here was plenty of hype, but in the end this show was a dud. Even some of the usual suspects on both sides of this high-tension issue seemed burned out. In what felt more like a routine decision than a monumental vote on public policy, House members voted 206-164 Thursday to dump the income tax. That after Senate supporters had patted themselves on the back for coming up with a bipartisan deal so they could get the income tax question before the House one more time.
''Sorry, Senator Below,'' State Representative Liz Hager, a Concord Republican, called out cheerily to Clifton Below, the Lebanon Democrat, her compatriate in pushing the income tax bill, which bore their names. ''That's OK,'' said Below as he strode past Hager's press conference outside the House chamber. He had figured out the night before, after making some telephone calls, that the bill was a loser.
Meanwhile, the clock has been ticking. The Supreme Court two weeks ago chucked out what had been the Legislature's education funding solution - a $440 million statewide property tax. Preparation of tax bills due in the mail tomorrow was put on hold; there were headlines about schools closing and government shutting down if the money didn't come in. But income tax advocates saw the court ruling as another opening for them to make their case, in a crisis atmosphere. Governor Jeanne Shaheen, who had vowed to veto the income tax, wanted a vote one way or another, and she predicted the income tax effort would fail. She worked the telephones to solidify her position. And then she won.
What now?
''Talk,'' said House Democratic leader Peter Burling of Cornish, who supported the income tax.
The House and Senate will reconvene this week and, in all likelihood, consider a rewrite of the statewide property tax. This time there would be a flat rate for everybody (the justices had said it wasn't fair to try to ease the wealthy towns into the process) and there would breaks for taxpayers whose towns have been hit harder than others.
If you asked around the State House last week, there seemed to be agreement on one thing: Election Day in November 2000, when the governor and state lawmakers have to face the voters, will be the next big turning point in debate about a long-term solution to education. That will be the public's turn to speak its mind - through the people it choses as its leaders. And as Burling said after last week's vote, the campaign starts right now.
Make it official, fork over your $1,000
Speaking of elections, the official filing period for New Hampshire's presidential primary opens tomorrow. All candidates have to pay $1,000 to get into the race - and there have been as many as 60 on the ballot, according to Secretary of State William Gardner.
The filing period closes at 5 p.m. on Nov. 19. And, lest anyone forget, the primary itself is Feb. 1, 2000.
Lily Tomlin to help Shaheen raise funds
Invitations have gone out for a $1,000-a-head fund-raiser for Shaheen on Nov. 17. The star attraction will be none other than comedian Lily Tomlin, who will be in state that week for an appearance at the Capitol Center for the Arts. The reception, at Fratello's Restaurant in Manchester, was scheduled with help from the state Democratic Party's finance committee chairman, Sophia Collier, who is friendly with Tomlin.
Smith is thinking Republican again
It wasn't much of a surprise last week when US Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire dropped his independent bid for the presidency. While he was traveling in New Hampshire last week, Smith told Globe correspondent Shirley Elder that he planned to quit the race while he still had campaign cash left. ''I'm in the black and I don't want to run into debt,'' Smith said in an interview. And, lo and behold, the senior senator's decision to bail out comes in the midst of lots of talk from Washington to Concord about whether Smith is ready to re-up with the Republican party. Why do it?
First, the question of whether the Republican leadership would retaliate against Smith for turning independent came up sooner than anybody expected with the sudden death of Smith's Republican colleague, Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island. Based on seniority among the majority members, Smith would be next in line to take over Chafee's chairmanship of the influential Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Except, of course, Smith isn't a Republican anymore.
In Washington, the word is that ''now is not the time or the place'' to talk in public about what might happen, so soon after Chafee's death. But it's a sure bet the GOP bigwigs have noted in private that the rules also allow the Republican Senate members to choose the committee chairman they prefer.
Smith told Rotary Club members in Manchester last Monday that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott had been ''understanding'' of Smith's switch and Smith said he didn't expect any ''retribution.'' Answering questions during a lunch meeting at the Chateau Restaurant, Smith said that his voting record remained solidly on the Republican side and that when he became an independent it wasn't as if he joined an opposition party.
''I didn't savage the Republican Party, I'm working with the Republican Party,'' Smith told the Rotarians. So, he could go back to the GOP? ''It could be tomorrow, it could be next month,'' Smith said. ''But I think something has to change ... we have to be a party of principle.''
Hopefuls face test for Blaisdell seat
Voters in Keene and nine surrounding towns head to the polls Tuesday for a special primary election to pick the Democratic and Republican candidates who will duke it out for the seat of the late Democratic state Senate president, Junie Blaisdell. The 10th Senate District, which Blaisdell represented for 28 years, is considered a Democratic stronghold, but the Republicans aren't giving the seat away.
Family ties rule in special election
There's personal history swirling around the primary contest on both sides. Blaisdell's son Peter, who has never held public office, decided to run for the seat after he won high praise for a moving eulogy he delivered to the Legislature. Meanwhile, former Keene mayor Bill Lynch, whose wife, state Representative Margaret Lynch, is a cousin of Junie Blaisdell's, is also in the primary race on the Democratic side. Lynch, an insurance company executive, was a House member and county commissioner and is now Cheshire County treasurer. The third Democratic candidate, state Representative Margaret Lynott of Swanzey, is a two-term lawmaker and local real estate agent. All three Democrats support an income tax, as did Junie Blaisdell.
On the GOP side, Tom Eaton, whose father, Charles Eaton, was the 10th District state senator from 1958-62, is running for the nomination against former state lawmaker Wanda McNamara, a small-business owner and longtime resident of Chesterfield.
''I think it's winnable,'' said Eaton, a political novice who is well known as a businessman; he just sold the funeral home business he ran in the area for 24 years. Eaton says he is getting help from political consultant David Carney, who was a top aide to former governor John Sununu and worked in the Bush White House before returning to New Hampshire. McNamara says she is ''definitely the underdog'' in the race but is working with her friends and neighbors to promote her campaign. McNamara says she doesn't like the income tax; Eaton calls it a last resort.
Not surprisingly, the top issue has been education, and how to pay for it. The primary winners will face off in a special general election on Dec. 7. While this is a coveted chance at a state Senate seat that had been held for decades by the same man, all the candidates said it has been tough to generate voter interest in the off-year primary. And it will be even tougher for the special general election, which comes in the midst of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
Reform Party heads welcome Buchanan
Daron Libby and John Talbott of New Hampshire's Reform Party met with ex-Republican Pat Buchanan last week in Manchester, after they attended a reception for Buchanan supporters celebrating his announcement that he would seek the Reform Party nomination for president. Talbott described the meeting as brief and cordial and said he and Libby ''welcomed'' Buchanan, the winner of the 1996 GOP primary here. Polls, however, showed Buchanan's numbers way down in the GOP race in New Hampshire this time around, which analysts say may account for his switch to the Reform side.
The meeting in Manchester follows a bit of a tiff between the two camps. The Reform Party decided, unexpectedly, to change the rules for its convention this weekend after it got wind of a possible move by Buchanan troops to take control. Nothing against Buchanan, they said, but they want him to earn their support. And by the way, they've also gotten in touch with the contact person for New York developer Donald Trump, who has made noises about being the Reform Party candidate. And, of course, they would welcome a visit from Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, the most visible of all Reformers, who has backed Trump and dissed Buchanan.
Talbott says Buchanan is in line with the Reform Party on most issues, especially economics and trade. He says that while there ''may not be a perfect alignment'' with Buchanan on social issues, such as his strict opposition to abortion rights, such issues are deliberately not part of the Reform Party platform.
''We want to leave it up to individuals to make those decisions,'' Talbott said.
GOP to Buchanan: Bye, good riddance
There was no shortage of criticism from the GOP here about both Buchanan's defection and the party that's welcoming him.
Former state GOP committee member Peter Paul Jesep of Portsmouth, an official with the Ripon Society, a think-tank for progressive and centrist Republicans, said the departure of Buchanan and his ''redneck George Wallace populism'' means the GOP ''has a little less tarnish on its soul.''
As for the Reform Party, state GOP chairman Steve Duprey said ''it's irrelevent in New Hampshire'' and it's a ''circus'' nationwide. Duprey says maybe Buchanan could siphon off some Republican votes, as Ross Perot did in 1992, cutting into support for Vice President George Bush and, many think, handing a victory to then Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. This time around, Duprey said, Buchanan's suporters will stay in the GOP because they have found other candidates within the party to support.
FYI, the 1996 Buchanan delegates to the GOP convention from New Hampshire were state Senator Pat Krueger of Manchester, Barbara Hagan of New Hampshire Right to Life, Jim Finnegan, former editorial writer for the Union Leader (he's still on board with Buchanan), state Representative Richard ''Stretch'' Kennedy of Hopkinton, Signe McQuaid, wife of Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid, and former state senator David Wheeler.
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