DENDAHL CONFIDENT DISCORD RESOLVED

This week's public reconciliation between state Republican Party Chairman
John Dendahl and Republican members of New Mexico's congressional
delegation was a result of two weeks of discussions, Dendahl said Friday.

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici and Reps. Joe Skeen and Heather Wilson have said
they are satisfied with a letter of mea culpa this week - in which Dendahl
admitted that some of the things he said at a March 5 news conference
supporting Republican Gov. Gary Johnson's package of bills to reform drug
laws were out of line.

But Rep. Ron Godbey, R-Cedar Crest, perhaps Dendahl's harshest Republican
critic and the leading opponent of liberalizing marijuana laws, said Friday
that he is not satisfied with Dendahl's fence-mending effort.

Godbey said he would support another candidate for state chairman - though
no challenger has surfaced for the party-chairmanship election in May.

Dendahl appeared at the March 5 news conference with former Gov. Toney
Anaya, a Democrat hired as a lobbyist by the Lindesmith Center, a national
think tank that worked for the passage of Johnson's drug package. Two days
later, Domenici said Dendahl should no longer be party chairman.

Skeen and Wilson soon joined in publicly criticizing Dendahl, who has been
chairman for more than six years.

"We had two weeks of staff-to-staff discussions and some person-to-person
discussions between Pete Domenici and myself and Heather Wilson and
myself," Dendahl said Friday.

"I just had lunch with Joe Skeen's chief of staff," he said. "I don't think
there's any residual problems."

He said Domenici did not want to have a state chairman "who sees fit to
speak his mind freely on any issue that is in conflict with the position of
the national party."

At the March 5 news conference, Dendahl described the platform of the
national Republican Party concerning marijuana laws as a "hang 'em high"
policy.

Of the controversy itself, Dendahl said, "It was a good and enlightening
fight."

In his letter to members of the congressional delegation, Dendahl said his
news conference appearance and events that followed "have been contrary to
the broad party-building objectives which are my primary responsibility as
chairman."

However, Dendahl did not repudiate his personal support for changing drug laws.

Dendahl dismissed as rumor that Domenici's call for his removal actually
stems from last December's resignation of Kevin Moomaw as executive
director of the state Republican Party.

"If (Domenici) had his choice, he probably wouldn't have accepted the
resignation," Dendahl said. "But that was a party-leadership decision I had
to make."

Dendahl asked for the support of the congressional delegation in his bid
for reelection as party chairman at the May 5 meeting of state GOP central
committee.

Steve Bell, head of Domenici's staff, said Friday that "it's really not
(Domenici's) role," to support a candidate for state party chairman."

But he said Domenici has not recruited and does not plan to recruit any
challengers. The senator, he said, is too busy trying to get President
Bush's budget and tax-cut bill through the Senate Budget Committee.

"We feel comfortable with the way things are now," Bell said.

The joint statement from Domenici, Skeen and Wilson praised Dendahl as a
strong leader.

"We believe that Chairman Dendahl's letter goes a long way toward repairing
the breach that resulted from his remarks," the statement said.

"We are pleased that the entire party can begin to reunite now and make the
upcoming April 7 Lincoln Day Dinner a success and this election cycle truly
memorable," the letter said.