On day one of 1996 we open our Bangor Daily News to find Rep. James Longley Jr. chanting the mantra as a Newt Gingrich acolyte. We now know that the defining issue for the 1996 election will be integrity. We will hear the word “integrity” repeated again and again as Longley and others attempt to appropriate it as their exclusive property.

Do they really think Maine voters will buy the notion that Gingrich and the 73 first-term Republicans are different from President Clinton and the Democrats only in that the first duty of these Republicans is to integrity? Are we to believe that Gingrich and his apologists are not on a search-and-destroy mission to cripple the ability of government to protect the environment, defend consumers, and sustain our needy children, families and the elderly? I don’t think so.

The Gang of 73, including Longley, do not have the mandate they claim. The big winner in the 1994 congressional elections was not the Contact With America. It was “none of the above” — because the majority of the voters stayed home on election day.

Americans did vote for change, but not for revolution. They did not vote for closing the government because of an inability to forge compromise. The electorate was tired of deadlock between congressional factions. What we got was the worst deadlock ever.

Maine is fortunate to be represented by Rep. John Baldacci and Sens. Cohen and Snowe, who seek responsible solutions to the complex issues of governing. Longley, the public affairs Marine reservist, has not gotten past the discredited Vietnam era philosophy of burning a village to save it.

Americans don’t want government destroyed, we want it to be more appropriate. Vernon Jordan is right, anger is a powerful political force but not a problem solving program. Thank you for reminding us of those wise words. John E. Marshall Belfast