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'Lunatic' lawmaker supports killing police


Republican's views have enraged N.H. officials

The Associated Press

    Wednesday, January 3, 2001
Concord, N.H. - A newly elected Republican state lawmaker has angered his constituents, party leaders and police by saying he favors killing police officers when they cross the line. One police chief calls him "a hate-mongering lunatic."
    Tom Alciere, 41, won a seat in the New Hampshire House on his fourth try after a low-key campaign last fall. It wasn't until Sunday that his constituents in Nashua learned of his anti-police views.
    Alciere told the Valley News of Lebanon that he loves it when someone kills a police officer: "It's unfortunate that cops do make it necessary (to kill them) when they're waging a war on drugs, and I view cops as enemy officers." He said he is "too chicken" to do it himself.
    He acknowledges posting his views at Internet chat sites for months, including this 1999 comment: "Nobody will ever be safe until the last cop is dead."
    State GOP Chairman Steve Duprey said Alciere should renounce his views or resign. But Alciere stood his ground.
    "There's no way I'm going to resign," he said Tuesday.
    Alciere, a married father of one who inspects circuit boards at a factory, said he was arrested for "petty stuff" years ago but never went to jail and has no criminal record. He said his anti-police comments are the "harmless rantings of a private citizen" that won't influence his legislative work.
    New Hampshire has no procedure for recalling state representatives, and legislators said they expect Alciere to serve.
    He is taking plenty of heat. Newmarket police Chief Rodney Collins called Alciere "a hate-mongering lunatic," and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen is among state leaders to denounce him.
    Alciere said his anger stems from reading and watching television about police misconduct, and his belief that many of the laws the police enforce are unjust.
    But during his campaign, he promised simply to oppose any bills that infringe on freedom, and defeated a Democratic incumbent by 55 votes. In his previous runs for the seat, Alciere ran twice as a Libertarian and once as a Democrat.
    After the election, Alciere went online and said he was elected by a "bunch of fat, stupid, ugly old ladies that watch soap operas, play bingo, read tabloids and don't know the metric system."

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