NEW HAMPSHIRE WEEKLY / POLITICAL DIARY / LAURA A. KIERNAN Betty Tamposi joins the Dole leadershipBy 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. 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." 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 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. 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." 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. |