Seale, Hammargren seek state GOP chairman post

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 12:28 p.m.

But former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren also is thinking about running for the state GOP post that Lake Tahoe lawyer John Mason is vacating.

Seale and Hammargren, both of Las Vegas, have been crisscrossing the state in the last month, attending GOP Lincoln Day dinners to round up support from delegates to the party's state convention in May in Carson City.

"I have long been a player in the Republican Party ... since the early 1980s, I've been involved," said Seale, 58, adding that he can help in efforts to elect Republicans to the Legislature and national offices.

Peter Ernaut, a consultant to Senate candidate John Ensign, said he has never seen so much consensus in the support of Seale's candidacy. He said many elected officials are backing Seale, once the party's treasurer.

The job of the chairman, an unpaid position, is to mobilize the party to support candidates and raise money for the election.

Seale has urged Hammargren, a Las Vegas neurosurgeon, to remain as Clark County Republican chairman. But Hammargren, long considered a maverick, said the GOP faithful "like me in the rural counties because I'm a Republican who believes in state rights."

Hammargren said he didn't have a firm, long-range plan but may run for secretary of state in 2002 if incumbent Dean Heller decides not to seek a third term. His term as Clark County chairman ends in July 2001.