole just before a dinner event in Nashua earlier this month. "She came across to me as extremely capable and strong," Tamposi said. Dole will be back in New Hampshire this week.

Meanwhile, former Healthsource CEO Donna Lencki has also signed on with Dole. Chris Hodgon, who ran US Representative Charles Bass's 1998 reelection campaign, has come on board as Dole's state operations director. Jim O'Brien who worked for former state senator Jim Rubens during the 1998 gubernatorial campaign, will run technical operations for Dole and student outreach.

Position on guns alienates a backer

At least one Dole supporter has very publicly called it quits, over the gun issue. State Representative Fran Wendelboe, a conservative Republican from New Hampton, had been one of the very first to sport a red "Dole" button. Wendelboe has a permit to carry a concealed weapon and she says she has carried one, loaded, although "not every day." Her husband is a gun collector. They have "many," she said. She won't give details.

Wendelboe says she first had qualms when Dole talked about restricting guns at the GOP dinner in Manchester earlier this month. Then Wendelboe was recruiting lawmakers for the annual "Shoot Day" sponsored by Gun Owners of New Hampshire when she realized her support for Dole was out of sync with her own beliefs. When Dole said she opposed "concealed carry permits," that was it for Wendelboe.

"I just can't defend her positions anymore," said Wendelboe, who added she was also unhappy with Dole's support for NATO involvement in Kosovo.

Once Wendelboe announced the split, she says she had no shortage of other presidential suitors. She says her phone began to ring with queries from other campaign staffs about where she might go now. She said she will make up her mind "after an appropriate mourning period."

Gun plays a role in another change

It turns out that a very different gun issue figured in Peter Robbio's resignation a month ago as state director for magazine publisher Steve Forbes' presidential campaign. Robbio, who directed Pat Buchanan's winning effort during the 1996 New Hampshire primary, quit his job with Forbes the day after he was arrested in Manchester for allegedly displaying a handgun during a late night tussle with another patron at a crowded night club on Elm Street.

According to court records, the Smith and Wesson handgun had six rounds in the magazine. The Forbes campaign said Robbio, who was charged with reckless conduct and criminal threatening, has a permit to carry a weapon.

Robbio, reached by telephone, declined to comment about the incident, and his lawyer's office said he would plead not guilty if he is indicted on the charges, which are felonies. "Peter did exactly what he should have done . . . he'll have his day in court," said Bill Dal Col, Forbes' national campaign director. Dal Col said that in April Robbio had told him he "wanted out" of the campaign for "personal reasons" and that he heard about the arrest later. "If [Robbio] had made it known, he would have been asked to resign," Dal Col said.

Robbio had been working as a campaign volunteer but, following disclosure last week of his arrest, the campaign said in a statement that he has "no role in the Forbes campaign in any capacity."

Buchanan says he'll show them all

Television commentator and columnist Pat Buchanan, the winner of the 1996 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary (he beat Bob Dole) and a very respectable second in 1992 (he gave a big scare to George Bush), was in town last weekend to open his headquarters in Manchester. A small group of zealous Buchananites were there to meet him at the Merrimack Restaurant on Elm Street, and they eagerly recited the same litany of issues that has stoked Buchanan's effort for years: they are anti-abortion, pro-American, anti-NAFTA and anti-globalism. They like Buchanan because, as supporter Vinnie Koenig said, "he's honest."

Buchanan reminisced about the old glory days, the cold pizza and lonely times on the campaign trail, posed for pictures, held babies, and signed a whole lot of autographs. He whipped up the crowd as they chanted their mantra, "Go, Pat, go."

"You all remember King George," he said, talking about the 1992 campaign against the then vice president. "Now they tell me I have to beat a Bush and a Dole . . . they don't know what they're in for."

Buchanan proved he could make plenty of mischief in 1992 and 1996, but things will be different this time. The current field is crowded with other conservative candidates. And Buchanan's chances at getting a third all-important endorsement from the conservative Union Leader newspaper may not be as strong, now that the publisher, Nackey Loeb, the woman he affectionately called his "political godmother," has announced her retirement.

"We couldn't have done it without her and the Union Leader," Buchanan said of his 1996 victory. He called the new publisher, Joe McQuaid, "an old buddy of mine."

McQuaid said later: "Mrs. Loeb owns the paper and I can't imagine she wouldn't be involved in some way" in the endorsement decision.

Outburst shows budget tensions

State Representative O. Alan Thulander (R-Francestown) let it rip last week during a tense meeting of a working group of House Finance Committee members. Their unenviable task is to take the first whack at the proposed budget for the Department of Health and Human Services -- the folks who provide services for poor women and their kids, the elderly and the disabled. It is the largest and most complex piece of any state budget, and a possible target for cuts. Likely to follow are public outcries that vulnerable people will be hurt.

Thulander had been listening to committee members go back and forth -- in strained politeness -- about whether legislators or HHS staff ought to be the ones deciding what programs to fund. In a sudden outburst, he suggested he intended to keep his hands off.

"I'm sorry. I'm not doing that. No way in hell am I doing that," said Thulander, adding that "a ton of money is being paid" to "a lot of top executives" who can make the decisions without "half-baked, half-knowing" directives from other people who are far from experts.

Thulander heatedly declared he would not "play games with the way this agency is operated." He even suggested he would quit if he was told he had to make the decisions. There was a long silence in the room until Finance Committee chairman Neal Kurk quietly suggested it might be a good time for a recess. Outside the hearing room, Thulander acknowledged he was frustrated but refused to discuss his comments.

Democrats say the Republicans are getting ready to pass the buck and dodge any flak for making tough decisions about sensitive social programs. Four years ago, lawmakers did turn over their budget authority to then HHS commissioner Terry Morton. They gave him a target figure and said, "You do it." That authority, however, expired in December, and Democrats on the working group don't want it renewed. They don't like the idea of a lone commissioner, whether Republican or Democrat, taking over what they see as the role of the Legislature.

"Why should he?" asked Representative Mary Jane Wallner of Concord, a veteran of budget warfare. "He wasn't elected."

Surveys indicate support for Bush

According to a newly released survey of New Hampshire voters over 45 years old, Texas Governor George W. Bush is way out in front of other GOP candidates for president. The survey was conducted for the American Association of Health Plans, a trade association (a.k.a. lobbying group) that represents 1,000 HMOs and other health plans, by Ayres, McHenry & Associates, an Atlanta-based public opinion research firm. It focused on those 45 and over because, the association says, they are the ones who say health care issues influence their vote. The survey was conducted May 12-13 and had a margin of error of 5.7 percent.

In a survey of 300 likely Republican primary voters, Bush had 38 percent and Elizabeth Dole had 13 percent. Ten percent of the voters contacted supported Arizona Senator John McCain, and 5 percent were for magazine publisher Steve Forbes. All the others were at 4 percent or below. Of 300 likely Democratic voters, Vice President Al Gore led with 50 percent, compared to 25 percent for former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. Note that 21 percent of Democrats were undecided, and 20 percent were undecided on the GOP side.

MLK holiday clears committee hurdle

Short takes: A holiday named for Martin Luther King Jr. in New Hampshire took another step toward reality last week when the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee voted in favor of the holiday, 11-7. The debate now moves to the House floor, where supporters are optimistic that the 20-year battle to get a King holiday will finally be won . . . Former New Hampshire attorney general Jeffrey Howard, who has been checking out his gubernatorial chances, has signed on to be state legal counsel for the Bush exploratory team . . . And in Manchester tomorrow, Mayor Ray Weiczorek will announce that he is a candidate for reelection. Weiczorek, a Republican, will be seeking his sixth term.

Got a tip or a comment from the campaign trail, state government or town hall? The Political Diary wants to hear from you at: Political Diary, Boston Globe/New Hampshire Weekly, 1650 Elm St., Manchester, NH 03101, or by e-mail at Kiernan(at sign)globe.com. Please include home and work telephone numbers.