Dendahl Jolts GOP

From: LibertyWatch@rlc.org (LibertyWatch@rlc.org)
Monday, August 20, 2001
Dendahl Jolts GOP Again
By Michael Coleman
Journal Staff Writer

New Mexico Republican Party Chairman John Dendahl is showing some libertarian stripes, and it's making some of his fellow Republicans nervous.
This month, the outspoken party boss joined the advisory board of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a 10-year-old political action group
that recruits GOP candidates with libertarian leanings.
The organization supports, among other possibly controversial views, abolishing the Department of Education, eliminating farm and Medicare subsidies and shifting the responsibility for drug laws from the federal government to local communities.
Libertarians generally believe in maximum personal freedom and a minimum of government intervention.
Dendahl had to defend himself as party chairman earlier this year when he voiced support for drug legalization at a public rally with Gov. Gary Johnson, who also supports legalization.

Unpopular views
Republicans in New Mexico's congressional delegation asked Dendahl to resign, saying that a chairman shouldn't promote a view opposed by so many in his party.
But in May, after Dendahl assured his party that he would not use his post publicly to condone drug legalization, he won re-election.
State Rep. Ron Godbey, an Albuquerque Republican who ran against Dendahl in May's party chairman election, said last week that Dendahl is skirting dangerously close to breaking his vow by joining the Republican Liberty Caucus.
Godbey said he was "stunned" that Dendahl would align himself with a movement espousing drug law changes so soon after his run-in with party leaders on the same issue.
"There are a number of issues this group has taken up that are contrary to the Republican Party," Godbey said. "It's clearly out of the mainstream of the Republican Party."
Dendahl said in an interview that his involvement with the caucus won't put him at odds with his party or present a conflict for him as a member of the Republican National Committee. If it does, he said he will resign from the group.
"If it becomes clear that my trying to help the Republican Liberty Caucus comes in conflict with the RNC, I would step aside," said Dendahl, who is candid about his agreement with many libertarian positions.
Republican Minority Whip Earlene Roberts, R-Lovington, said Dendahl should focus on his duties as chairman and maintained that the
Liberty Caucus holds views many state Republicans oppose.
"He can't represent my views when he's in this group," she said.

Involvement no problem
But other party leaders, including Republican National Committeeman Mickey Barnett, state party vice chairman Stevan Pearce, and House Minority Leader Ted Hobbs, R-Albuquerque, said Dendahl's involvement in a GOP fringe group is no problem.
"John has a right to make his own moves," Hobbs said. "He doesn't have to ask permission from anyone."
State and national GOP bylaws do not bar state chairmen from joining other political action groups, several party members said.
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., through their spokesmen, declined to comment on Dendahl's
new role.
U.S. Rep. Joe Skeen, a Republican sheep farmer from Picacho, would be wary of any group that wants to eliminate farm subsidies or relax federal drug laws, said Skeen spokeswoman Selma Sierra.
"It's interesting that John is getting involved in this," Sierra said. "You can't tell John what groups to join, but he can't be advocating positions contrary to the positions of the Republican Party."
Dendahl said he would not support eliminating federal subsidies for farmers, who help fuel New Mexico's economy. The caucus also supports abolishing the U.S. departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services, with which Dendahl said he generally agrees.
Chuck Muth, national chairman of the Liberty Caucus, said he asked Dendahl to join the group as a bridge among the RNC, the White
House and the caucus.

'A great liaison'
"He's highly respected at the RNC and will make a great liaison from our organization to our parent organization," Muth said.
Muth of Las Vegas, Nev., also stressed that drug reform is not a high priority for the group. The caucus' mission statement says that it "supports alternatives to the war on drugs" and that "matters such as drugs should be handled at the state or personal level," as opposed to the U.S. government.
"It's not as big an issue with us as it is the Libertarian Party," Muth said.
RNC spokesman Rudy Fernandez said the committee welcomes Dendahl's role in the Liberty Caucus.
"There is nothing wrong, in our view, with Chairman Dendahl being involved with them," Fernandez said. "The Republican Party is big
enough to encompass a number of views."
In fact, the group could help Republicans convince more potential Libertarians to stick with the GOP, Fernandez said.
Libertarian candidates have been blamed, or credited, for siphoning votes from GOP candidates in key races.
Some contend that President Bush might have beaten Democrat Al Gore in New Mexico's presidential contest last year if Libertarian candidate Harry Brown hadn't been in the race. Bush lost New Mexico to Gore by 366 votes. Brown captured 2,085 votes in the state's presidential contest.
Grover Norquist, a Washington-based Republican political adviser, said the Liberty Caucus can help Republicans build the party with young people who might find Libertarians appealing.
The Liberty Caucus "answers a very real concern," Norquist said in a telephone interview. "Caucuses are helpful in bringing new people into the parties through different doors."
The caucus, according to its Web site, has chapters in 15 states and the District of Columbia.
The Liberty Caucus aggressively recruits Libertarian-leaning Republicans to run in GOP primary races against incumbents who
don't hold the caucus' views, Muth said. 
Dendahl, who said he has been criticized - he says unfairly - for meddling in state GOP primary elections in the past, promised that
he won't use his position in the caucus to groom candidates for New Mexico primary elections. And he hopes that the group won't
use his name to recruit Libertarian-leaning candidates in the primaries.
"I would have a problem with that," Dendahl said.
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Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal
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