Normand Joins Field of Hopefuls for Governor

On your scorecard of possible candidates for governor in 2002, pencil in a third Democrat.

Manchester attorney James Normand, a former state executive councilor, confirmed yesterday that he is “looking very seriously” at running for governor next year in case Gov. Jeanne Shaheen decides not to seek a fourth term. He joins state Sens. Beverly Hollingworth of Hampton and Mark Fernald of Sharon on the current Democratic list of those actively eyeing the corner office.

(see related story, Page A7.)

Republicans Gordon Humphrey, Craig Benson and Bruce Keough are moving quickly toward candidacies. Keough yesterday announced that New Hampshire Citizens for a Sound Economy’s Rich Killion has been named executive director of his exploratory committee.

Normand, a 47-year-old lifelong resident of Manchester, is viewed as a moderate who would could give Democratic primary voters an alternative to two more liberal income tax advocates. It’s unclear if he would veto an income or sales tax, but he said he would not promote them.

Shaheen is expected to move on to a U.S. Senate run after being the first three-term Democratic governor since John King in the 1960s. With no obvious Democrat heir apparent, the party faithful will be searching over the next year for one or more strong candidates to emerge from a pool of people without strong statewide name recognition.

“I think it is very clear that Governor Shaheen is running for the U.S. Senate,” said Normand, “and that the corner office is going to be open. I’ve candidly been looking at it very seriously with a number of friends and weighing the contribution I would be able to bring to the race. Very good people are running. They are my friends.”

Normand served in the House for three terms in the 1970s and was a one-term executive councilor. He defeated Republican incumbent Earl Rinker in 1998 and was unseated by Republican Thomas Colantuono in 2000.

“New Hampshire is at a crossroads,” he said. Since the Claremont II school funding decision was issued by the state Supreme Court in December 1997, “I haven’t heard anyone talk about whether it is even working. No one has gone to the communities to see if there has been any impact of the plans that have been put in place.”

Normand said he would not campaign for office advocating a new tax. “I’m not sure it would be my job as the CEO of the State of New Hampshire to tell people how I’d tax them,” he said. “Rather, I’d work with the House and the Senate, which establish the laws. We’d have to determine if we need additional revenue, and, if so, what is the fairest and best way to raise it.

“Clearly there are traditional expectations that make New Hampshire special,” he said. “I would not be prone to radically shift gears.”

“I don’t have the big fix, but I work well with people and can work with Republicans as well as Democrats. I won a seat on the governor’s council because I appealed not only to Democrats, but also to Republicans,” he said.

Normand is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School and Boston University School of Law.

Normand said he would only run if Shaheen does not, but he said, “You have to act on the assumption that the governor is going to be moving on. The next step is to determine with family and friends if the commitment is there to live with the sacrifices that have to be lived with.”