IF REPUBLICANS gain some seats on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen this year, they'll probably want to raise a glass in toast of Fred Tausch.

Tausch, the wealthy investor who flirted with a run for Senate this year, does not live in Manchester -- Merrimack is his home -- but he has made some sizable donations to local candidates in recent weeks.

We're not just talking about the $10,000 he gave to mayoral candidate Ted Gatsas. We're talking about checks to every Republican running for alderman on next month's city ballot, including a $3,000 donation to state Rep. Leo Pepino, a candidate for alderman in Ward 4.

Pepino seemed to be caught by surprise. He had just started raising money, he said, and was up to $75 when Tausch's check came in. "So I stopped," he said.

Tausch also kicked in $250 to Ward 10 hopeful Phil Greazzo and $250 to Will Infantine, the Manchester Republican Committee chairman who is running for alderman in Ward 6.

Jeff Grappone, a spokesman for Tausch's political advocacy group, STEWARD of Prosperity, said Tausch has made contributions to all Manchester Republicans running for mayor or alderman in the general election. For some candidates, the contributions may have been too recent to report.

Tausch's interest is simple, according to Grappone. "Electing Republican aldermen will help Ted Gatsas govern Manchester in a fiscally responsible way," he said.

Grappone mentioned that Pepino, in particular, lost a close race two years ago, a fact that he said "is directly relevant to Fred's commitment level in this election."

City Democratic Party Chairman Chris Pappas called the $3,000 donation to Pepino shocking. "Leo Pepino is someone who's run many times before," Pappas said. "What he needs $3,000 from Fred Tausch for is beyond me."

Tausch is probably best known as the guy who bought all those inescapable TV ads last spring. Today, he is still running STEWARD and is co-chairman of Gatsas' finance team.

►Your question can be part of Gatsas-Roy debate

IN DEFENSE OF FRANKLIN: The debate over the proposed cap on taxes and spending took a turn this week -- straight up I-93, north along the banks of the Merrimack River, into the birthplace of Daniel Webster.

A new report by economist Brian Gottlob zeroes in on the city of Franklin, a city that has had a tax cap for 20 years. The report suggests Franklin's economy has been weak, by the standards of most New Hampshire cities, and warns that Manchester, under a cap, could find itself in similar straits.

Naturally, there were some in Franklin who chafed at the insinuation -- among them, the city's Republican mayor, Ken Merrifield.

Merrifield says property values have risen faster in Franklin than they have in the rest of New Hampshire, a sign that the city remains a desirable place to live. He also said the cap, over the past two decades, hasn't kept the city from renovating its schools, building a new police station and launching a single-stream recycling program.

"To say that we have no funding to do anything is simply absurd," he said.

Critics of the Franklin tax cap acknowledge there have been some capital projects, but they say those projects have come at the expense of other things the city ought to be doing.

City Councilor Jay Bowers, an independent, said Franklin's roads are in bad shape and its infrastructure, by and large, is deteriorating.

Meanwhile, he said, the city couldn't afford to apply for federal stimulus money because most of the grants require matching funds.

"I love living here," Bowers said, "but it really could be so much more, and a lot of that has to do with the restraints we have with the tax cap."

Both officials say it's hard to compare Franklin and Manchester. Franklin is the state's smallest city, with an estimated population of less than 8,800. Manchester is the state's largest, at roughly 109,000 people.

SHEA CHOOSES SIDES: Alderman Bill Shea has finally taken a position on the cap. He's against it.

Shea had previously declined to take a position, saying he wanted to poll his constituents in Ward 7 and find out what they thought. He did that, he said, and what he found was this: "Most of them do not want the cap."

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT: With less than a month to go until Election Day, mayoral candidate Mark Roy is about to host his first campaign fund-raiser.

Roy, a Democratic alderman, will be soliciting checks Oct. 8 at the Alpine Club, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Meanwhile, Roy has hired a full-time staffer, one of two on the campaign. Will Vormelker is now in charge of field work.

WALK THIS WAY: Just how organized is the Gatsas campaign? Consider this: They're literally counting his every step.

Gatsas has been wearing a pedometer for the past three weeks, according to Sean Owen, a spokesman for the Republican alderman and state senator. The running tally is part of a new feature on the candidate's Web site that maps out all the stops Gatsas has been making along the campaign trail.

The feature can be viewed at www.tedgatsas.com/pedometer.php.

STAUB CENTS: Kathy Staub hasn't run for office before, but you wouldn't know it to look at her campaign finance reports.

Staub has raised close to $3,700 as she tries to secure one of the two at-large seats on the school board. By contrast, one incumbent, Kathleen Kelley, hasn't raised a dime.

It wouldn't feel right, Kelley said.

"I can't go out in this economy and ask my friends and people to donate money to my campaign," she said.

Staub describes herself as an underdog, saying both of her opponents, Kelley and Debra Gagnon Langton, have well-oiled organizations. "They probably still have stacks of signs" from previous races, Staub said.

Whether she wins or not, she said, she will run again in 2011. "I'm committed to this," she said.

SPECIAL DEDICATION: Sure, the primary is over. The votes have been counted. But we know what you're probably thinking.

Who would Casey Kasem have voted for?

Wonder no more, dear readers. Kasem has weighed in, and his pick, we can now reveal, was former state Sen. Bobby Stephen.

Stephen, who finished third in the Sept. 15 mayoral primary, got a $100 campaign check from Kasem, the former American Top 40 host and voice of Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo."

"I called him, left a message, told him who I am. I think he knew who I am," Stephen said. "He called me back within a few hours. We had a nice conversation."

Stephen said he was inspired to call Kasem because they both share a Lebanese ancestry. "He's active with Arab Americans," Stephen said.

Kasem wasn't the only prominent Arab American who got a call from Stephen. The former candidate's most recent finance report also shows a $500 donation from James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute and brother of pollster John Zogby.

Scott Brooks' column appears weekly in the Sunday News. E-mail him at sbrooks@unionleader.com.