Alexander hears gripes about federal intrusions


By DIANE RIETMAN
Telegraph Staff


NASHUA -- Lamar Alexander looked like any other diner Wednesday morning 
when he arrived at Bud's Restaurant on Lake Street.
Dressed in his trademark red-and-black plaid, cotton shirt and khakis, 
the Republican presidential candidate from Tennessee greeted workers and 
diners before sitting down to listen to concerns from a dozen people, 
many of them current or former politicians.
   As he sat down to a breakfast of raisin bran, wheat toast and orange 
juice, Alexander enjoyed the light-hearted small talk that soon moved to 
more serious issues.
   Alice Record, a former state representative from Nashua, raised the 
issue of abortion, where she disagrees with Alexander.
   "It's a woman's right," Record said.
   Alexander countered that the issue of abortion should not be 
addressed by the federal government. He said he personally opposes 
abortion and labels himself pro-life.
   Earlier Wednesday morning, while at the home of Bob and Nancy Kime, 
Alexander discussed the same issue. He told the Kimes that although he 
is pro-life, if a mother's life were at stake or the pregnancy were 
due to rape or incest, then he would be more supportive of abortion.
   "I hoped that would be his response," Bob Kime said."  I don't 
support abortion, but I also wouldn"t want my daughter forced to have a 
baby if raped, and I'm glad he supports that view."
   Although a supporter of Dole in 1988, Kime said he is supporting the 
former Tennessee governor this year. He pointed to Alexander's "old-style 
politician" stance of basing his positions on personal beliefs, rather 
than the party line or recent polls.
   During his meeting at Bud's, Alexander criticized the Republican 
welfare reforms that are stalemated in the U.S. Senate, saying there was 
a need for different changes.
   "Yesterday I met a young couple at Library Hill. They had 
just left the human services office and were told if they separated, 
they would get more benefits. That's the way it works, and it's 
wrong," Alexander told the group.
   "It used to be that welfare was a church and community 
responsibility. It should not be a federal government issue, but should 
be back in the hands of the states and local government."
   While voicing various concerns about the federal government, it was 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations that irked Hudson 
Selectman Shawn Jasper.
   "Why can a local highway project get hung up for years because the 
federal government feels it needs to be involved," said Jasper, a 
proponent of the Nashua-Hudson Circumferential Highway. "I've never seen 
anywhere in the Constitution that gives the EPA or any other feds the 
right to get involved in it."
   Mike Mansfield, a resident of Tenby Drive, said the federal 
government shouldn't be playing the role it does in education, 
particularly its mandates.  He said he liked Alexander"s pledge to focus 
on two or three major issues if elected president.
   "It's an important point," Mansfield said.  "When you take on too 
many projects at once, like Clinton has done, no one issue is getting 
the attention it deserves. That leads to mediocrity."
   Alexander was scheduled to wrap up the third leg of his walk across the 
sta te today. After a 7 a.m. breakfast at Connie's Country Kitchen in 
Hudson, he was expected to walk from the Waterhouse Country Store in 
Windham to the Windham Nursery on Route 111.
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