During a recent commute between work and home I was listening to WVOM 103.9, when my pleasant drive was disturbed by a paid advertisement that insulted the intelligence of the Maine voter. My disgust is with the blatantly misleading information that was presented in the 30-second clip in which Rep. Charles Fisher of Brewer was demonized for supporting a repeal of the Maine term limits law. The ad said that Fisher only cared about his own job and that he didn’t pay any attention to the real issues of education, taxes and health care.

It reminded listeners that Maine citizens voted overwhelmingly in 1993 to impose limits on members of the Legislature. It blamed Fisher for trying to overturn the will of the people and urged voters to not allow the repeal. In spite of the afore-mentioned propaganda, the final statement of the ad is what infuriated me the most. It simply said, “paid for by U.S. Term Limits.”

U.S. Term Limits is the organization that in 1993 sponsored the ad campaign that convinced Maine voters, who were still reeling from the 1991 government shutdown, that term limits were the answer to all of the perceived ills in the Maine Legislature. They are a Washington-based watchdog group that feels that they can cure American politics of corruption and a lack of attention to the will of the people. They base their theory on the idea that term limits make legislators more accountable. U.S. Term Limits regularly pays for media blitzes, such as the one in 1993, using money from a relatively small pool of wealthy donors. It seems hypocritical that their Web site complains about campaign finance being out of control when they use the same methods of fund raising to support their cause.

As for their campaign against Charles Fisher, U.S. Term Limits has no idea who he is, nor do they care. Again it is hypocritical to claim that Fisher is fixated by a single issue, when U.S. Term Limits is only concerned with Fisher’s view on one issue. Fisher has submitted and fought for several bills this session including one to ensure the sustainability of the state highway fund and several regarding motor vehicle laws.

The ad stated that term limits were favored in 1993 because of frustrations over the government shutdown which the said was the fault of career politicians. They convinced Mainers that limits could prevent a repeat of the shutdown. In 1990, Gov. John McKernan won re-election to the Blaine House, knowing that a budget shortfall was looming, but he chose to keep his budget figures quiet until after the election. During his second term, McKernan was a lame duck and had no voter accountability. The first step that led to the shutdown was McKernan’s refusal to allow passage of the state budget without worker’s comp reform. This form of legislative terrorism put the Legislature in the position of either not passing the state budget or compromising their own campaign promises to appease the governor. You didn’t see McKernan running for any office after leaving the Blaine House did you?

A month ago I was bewildered when Rep. David Etnier told 200 retired teachers during a public hearing that they “didn’t deserve better health insurance.” He said this in spite of being endorsed by the Maine Education Association. Etnier’s bravado and lack of accountability are a direct result of his term-limited status.

This year term limits guarantee that there are 37 lame ducks in the Legislature and one more in the Blaine House. That means that because of term limits that there are enough representatives in Augusta that have the “I don’t give a damn” attitude to do things such as block passage of the budget or favor laptops over special education funds.

My request to the people of Maine is that they see the reality that term limits are not the fix-all as claimed by the U.S. Term Limits campaign. Also don’t be fooled by the ad campaign from an out-of-state organization such as U.S. Term Limits. Nobody in Washington, D.C., knows Charles Fisher any better than the people of Brewer. Remember that term limits do not discriminate, they throw out the good with the bad. The only way to weed out the poor legislators and keep the good ones is by the power of the ballot. If you support term limits, at least do it because of your own observations and not simply by believing the propaganda being spread over our airwaves.

Adam Leach is a resident of Hermon who teaches history and government in Bangor and is a member of the MEA government relations committee.