Buchanan joins a widening field

By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, March 7, 1999

Shelly Uscinski of Merrimack, chairman of New Hampshire Christian Coalition, watched quietly from the back of the room last week as TV talkmeister Pat Buchanan rolled out the rhetoric to announce another run for president. Uscinski was a Buchanan delegate to the 1996 GOP Convention, but this time she has to remain neutral because of her coalition job. With a field full of conservatives now, it may be too early for others on the right to choose a candidate. "We'll just see what happens in the coming months . . . it's anybody's game," she said.

Buchanan loyalists, including a flock of nuns and school children, filled the tightly controlled event last week at the Courtyard in Manchester. No big-name activists were announcing their support, but Buchanan, the upset winner of the 1996 primary, has got a hold on "the hearts and guts of a lot of people," says political strategist Tom Rath of Concord, a senior adviser to former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander. "I take him very seriously," he said.

Alexander, who came in third to Buchanan in 1996 (behind Bob Dole) officially launches his 2000 presidential campaign Tuesday in Nashville and arrives in New Hampshire Wednesday for an announcement event at the Derry Village School. Then he's on to Iowa and California. His schedule, from fund-raising to receptions, lobster bakes and policy speeches, is already blocked in through mid-fall.

The short-run task is to outrun what Rath calls the "inevitability flu" surrounding Texas Governor George W. Bush as the probable nominee -- before he has set a foot on the campaign trail. Rath says that as the potentially large GOP field thins out -- as it surely will -- Alexander will have the money and field organization "to go the distance."

No plaid shirts though for the candidate this time. Rath agrees it became a distraction from Alexander's message.

Some can afford to get message out

State Representative Arthur Pelletier, a Dover Democrat, says what scares him about a voter referendum on how to pay for schools is the the prospect of well-heeled lobbyists blitzing the media with their paid-for message, while people with other ideas have to depend on freebies like letters to the editor and press conferences. It's all fair game, but Pelletier, a former teacher who supports an income tax, fears he and others who don't have big bucks would be left in the dust. He says just look at the way the Committee for Sensible School Funding, a coalition of powerful business groups, has waged a public campaign against an income tax and in favor of its own solution.

Who hasn't heard the committee's radio spots, in which a cash register cha-chings and the voice of doom warns about an income tax? How about the one with the kids in the schoolyard, the touchy-feely piano music, and the concerned announcer who says, "An income tax will cost us jobs and hurt the economy." At WKXL in Concord and WGIR in Manchester, the committee significantly increased the amount of air time it bought as the House approached its critical vote. Then there was the full-page anti-income tax ad in the Nashua Telegraph and the Union Leader last week (at $3,793 a pop in the Union Leader, unless you have an advertising contract), not counting a half-page ad that ran a while back.

Dial an 800 number offered by the committee and you'll get a professional phone bank in the Washington area. They'll ask for your name and phone number (you don't have to give it) and then they'll read you a canned message (the same one in the ad) saying your representative needs to know you oppose an income tax. Then they'll patch you through to the appropriate lawmaker. Calls were also being made last week to registered voters at home, urging them to call their reps and tell them to ax the tax.

Tax lawyer Bill Ardinger from the influential Concord lobbying/law firm Rath Young and Pignatelli was retained by the lead company for the committee, Fisher Scientific International Inc. of Hampton, to help with tax issues related to the school funding crisis. When the committee proposed its own school funding solution, House Speaker Donna Sytek halted debate to consider it and then changed her own "SMART" Plan to include a key tax refund provision the committee had proposed.

The committee says it won't disclose details about what it's spending to get its message out because it's "not relevant," a spokesman said. Pelletier calls the group the "seven-figure-income fat cats," but Fisher Scientific's general counsel Todd DuChene calls the label "very unfair." At a press conference called the day before the critical House vote, the committee tried hard to downplay its big-business image and play up support from small companies and chambers of commerce. Committee spokesman Bob Gagalis, from Fisher Scientific, said the group was "totally offended" by critics who say their effort is all about the rich protecting the rich.

Committee members include Cabletron, Fidelity Investments, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Erie Scientific, Foss Manufacturing, Hadco, Monadnock Paper, Tyco International, Wheelabrator, PAK 2000, a North Country manufacturer, and Deka, the Manchester research and development company founded by entrepreneur Dean Kamen.

Money is short for Claremont lawyers

Talk about not keeping up. The lawyers representing the schools that filed the Claremont lawsuit haven't been paid since 1991. Except for out-of-pocket expenses, they have essentially worked for free for eight years. Which, lead attorney Andru Volinsky said, makes "the intervention of the rich businessmen somewhat galling."

One of those "rich businessmen" turned out to be another client of Volinsky's, Cabletron. He says he called company president Craig Benson, and then talked to Fisher's general counsel Todd DuChene about setting up a meeting. After that, Volinsky says, he "never heard another word" from the committee.

Thousands go out to political causes

Just one more thing about Fisher Scientific: Its CEO, Paul Montrone, is no stranger to political causes. According to federal reports, he contributed $10,000 to President Clinton's defense fund and $65,000 to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Another Bush, another Sununu

You could say what goes around comes around. Former governor John Sununu helped deliver New Hampshire for George Bush, the Dad, in 1988 and, when Bush was elected president, he rewarded Sununu with the post of White House chief of staff. Three years later, after a tumultuous tenure in Washington, Sununu resigned. Reports are it was George Bush, the son, who gave Sununu the word that it was time for him to leave.

Now George Bush, the son, is running for president -- and Sununu is working on the Dan Quayle campaign. Bad feelings? Nah. Sununu told reporters "I have no conflict with George W." He said he has backed Quayle's presidential plans since 1993.

We can't wait to see which presidential camp wins the political affection of Sununu's son, the 1st District congressman, John E. Sununu of Bedford.

Party's going on at White House

Longtime Democratic activists Keene Mayor Pat Russell and husband, state Representative Ronnie Russell, continue to be courted by the Clinton administration. They've been invited to the White House to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. John and Mary Rauh signed on with Democrat Bill Bradley. Mike Dennehy, a former executive director of the state GOP, is now a senior adviser and New England director for US Senator John McCain's presidential exploratory committee.

Finally, there's a public hearing at 8:30 a.m. Monday in the State House on a Senate bill (which has majority support) to add Martin Luther King Jr.'s name to Civil Rights Day. The real test is on the House side where the measure has consistently failed, but by a smaller margin each time. A Boston Globe survey of members showed the bill may be only two votes short of passage in the House this session -- which means New Hampshire may be about to finally surrender its title as the only state in the nation that doesn't honor King with a day.

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