ROGERS, Minn. (AP) – For Arlon Lindner, 2003 was the year he tried to strip gays and lesbians of protection under the state’s Human Rights law, and then questioned the extent of their persecution during the Holocaust. Now, 2004 will be the year he wraps up his political career.

Republicans handed their District 33 primary endorsement to Joyce Peppin instead.

Lindner, 68, conceded defeat, saying later that he would not actively support Peppin.

Lindner acknowledged that his inflammatory comments and sponsorship of the bill to strip gays and lesbians of protection under Minnesota’s Human Rights law sparked a campaign to get rid of him.

“Things have not been the same since last year,” Lindner said by phone after losing the endorsement. “I feel I have been undermined within my own caucus by the leadership. Not by the rank-and-file members or the staff. It’s just a part of the leadership.”

The leadership, he said, has the power to hold and stop legislation.

“They see that bills don’t get hearings. They can fix it to where you look bad in your own district, especially if you have the executive assistant to the speaker and the majority leader going out and telling people that you are ineffective and not doing anything. And that is basically what happened,” Lindner said.

He was referring to Peppin’s husband, Greg Peppin, who has served as an executive assistant to the House speaker and majority leader.

Greg Peppin dismissed the allegation, saying only, “I attribute her success to her hard work and her bringing in a lot of new Republicans into the party.”

Joyce Peppin, who most recently served five years as a spokeswoman for U.S. Bancorp, said that Lindner didn’t lose because of the way he voted. Rather, she said, it was because he wasn’t the lead sponsor on legislation on a wide array of issues important to the ideals of a staunchly conservative district. She added that if elected, she intends to sponsor bills in favor of school choice, increased funding for suburban pupils and ending taxpayer funding of abortions for poor women.

Lindner, a Dallas native who came to Minnesota in 1969, said he will take some time off and work on various repairs around his house. Before joining the Legislature, he sold real estate and was a landlord on various properties he owned.

But he will remain best known for his controversial comments during his tenure in the Minnesota House. Last year he angered gay, Jewish and black legislators with comments doubting that gays and lesbians were persecuted by Nazis during the Holocaust and expressing concern that gay rights could eventually lead to an African-like AIDS epidemic in the United States.

State Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove, who also represents the 33rd District, explained the party vote.

“The comments of the past were not brought up (during the voting) but they were certainly underlying factors in the minds of some delegates,” said Limmer, who remains an avid Lindner supporter.

Limmer said that about 150 delegates voted with more than 87 voting for Peppin in the fifth round of balloting (the number of times balloting occurred before the required 60 percent majority was obtained).