NEW HAMPSHIRE WEEKLY / POLITICAL DIARY / LAURA A. KIERNAN

PAC won't help any who take the 'pledge'

By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, April 18, 1999

Political candidates who support New Hampshire's no-tax pledge may be in line for a big hit where it counts -- from the people who give big bucks to campaigns. A brand new group called The Courage PAC was set in motion last week by one of Governor Jeanne Shaheen's contributors, Stonyfield Yogurt president and CEO Gary Hirshberg, a Democratic activist and well-known supporter of a statewide income tax. And we all know Shaheen is dead set against that.

Hirshberg says the PAC will only support candidates who "do the right thing" -- namely refuse to take the pledge. He sent a letter out late last week to a small group of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, looking for "founding sponsors" for the PAC. Invitations to a kickoff event, tentatively set for May 21, will go out this week, he said. Any money the PAC raises would be much needed cash for local candidates who have to scramble to raise money for House and Senate races.

"This is by no means an anti-Shaheen fund," Hirshberg told us. "Part of the reason we are frozen is there hasn't been an open dialogue allowed," because of Shaheen's promised veto. The intent of the PAC is to elect candidates and support activities that promote open debate, Hirshberg said.

Hirshberg said the PAC is a direct result of frustrations stemming from the Claremont school funding debate, but he said he wants the fund to be around long after this debate is over.

Democrats get testy with each other

The Tipper Gore/Bill Bradley sweetness and light at the Democrats' midterm convention last weekend evaporated in a little after-lunch rumble over -- what else? -- the income tax.

Larry Finkelstein, chairman of the Hollis Democrats, says he's usually a calm guy but he and other pro-tax Dems from Hollis, Milford, Amherst and the Contoocook Valley were ripped when a quick motion to adjourn the convention by Manchester's Chris Spirou cut off plans to debate a resolution supporting an income tax (which, as we all know, Shaheen, the Democrats' fearless leader, vows to veto).

"We thought we had been had and we didn't like that," Finkelstein said later. Finkelstein and state Representative James Curran of Hancock, who organized the Contoocook group, say convention chairman Stanley D. Post knew beforehand they wanted to speak, but didn't give them a chance. "I would have to say we were shut off," said Curran. "They did not want to air that topic." Party officials said it was nothing intentional.

There was yelling. Some supporters "jumped up and bellowed and started to protest," Curran said, and aggressively approached the stage. Hollis vice chairman Dick Tartow called the party powers-that-be "Republicans and Fascists." The vote in favor of adjourning was close, 65-61. State party chairman Kathy Sullivan diffused the eruption by offering to talk with about 40 Democrats who decided to stick around for another hour. By all accounts, things calmed down. No vote was ever taken on the income tax resolution.

"I think they got their point across about how they feel about the income tax," Sullivan said later.

She got to face the upset Dems again Monday at a meeting in Milford arranged weeks before the convention. She apologized and "took the rap," said Curran, although he said he didn't think Sullivan was the bad guy. About 30 people were at that meeting in town hall.

As for the governor -- who told convention delegates before the spat that she was simply standing up for what she believed in -- Curran, a freshman lawmaker, says, "I think she's terribly wrong."

Principal must give himself a pink slip

The same day that Kathy Sullivan was taking the heat in Milford on the school funding debate, her husband, John Rist, the principal of the School of Technology in Manchester, gave himself a pink slip, officially known as a "Claremont II RIF notice." The "reduction in force" warning -- which went to all administrators and teachers in Manchester and other cities -- is based on the uncertainty in education funding. It means paychecks and health care coverage could be on the line if there isn't a resolution soon.

"Most people took it pretty well," Rist said. "They want a solution."

Ex-senator returns to his old haunts

Among the lobbyists swarming around the State House these days fending off various tax proposals is former North Country state senator Mark Hounsell. Now a member of the Conway Board of Selectmen, Hounsell was hired by the owners of Portsmouth's Water Country amusement center (they're family friends) to fight the entertainment tax as part of the solution to education financing.

Hounsell served during the Reagan 1980s when New Hampshire Republicans were hang tight antigovernment, no-tax conservatives, and the Democratic senators were, well, certainly more conservative than the Dems who control the place now. Looking back (which is easy, of course), Hounsell says he made a mistake when he voted against fully funding education aid -- the so-called Augenblick formula that was supposed to iron out funding differences among rich and poor towns.

"We were not going to spend that type of money," said Hounsell. If things had gone the other way, he said, "maybe we wouldn't be where we are today."

Locals join Dole, but rule out one

Now that software-success story Jesse Devitte of Hopkinton has been named as Elizabeth Dole's New Hampshire state chairman, we're told there will be more announcements to come this week. Look for Toni Pappas of Manchester, Alec Koromilas of Dover, Claira Monier, director of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, and House member Fran Wendelboe of New Hampton to be involved.

Another name that keeps popping up as a "good friend" of Elizabeth Dole in New Hampshire is Pam Patenaude. She, however, is state director for US Senator Bob Smith's office in Manchester, and he, of course, is running for the GOP nomination for president too. Patenaude told us that while she remains a big fan of Mrs. Dole, she is committed to Smith, and plans to stay there.

Meanwhile, Manchester lawyer Hank Stebbins, who was chairman of Bob Dole's finance committee during the 1996 presidential primary and was on his steering committee for a while, signed on last week -- with Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Bush letter hints at campaign slogans

You too can receive a "George W. Bush for President Charter Leader" pin and be among the first to greet the Texas governor when he decides to show up in New Hampshire and begin his presidential primary campaign. So said a "Bush 2000" letter sent to New Hampshire Republicans and signed by US Senator Judd Gregg, former governor Stephen Merrill, state cochairmen Barbara Russell and Robb Thomson (former governor Mel Thomson's son) and Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin of Portsmouth, a National GOP committee member.

The Bush campaign is not shying away from the "compassionate conservative" label the governor chose for himself either. (Some critics, namely GOP competitors Lamar Alexander and Dan Quayle, say it's a mushy phrase.)

In a carefully worded sentence, the letter says, "This activist conservative governor has proven our party's principles can strengthen the GOP's appeal when properly expressed." It goes on to say that in the last election "George W.'s compassionate conservative message" won over Hispanics, African-Americans, women and independents "without sacrificing principle."

On a touchy-feely note, a la Ronald Reagan (another big name in the GOP's year 2000 campaign), the letter goes on to say we are "a nation of optimists . . . who expect a bright and fertile valley over the next hill." Sounds like the stuff campaign commercials are made of.

Word on Forbes ad: Not just one issue

Watch for GOP presidential hopeful Steve Forbes to begin his television campaign in New Hampshire and Iowa before the end of this month. Says one insider, "It's the air cover for the ground troops we already have." The TV buy is "sizable" -- no surprise from multimillionaire Forbes, who waged a television and radio campaign during his 1996 presidential bid, and spent $37 million of his own money. Forbes is famous for his advocacy of the flat tax, but we're told this new TV ad is meant to show his "breadth as a candidate."

And Forbes added a New Hampshire-only Web page to his national Internet campaign last week. The local address is:

www.forbes2000.com/NH