A veteran Republican senator who bucked party orthodoxy on taxes and smoking said Tuesday he won't seek reelection in 2010 because he would have to battle for GOP endorsement in a seat he has held for 17 years.

"There are a number of things I want to do in life before I kick the bucket," said Steve Dille, 64, a veterinarian and farmer from south-central Minnesota.

In a reflection of a growing national trend, Dille, a moderate, said he found himself increasingly at odds with local party activists.

"The far right wing has basically taken over the Republican Party in my district," Dille said. "They're not very tolerant of some of the votes I've taken over the years."

Senate Minority Leader David Senjem of Rochester issued a statement praising Dille for his service and temperament, but a local party leader in Dille's district had a different take on Dille.

"He's an honorable man, but it was time for him to go," said Doug Krueger, first vice chairman of the McLeod County Republican Party. "He's a moderate. I'm ... a conservative first and a Republican second. So I'm pushing for candidates that are conservative."

Krueger laughed when asked if Dille could have won the endorsement.

"I don't know that we could have pushed him out," Krueger said.

Dille was elected to the Minnesota House in 1986 and has won every election since by large margins. Since his election to the Senate in 1992, Dille has never won with less than 60 percent and in 2006 trounced his DFL opponent with 61.9 percent.

Sore points

But Dille has run afoul of his party's increasingly hard line on issues in recent years, and his vote to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of a gasoline tax hike for transportation improvements had become a sore point for local conservatives.

"They were all bent out of shape over that," Dille said. "I think I had about 700 e-mails, or letters or telephone calls. Half of them were supportive and half of them were hostile.

"I'm really disgusted with Republicans not stepping up to the plate on this transportation issue," said Dille, the ranking minority member on agricultural committees.

Dille also broke ranks with conservatives over his support for tougher enforcement of seat-belt laws and by co-authoring the Freedom to Breathe Act that bans smoking in bars and restaurants. Pawlenty supported that legislation and signed it into law.

Senjem said Dille had talked with him recently about conservative Republican opposition in his district, but "I never had any other candidates approach me wanting Steve's job."

"All I know is that Steve Dille is a very popular person out in his district," Senjem said. "If he's endorsed, he wins. ... On a day-in, day-out basis, Steve has certainly been with our caucus on votes."

If Dille's views about party activists are accurate, the organization has to "open up the umbrella a little bit," Senjem said.

Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210