S Senator Joe Biden, the Delaware Democrat, was back in New Hampshire giving a speech about a week ago, but his forum was far from the meat grinder of the presidential primary campaign that he faced - and quit - 12 years ago. Biden, who has spent more than 25 years in the Senate, was a guest in the dignified confines of the New Hampshire Supreme Court where his one-time state campaign cochairman, Manchester lawyer John Broderick, is now a justice. His audience included US Supreme Court Justice David Souter, back in New Hampshire from Washington, state Supreme Court Chief Justice David Brock, other members of the state's high court, more judges (including US District Court Judge Stephen McAuliffe, another Biden supporter in his pre-court days), lawyers from around the state and a few politicians.
State Representative Sandy Keans, a Rochester Republican whose sister was a Biden supporter, proudly sported an old ''Biden for President'' button at the event, the first in what is planned to be an annual lecture honoring the late chief justice John King, who also served three terms as governor.
Biden, a lawyer and longtime member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, clearly relished the freedom of his noncandidate status, saying at one point how ''wonderful it is to make a serious speech in New Hampshire and not care what the voters think about it.'' Then he proceeded - with a combination of legalese and a politician's passion - to warn about the tug of war between judges and lawmakers over who decides what's best for the American people. As Biden spoke from the well of the courtroom where the Claremont school funding case was argued, it was hard to ignore the parallels here at home.
What was remarkable was that, with Souter sitting just a few feet in front of him, Biden offered a vigorous criticism of the US Supreme Court and the ''hostility'' he says it has shown toward Congress. He said it has cut away at the power of elected officials to pass laws that address national problems, such as domestic violence (Biden himself authored the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which recently lost a court challenge) and guns at schools (the Supreme Court threw out the Gun-Free School Zones Act).
Topic is hot one because of case
Biden, who counts himself among the early supporters of Souter's nomination (''You make me look so good,'' Biden quipped to Souter at one point), commended Souter for his dissenting opinions in similar cases, saying ''they will prove prophetic.'' Souter, his head rested in his hand, appeared inscrutable, as any jurist is expected to be.
Still, the urge to read the body language in a room full of stone-faced jurists was hard to resist. While Biden defended politicians and decried the willingness of the Supreme Court to disregard the views of lawmakers in favor of their own, he was surrounded by New Hampshire justices who have been accused by various lawmakers of doing just that in the Claremont decision.
At the end of the evening, Brock thanked Biden for addressing ''the constant tension between the three branches of government.'' Biden and Souter were seen sharing a laugh and shaking hands.
Only Bass votes for campaign reform
Press conferences in the lobby of the Legislative Office Building are usually mundane affairs, but things got a little rowdy last week when a pack of Washington lobbyists - including the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre - showed up to speak out against the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill. US Senator John McCain of Arizona has made campaign finance reform a key point in his run for the GOP presidential nomination. Local citizens groups that support reform were there to spar with the lobbyists and to tout a 1998 survey that showed 79 percent of New Hampshire voters want the system changed. But it should be noted that only one member of the New Hampshire congressional delegation supports reform measures pending in Congress.
US Representative Charles Bass of Peterborough voted in favor of the Shays-Meehan bill, which would ban unlimited and unregulated ''soft money'' contributions to political parties by corporations, unions and rich people. That bill also requires that, in the last 60 days of the campaign, special interest groups that run television ads will have to disclose where they got their money and how much they spent. Bass rejects any claim that First Amendment rights are being violated, but it is a debate he says should be resolved by the US Supreme Court. In the meantime, Bass said, ''if we do nothing about it we're declaring defeat.''
His GOP colleague, Representative John Sununu, voted against that bill because, he says, it would limit get-out-the-vote and voter-identification efforts by political parties (supporters say, however, the restrictions would apply only if those actions backed a particular candidate). As to whether big money talks too loud and should be regulated, Sununu said ''the argument that politics is about money is a slight to the voters.'' He noted that in 1996, when he won his seat, he was outspent by his opponent, Joseph Keefe.
A spokesman for US Senator Judd Gregg says he opposes McCain-Feingold because it does not require unions to get explicit permission from its members before spending their dues money on political campaigns. US Senator Bob Smith, an independent, said it is individuals, not the system, that are corrupt, a spokesman said.
Talk on shortfall comes up short
Governor Jeanne Shaheen, her legal counsel, Judy Reardon, and members of the Democratic House leadership had a tete-a-tete with Democratic members of the House Finance Committee recently that went nowhere. The discussion, about how to come up with $100 million to cover the education financing shortfall, was cordial and ''frank,'' said state Representative Jean Wallin of Concord. Shaheen wanted to talk about a capital gains tax; the Democrats wanted to talk income tax.
Shaheen, ''with a firm jaw and a shake of the head,'' as state Representative Charlie Vaughn of Portsmouth put it, and a ''Mona Lisa'' like look on her face, reiterated what she has said all along - that New Hampshire voters do not want an income tax and she will not violate her pledge to veto it. When state Representative Marjorie Smith of Durham asked what the difference was between an income tax and a tax on capital gains, Shaheen said an income tax is ''broad-based' and a capital gains tax is a ''narrow'' one.
Smith did commend Shaheen for reaching out to House Democrats, who have felt a little slighted in favor of the much smaller and Democratic-controlled Senate.
Shaheen also met last week at a Somersworth restaurant with Strafford County Democrats, and Smith, who was there, said all but two people told her they favored an income tax. Democrats have told Shaheen they want to get the bill to her, have her veto it, try for an override and then get on with the business of finding another way to fill the gap.
Insiders have no doubt that Shaheen's lobbying team will work hard to keep the income tax bill from ever reaching her office. It's now in limbo in the Senate, which meets Oct. 19. Income tax supporters realize Shaheen is sitting on a high favorability rating, with little serious Republican competition in sight should she seek a third term in 2000. Translation: Democrats who favor an income tax have no real leverage. House Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to let the Democrats duke it out on their own and won't offer any options; they say the Democrats rejected all their ideas last session.
Sununu will talk reelection later
On political futures: Sununu, who is the subject of speculation about a run for governor or US Senate, says he will make a decision about reelection ''before the end of this year.'' He said, ''I love the job I have'' and that, while people have tried to plum his aspirations, he has been busy in Congress and with a baby daughter.
As to even endorsing one of the GOP candidates for president, Sununu said, ''I'm content to listen to the candidates, spend more personal time with them'' and decide ''if I can make a difference in their election.''
And, briefly ...
Short takes: State Senator Clifton Below, a Lebanon Democrat, has endorsed former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley 's presidential campaign. Former US senator John Durkin of Manchester has also signed on with Bradley, as did former Portsmouth mayor Eileen Foley... The Bradley campaign, which has sloughed off comments from the start that Vice President Al Gore had the Democratic activists locked up, also announced the 24 elected and party officials from Strafford County have endorsed his run for the presidential nomination ... Todd Harris, last seen playing the press secretary role with John Kasich, Ohio congressman and former GOP presidential hopeful, is now working for McCain's campaign as a deputy communications director ... And, finally, the nonpartisan race for mayor of Manchester was narrowed last week, and all signs point to a tough campaign until the Nov. 2 election. Longtime Mayor Ray Wieczorek, a Republican, will face off against Bob Baines, the current principal of the city's West High School, and a Democrat. In a three-way race - the top two go to the general election - Baines ran a very tight second to Wieczorek, trailing him by just 167 votes, 4,945 to 5,112. Donna Soucy, a former alderman and state lawmaker who comes from a well-known family of Manchester Democrats, came in third with 4,340 votes. Soucy immediately endorsed Baines and was quoted as warning Wieczorek that he can expect to face ''the fight of your political life.''
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