NEW HAMPSHIRE WEEKLY / POLITICAL DIARY / LAURA A. KIERNAN

From 3 in the GOP, a query: what's up?

By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, June 27, 1999

As political entertainment goes, this was was pretty good stuff. A trio of glib, experienced talkers assembled by a former Republican state senator, Jim Rubens, and THINK-New Hampshire took on the issue of the day: What's wrong with the Republican Party?

The timing couldn't have been better: Hours earlier in Concord, the GOP majority in the House, its members divided and battle-weary from months of political wrangling, watched as their own budget proposal was deep-sixed in favor of what the Democrats and Governor Jeanne Shaheen wanted. Defectors from the Republican ranks sealed the deal.

On the panel: the "titan of the blue-blood establishment," as one wag put it, former New Hampshire attorney general, longtime GOP activist and ubiquitous political analyst Tom Rath of Concord. And there was Paul Peter Jesep, former chairman of the Portsmouth Republican City Committee who is now national vice president of the Ripon Society, a moderate Republican think tank.

But the star of the show, as far as this audience of conservatives seemed to go, was Richard Lessner, the blustery, bright, sometimes pompous and always intellectually combative lame-duck editorial writer for the Union Leader of Manchester. His "hero" status in this crowd was undiminished -- even though he abruptly announced last week that he has resigned from the paper and is going back home to Arizona. That shocked his fans and thrilled his critics. But more on that later.

Rath said Republicans had to learn to talk nicer to one another, and said there were some issues -- namely abortion -- that weren't going to come to political solutions. He said the party lacked a "unified set of principles." Jesep said the party had to stop "eating their young" in primaries and come together or it would be "as irrelevant as the British monarchy." The audience reacted politely. Then Lessner weighed in.

Saying his job was to be "the skunk at the garden party," Lessner waved his arms, raised his voice and intoned the problems with the GOP were "ideological." He decried "nanny-state policy," and said Republicans were losing elections because voters didn't see any difference between them and the Democrats.

The audience applauded and nodded heads in agreement. Lessner, who has a divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, sounded like an evangelist at a GOP revival meeting -- or maybe like Rush Limbaugh.

Ever authoritative, Lessner said there are many disenchanted Republicans who are "ready to bolt" to a third party and stand for issues "on which there is no compromise." He said it was time "for a little honest talk in New Hampshire" about who was and wasn't a real Republican. At least as he sees it.

In an interview, Lessner said he "was not going to expound" beyond his published statement that he had resigned to be closer to family in Arizona. McQuaid, in a separate interview, said he did not fire Lessner, that the parting was amicable and that it had nothing to do with his taking over as publisher.

Why all the interest in Lessner?

He cultivated a high-visibility profile among conservatives, he was an aggressive debater in frequent television appearances, and he was often seen at Republican events.

And for years, a point of pride for the Union Leader has been the power of its editorials. Lessner's were consistently far-right, blunt and full of heavy rhetoric that sometimes demanded a dictionary.

Now, considering the Democratic power in the State House, some are wondering whether Lessner was too ideological to have an influence (or relevance), except with a small group of hard-core conservatives.

"Things have happened that the Union Leader didn't want to happen," one veteran observer said. Devoted readers (including critics who devour the paper every day) are waiting to see whether the post-Lessner Union Leader editorial page, under McQuaid, is less radical and maybe more mainstream conservative.

And in the GOP primary race for president, candidates at the conservative end of the spectrum have a stake in which way the paper goes: Its endorsement could boost a candidate out of the pack of contenders.

A former state lawmaker, Dean Dexter, will be filling in on the editorial page once Lessner takes off (he says he might do talk radio in Arizona). Meanwhile McQuaid is taking resumes.

In April, the newspaper published a column by Lessner about a visit to Quebec in which his attempt at humor backfired badly. He chided Quebecers for "smoking like fiends" and driving "like maniacs." Lessner also took some digs at the sensitive debate in Quebec about a split from Canada, calling it "all that insufferable French separatism." He and the paper apologized to outraged leaders of the French-American community, who said the article was insulting and disrespectful.

"Times have changed, and the Union Leader needs to enter the modern age," said Norman Patenaude of Deerfield, a member of the group's board of directors.

"We are a very proud people and we won't stand for any more of this by anybody," he said.

Briefly stated: A dissident group inside the association lost their claim that the group's elections last fall had been rigged. Now, they have set up a renegade organization called Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers.

Ed Naile of Deering, a leader of the coalition, says his side also was miffed because Granite State Taxpayers Association officers took a $10,000 membership fee from Granite State Electric and $5,000 from the tobacco company Philip Morris, but for a while refused to tell members of the board of directors where the money came from.

Naile said the association had lost its way. "We are a taxpayers' group representing citizens, not corporations," he said.

But Roy Stewart, the Granite State Taxpayers Association, legislative director and past chairman, says the group lobbies "strictly for taxpayers."

Now, the two factions are engaged in a cookout/barbecue duel --outdoor eating being a mainstay of the summertime political circuit, especially during the presidential primary season. The coalition says it has sold 1,500 tickets (at $25 a piece) to its July 4th cookout at the Hopkinton Fairgrounds. Presidential hopefuls Gary Bauer, Patrick J. Buchanan, Alan Keyes, Howard Phillips (a Libertarian) and US Senator Bob Smith are coming.

Meanwhile, the Granite State Taxpayers are planning their seventh annual picnic, at the same place, on Aug. 7. Ticket sales are just gearing up. Stewart says membership is down from 450 at the time of the "rhubarb" to about 300. "We're still moving on, we're picking up the pieces," he said.

Each campaign will be able to buy a block of 500 tickets, so with 11 candidates (12 with Orrin G. Hatch in the fray), that could mean about $275,000 for party coffers. That's assuming, of course, that each campaign buys every ticket it is entitled to. State GOP chairman Steve Duprey says the straw poll is also a good test of a candidate's organization -- namely how many people they can turn out to vote.

There is one exception. Senator John McCain of Arizona says he's not going to participate in New Hampshire's straw poll, or in any others around the country, for that matter.

"It's a waste of time and resources because you just don't meet any new people," said McCain's New England campaign director, Mike Dennehy.

By the way, McCain will be in Bedford Wednesday for what his camp bills as a major speech on campaign financing.