Republican offensive

Republicans in the Maine House and Senate, tired of being second not only in numbers, but also in imagination, are going on the offensive in 1990 with a series of six party task forces that will examine the broad issues of drugs, tax reform, education, health care and the economy. This process has tremendous potential, for the party and for the state, but it does not have Democrats trembling.

The task force approach has promise, but entails risk.

Republican members must enter the process with open eyes and minds, prepared if necessary to dare to go where the GOP never has gone before. The party is tackling an impressive array of difficult, controversial issues. Proposals and remedies will ring hollow if they merely parrot the kind of tired thinking that already has transformed Maine’s once robust GOP into a weak, reactive minority. The hollow sound will haunt the party’s candidates into November.

Although the Maine GOP has been engaged in a nearly decade-long process of political damage control to stanch the flow of registrations into non-enrolled and Democratic status, the task force effort is encouraging because it is not desperate, but thoughtful. These groups have the potential to generate constructive legislative proposals, seizing back some of the party’s lost political initiative while enhancing its public visibility and image.

If this happens, it will be good for the party, but better for the electorate. For the past 10 years, the Democrats have done a good job communicating their legislative agenda to the public. It can only benefit the two-party system, and the lawmaking process for the GOP to plug itself into the mainstream of current thinking in this state and propound useful ideas of its own.

Although the status of three candidates (two Ds and one R), is in question, the fall campaign has Republicans fielding 130 House candidates, giving 21 of 151 Democratic candidates free rides. More telling, because of the sizable Democratic majority in the House, 86 of those Republicans are challengers. Democratic incumbents running for re-election outnumber Republicans 2-1 (88-44).

Under these circumstances, the task force process, which begins Saturday at Husson College in Bangor with a look at drugs, tax reform and state government, can provide a useful education for Republican candidates, who clearly can benefit from some pre-season homework.