In her years of public service, Katherine Rogers has dealt with far more serious issues than the fate of a maple tree on the lawn of the Legislative Office Building. She's pushed for a state prison in Berlin, helped to negotiate better wages for employees at the Merrimack County Nursing Home and argued for changes in how the city manages its solid waste, for example.

But Rogers's stance in a 1998 debate against cutting down a stately tree to put up a police memorial - she threatened to chain herself to the maple to prevent its demise - might be the boldest example of her politically outspoken nature. The maple still stands almost a decade later, though in a different place. It was moved across the street to the State House lawn to make room for the memorial.

Critics have come down hard on Rogers in recent weeks, saying that she is too close to the police and fire unions that have helped fund her campaign while in the midst of difficult contract negotiations with the city. She is fiercely independent-minded - to the point where she has been called difficult to work with and an instigator, criticisms her supporters say come with being a woman willing to speak her mind.

On the Concord City Council, where she is the longest-serving member, with 16 years, she makes a point of voting against going into non-public session and often calls for a roll-call vote. Her campaign mailings bear the image of boxing gloves.

Ten councilors, almost all of whom will return to the council uncontested, have made an unusual joint endorsement of Rogers's opponent, Concord lobbyist Jim Bouley. Mayor Michael Donovan joined them last week. Rogers attributed the endorsements in part to the councilors' fear that they would have to work harder if she has the chance to institute changes aimed at reaching out to city employees and conducting more of the council business in the open.

"People are comfortable doing things in a certain way, and once you're comfortable, you don't want to shift that," she said. "I love to change things."

Many races

Call Rogers's cell phone these days and, while your party is located, you'll listen to a Brooks and Dunn tune, "She Was Born to Run." In her 52 years, Rogers, who grew up on the Heights, has campaigned successfully in 15 elections, starting when she was 18 and became a delegate to the state constitutional convention. More recently, she won eight two-year terms on the city council. She won three terms as a state representative for Concord before leaving to become a Merrimack County commissioner, a seat she's been elected to three times.

After all that, she said, she still is excited when constituents stop her in the grocery store with a suggestion to solve the city's trash troubles. And she still gets teary when she sees people standing on a street corner waving a sign on her behalf.

When the police and fire unions endorsed her, she thought, "Oh my God, they actually have enough faith in me that they are going to endorse me in this race and they're going to go out and do things," she said. "They're going to go and give up an evening a week or a Saturday. . . . It was humbling."

Those feelings come from her own years as a Saturday sign waver and political organizer.

Rogers worked on Jimmy Carter's national campaign in 1976 and attended the Democratic National Convention that year along with John Lynch, Jeanne Shaheen and Bouley's father, Dick Bouley.

Just 15 years old at the time, state Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley wasn't allowed to go. But he volunteered on the Carter campaign and began learning the ropes of campaigning from Rogers and the rest of the staff.

"She was the single most determined and committed person that you could have imagined - first person in the headquarters and the last person to leave," said Buckley, who has not endorsed either candidate for mayor. "And that was for decades. That wasn't just one cycle."

Rogers went on to become the state director in Ohio for Walter Mondale's 1984 campaign.

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