Just 21, call him Rep. Doherty
 
By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

CONCORD, N.H. - Look there, at what state Rep. Shaun Doherty is dangling from his driver's window ...

It's a license plate.

A metallic, not-so-EZ-to-get-Pass.

It is also, very possibly, an uncanny sign of the future.

Upon seeing the raised plate No. "4-48," above the words "N.H. State Legislator," the Merrimack toll booth attendant waves Doherty through.

No charge.

"That's power right there," says Doherty with a smile. "That was a whole dollar!"

The free tolls between his Pelham home and the State House in Concord are among precious few perks given to New Hampshire lawmakers. Compared to the average $65,000 annual salary paid to Massachusetts legislators, the $184 check that the New Hampshire treasurer mailed to Doherty's house last week is a literal joke, shared by all the state's lawmakers.

"The check was actually for $184 and change, an upfront payment for two years of legislative service," Doherty explains. "That's $100 a year for my two-year term, minus FICA and Medicare. So they took out about $16 in taxes."
 
At least New Hampshire reimburses their near-volunteer Legislature at 55 cents per mile.
 
They get a price break, too, on those exclusive, low-numbered plates. In a conference room of the Legislative Office Building in Concord on Thursday morning, Doherty wrote a check for $18 to "the state of NH" before being handed two shiny plates, white with red lettering. Three minutes later in the next room,
 
Doherty poses for his photo ID, laminated.
It's 10:53 a.m. Pocketing and holding his new plates, ID, wallet, Blackberry and keys, Doherty hustles down the polished, white-tiled tunnel toward the State House under busy State Street. At 10:57 Doherty's almost the first legislator to take his assigned seat -- like his plates, No. 48. Gov. John Lynch's Inauguration ceremony is scheduled for 11.
 
"I like to be on time," he says.
 
To most, Doherty is way ahead of his time.
 
As a teenager he earned his Eagle Scout rank, and was president of his class at Pelham High School. He became involved in party politics, drawing on skills learned while playing a key role in two of New Hampshire's most exciting Republican victories of late -- Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta's "shocking" upset of then-incumbent Bob Baines; and John McCain's triumph in the New Hampshire primary. (Exactly a year earlier, on Jan. 8, 2008, Doherty proudly recalls on Thursday.)
 
Doherty said he believes he won by "game-planning" his campaign a year ahead. He filled spring and summer days with appearances and fundraisers, wrote an effective Web site, and built a Facebook page up to "800 friends."
 
He raised $5,000 "and spent nearly all of it," he says.
 
In the field of 27 candidates for 13 seats, Doherty finished second; only he and Hudson's Lynne Ober surpassed 10,000 votes.
 
A few weeks shy of his 21st birthday (Dec. 19), Doherty celebrated by ... shoveling his driveway.
 
"We got about 10 inches of snow that day, so I did some shoveling, cleaned the cars off," he said. "No, I haven't had my first 'legal' drink yet, and don't plan to. That's just not something I do."
 
Not a smoker either. At this clean-cut rate, an acquaintance tells him, you could be a state legislator until you're 121.
 
Unless he's aiming for a higher office.
 
"Yes, some day," he admits, "I hope maybe Congress, governor, U.S. Senate."
 
Doherty, a friend of Curt Schilling's via John McCain, wears a small-sized Red Sox cap. He's not growing a big head overnight. He won one election. He's one of 400 people who make a hundred bucks a year. He's still a junior at Rivier College in Nashua, and drives a car with 150,000 miles on it.
 
But he is mature beyond his years. Knows to seek the advice of elders, when to shut his mouth, and how to be polite. He's energetic, organized and punctual. And yet somehow Doherty still manages to be appealing rather than annoying to his much more playful, politically oblivious peers.
 
"I've reached out to everyone I went to high school with, and my peers through Facebook, talking about the election, what's going on," Doherty says.
 
"Hopefully, they're paying attention, because in a couple of years they're going to be buying houses, raising families here, and it's too important for them not to have somewhat of an idea about what's going on in the state and where their tax dollars are going to go."
 
The license plate number in Doherty's hands, when the numerical "prediction" suddenly emerges: 4-48... Four (presidents before) 48.
 
Looks like a license plate. Sounds like a plan.
 
It's in the kid's hands.