Unanimous Consent For Richard “Stretch” Kennedy - Granite Grok

Unanimous Consent For Richard “Stretch” Kennedy

Delivered Jan 29, 2014 by Dan McGuire

Madam Speaker and colleagues, former Representative Richard “Stretch” Kennedy sadly passed away two weeks ago.  In preparing this speech I’ve had the great pleasure of reminiscing with some of Stretch’s friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbors, employees and acquaintances.  The same adjectives were mentioned time and time again: unique, larger than life, kind, generous, gruff, fearless, honest, playful, politically incorrect, strong willed, unruly, outdoorsman, collector.  He had a character so large it sometimes seemed as though he’d stepped off a movie screen.  Even the most outrageous rumors such as Stretch owning a tank or flying for Air America somehow seemed plausible.

Stretch was extremely generous with his time, money and friendship in matters large and small.  I met Stretch soon after moving to the state when I started attending meetings of the Gun Owners of New Hampshire.  We met here at the Concord Holiday Inn, and Stretch was part of a group of members who would go to Uno’s for late snack after the meetings.  He went out of his way to make me feel welcome in their group and not like an outsider.

Stretch was a frequent visitor to the OLS Research office and he took pity on their inability to keep plants alive.  One day he told them that he’d bring something in that absolutely no one would be able to kill, even if they tried.  The following day he arrived with a beautiful cactus and said it was close to blooming.  Within a few days, they had a cactus in full and gorgeous bloom.   Stretch said that if they treated it well, it would bloom again.  Sadly, it never did, though they did their best.  With utter disgust, he took the poor cactus home to nurse back to health, but he didn’t give up.  Later in the week he brought each of the women a gorgeous orchid from his green house and told them to put “the god damn things in water and enjoy them while they lived.”  It took little time for them to realize that beneath his gruff exterior was an extraordinarily generous and kind man.

Stretch was constantly supporting Republicans for office.  For example, at a time when most campaign signs were held up with wooden stakes, Stretch would buy a whole trailer truckload of stakes and get his friends to help distribute them.

Another small sample of his generosity can be seen in the hall we share with the Senate.  The portrait of Rep. Dan Healy, (D) Manchester, the longest-ever serving member (52 years!) was made possible by Stretch’s contribution.  Over and over again people told me that Stretch frequently helped those in need behind the scenes with no thought to garnering credit.  He was a Sheriff’s Deputy in Maine for over forty years, emphasizing community service and setting young people straight.  For that reason he always preferred the term “peace officer” to “law enforcement officer.”

One of Stretch’s best friends was Secretary of State Bill Gardener.  Bill first heard of Stretch when he read a newspaper article which reported that Stretch was the largest donor to Republicans in the state.  Soon after that he was at a meeting in Washington with the FEC.  They were demonstrating their new computer system which kept track of all reported political contributions in the country.  The man running the system asked for a name of a donor, so Bill gave him Richard Kennedy.  The man typed in the name, hit the button, and paper started coming out of the machine.  It kept coming out and coming out.  The man looked at Bill and said, “Who is this person?” and Bill said, “I don’t know.”  The man said he’d never seen anything like it, and he invited them to examine the print-outs.  Bill looked at the paper and one name he saw had a “D” after it, meaning it was a Democrat.  Several months later, Stretch came to Bill’s office to ask some questions, and they met for the first time.  At the end of their conversation as Stretch was about to leave Bill said to him, “I didn’t know you gave to Democrats.”  Stretch reared himself up and rather indignantly said, “I don’t give to Democrats!”  Bill said, “Are you sure?”  Stretch, chastened, leaned over and whispered, “What do you know?”

Stretch’s political roots were forged in Maine where he lived before moving to New Hampshire about 25 years ago.  He was an admirer and protege of Maine’s Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith, who was known for her strong stand against McCarthyism.  The other big influence in his life was his grandmother and other relatives who worked in the newspaper industry.  He became an ardent student of the constitution and a tireless advocate for the first and second amendments.  While Stretch loved the game of politics, he was much more concerned with the bigger picture and always voted with his constituents in mind.

As an avid outdoorsman, Stretch was a strong environmentalist.  Perhaps his most significant legislative accomplishment was a bill co-sponsored with Democrat Rep. Jay Phinizy and others that banned the burning of demolition waste in New Hampshire, thus keeping lead and mercury out of our atmosphere.

Of course, not everything Stretch did in the legislature was serious.  Jay remembered the time during the debate on a lead sinker bill when Stretch teased supporters by reporting how he had once tried roasting a loon, but did not find it particularly tasty.  During one interminable debate on a gambling bill where the supporters kept going on about how much extra money would be going to education, Stretch strode to the podium and suggested that we cut out the middleman and put slot machines in the schools so that the kids could pay for their own god damn education!   One of the funniest moments occurred when a Representative who was an attorney objected with feigned insult to the use of the term “shyster” regarding his profession.  Stretch dutifully went to the well to apologize for the person taking offense to the use of the word to describe an unscrupulous and useless lawyer.  He then proceeded to repeat the word shyster about twenty times, describing its origin from the German scheiße, its place in literature and ended by saying if it was good enough for Shakespeare, it was good enough for him.

As a final example, in 1996 Stretch co-sponsored HB 1324, which had the official title of “An act establishing the crime of vandalism and making it punishable by public spanking on the bare buttocks in certain cases.”  ITL, but of course, not on consent…

One of Stretch’s passions was guns and he had one of the most extensive collections in the country.  For years Stretch would visit Riley’s Gun Shop in Hooksett every Thursday night, arriving a little before they closed at 9:00pm.  Owner Ralph Demicco and sometimes other employees would stay late so that Stretch could have the store to himself after closing.  Ralph said that it was simply impossible sell Stretch a gun; Stretch had to choose it on his own and then start the inevitable haggling over the price.  Only once was he able to sell one.  Stretch came in on a Saturday afternoon.  That morning Ralph had received a special gun, a drilling which is a combination of a rifle and a shotgun.  It was in a box in the front of the store because he hadn’t had time to take it to the back where they would prepare it for sale.  When Ralph saw Stretch come in he picked up the box in his left hand, greeted Stretch and went to walk around him heading for another part of the store.  Stretch said, “Hey, wait a minute, what have you got there?” and one thing led to another…

Guns weren’t the only things Stretch collected.  He loved anything that moved.  He was an avid pilot with several planes, cars, motorcycles, construction equipment, etc.  And anything he owned, he wanted to operate.  One time after purchasing an excavator he discovered that he wasn’t agile enough to climb up to the controls, so he got himself into the bucket of a backhoe and had his assistant lift him up onto the excavator.  He was so enamored of it that for fun he proceeded to dig a crater big enough to swallow a four-car garage!

When Stretch was working with his equipment he was absolutely fearless.  One time he was driving a bulldozer on one of the roads on his property.  He saw what he thought was an old path, so he pulled the bulldozer off the road and proceeded to climb a steep hill off to the side.  Unfortunately, the hill was made out of ledge covered in a thin layer of topsoil.  High up on the ridge he turned the bulldozer sideways and it slid out of control on the ledge about 150 feet down the hill, coming to rest against a tree, with Stretch just laughing his head off.

I am deeply indebted to the following people for contributing their stories and memories, even though for reasons of decorum I’ve had to be a little selective today: Omer Ahern, Gene Chandler, Sam Cohen, Ralph Demicco, Crow Dickenson, Don Drescher, Virginia Drew, Ann Fitzgerald, Cameron Ford, Bill Gardener, Dick and Judy Hampe, Dan Itse, Karen and Mildred Kennedy, Harry Levine, Lee Marden, Paul Mirski, Jeff Newman, Myla Padden, Terry Pfaff, Jay Phinizy, Gary Richardson, Andy Sanborn, Paul Smith, Jordan Ulery, Steve Vaillancourt and Fran Wendelboe.

Stretch was very proud of his Irish heritage, so perhaps an Irish saying is appropriate: “There’s no need like the lack of a friend.”  We’ve lost someone special, but we will always be grateful that we had the chance to know Stretch Kennedy.

Madam Speaker, at this time I’d like to recognize Stretch’s family, his wife Karen, daughters Mildred and Annie, grandchildren, and friends Mr. And Mrs. Vincent Griffin who are with us in the gallery today.

>