GraniteGrok

Doug, being much too modest to write flattering things about himself, offers the following profile that appeared in the local town paper. Written by Alec O'Meara, editor of The Gilford Steamer, it ran in the April 6th, 2006 edition, and was titled, "In business and politics, Lambert remains a maverick."

Back in 1982 when Doug Lambert got to choose three things he liked for the ages in his high-school yearbook, he picked "rock and roll, Chevys, and nukes."

"So, not much has changed since then," laughed Lambert, one of Gilford's best known political figures and the newest member for the Budget Committee.

It was Dunkin' Donuts, of all things, that first brought Lambert to the Lakes Region in 1988. Lambert moved into the area to manage [owner-operator-franchisee] the Dunkin' Donuts on Union Avenue in Laconia. Of course, at the time it was the only Dunkin' Donuts in the area. Today, there's a Dunkin' Donuts practically every half-mile in the area.

"And we weren't getting $2.25 for a big [cup] of coffee!" said Lambert.

Back then, the Rhode Island native didn't know all that much about rural town politics, but it was while reading the political commentary of Pat Buchanan in the Manchester Union Leader that Lambert said he discovered that he was a conservative. Still, as he settled down and started raising a family and running his own business with his wife, his interest in local affairs remained only a passing one.

It wasn't until his two children were involved in the school system and his wife joined a stategic planning committee regarding the school that Lambert got involved. Disappointed with what he felt was a lack of curriculum planning at the elementary level, Lambert spoke up at a Budget Committee Meeting and questioned where his tax dollars were being spent. Not long after that meeting, Lambert found himself deeply involved with town politics. In 1997, Lamber came in third in race for two seats on the School Board.

Lambert then joined the planning committee to look into withdrawing from the Laconia School District, SAU 30. That committee, which included an eclectic cast of town residents, voted unanimously for Gilford to leave SAU 30 and become its own district. Lambert also eventually became one of the key spokesmen for the Gilfrd Taxpayer Coalition during its efforts to keep a new high school from being built on the Meadows Property.

Contrary to his reputation as an "anti-everything", Lambert points out that he was a member of the facility planning committee that designed the plans for the middle school expansion that was successfully passed and eventually built.

Around this same time, Lambert began testing the political waters with his own column, which originally ran in the Weirs Times before migrating to the Laconia Daily Sun. Lambert credits fellow conservative sound bite machine Niel Young for much of his writing career, which Lambert does on a volunteer basis.

Eventually, Lambert expanded from school issues to the town as a whole, and again ran for office in 2003. This time, despite the backing of a still highly active Gilford Taxpayer Coalition, Lambert lost a bid for selectman to the Budget Committee Chair. After swearing off politics for a couple of years after the loss, Lambert began appearing at the Budget Committee meetings again in 2005 and was appointed by the committee to a one year term on the committee last week.

While most see just his political side, Lambert thinks of his work in the public eye as an importrant and enjoyable diversion. Lambert takes great pride in and enjoys the work he does with his work in his own business, as well as the efforts of raising his two teenage children.

Since starting the company, Lambert and his wife have grown it into a successful manufacturing company that caters to industrial clientele both large and small. Much of the company's work runs the breadth of the mechanical services industry.

Still, a closer look at Lambert's office shows his reading habit hasn't cooled any over the years, as the not-so-standard office bookshelf includes a wide variety of works, including Orwell, Marx, Sun-Tzu, Shelley's "Frankenstein," and several other historical books, which focus on everything from the politics of today to WWII and the fall of Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Lambert's computer, loaded up with 20-plus gigs of classic rock, keeps tunes pumping through the plant every workday.

Politics, trucks, and rock-and-roll. It turns out Lambert's yearbook wasn't that far off.

Doug has long been a non-conformist who, while generally despising the 60's antiwar hippie types and their ilk, shares their questioning of authority... and loves the music!

"Never trust the so-called experts!" Doug has often been heard exclaiming. "Look what happened to ordinary German citizens in the 1930s Germany when they trusted their government wholly without question - some WILLINGLY walked into the gas chambers while many looked on"