Voters should be offended by the latest version of negative advertising in Maine, but they should also be concerned about its indirect effects. Simply put, to understand why Maine’s current budget remains unresolved and its tax system unreformed, look to the advertising campaign against state lawmakers being undertaken by Maine Unlimited, a political action committee.

The campaign’s object is to smear incumbent Senate Democrats with half truths about their budget votes, ignore the roles Republicans had in forming those budgets and draw nasty conclusions about the character of the ads’ targets.

The advertising, in the form of fliers sent to the homes of voters, picks a Democrat, says something about their support for increasing the gas tax or increasing state borrowing and then asserts that the candidate doesn’t care that this may be unaffordable – “she just fights for more taxes and more spending.” It ends with the semi-hysterical plea “Tell (the candidate) to Keep Her Hands Off Your Money!” About a dozen candidates are said to have been the targets of these ads. The sole registered politician making decisions for Maine Unlimited is the state Senate president, Rick Bennett – the man those targeted all worked with under a unique power-sharing agreement in the Senate and who talks about maintaining the respect for the institution of the Senate.

Did the Legislature increase the gas tax? It did, although the ad mischaracterizes at least one senator’s vote on the issue. And did it increase borrowing? Yes. And Republicans helped to make sure that happened, in fact, initiated the gas-tax proposal because otherwise roads would not have gotten paved or schools built. Democrats don’t simply order spending; it regularly comes out of a bipartisan budget, where both parties reach agreement on issue after issue.

The ads are deceptive about the legislative record and in the implied motives of the candidates, making them unworthy of being part of the election process. Worse, their effect is to bring the Senate to a standstill on important subjects. Senate Democrats did not want to work to close the current budget gap before the election because they knew whatever they did, with or without the cooperation of the Senate president, would be used against them through these ads, a version of which ran for the first time two years ago. So Maine enters the final half of the budget year without a balanced budget. These ads also kill tax reform – lawmakers know if they lower three taxes and raise one, the ads will ignore the three and try to drive them out of office based on the one.

On the national level, the McCain-Feingold campaign reform, which will go into effect Nov. 6, will put a stop to this kind of cheap shot; but it could continue in Maine state races. Among the Legislature’s many charges next year should be a measure to change that so that Maine conforms with the new national campaign laws.

For now, Maine voters should assume this: Any flier they receive that asserts a candidate wants to “spend more so you can pay more” is part of the worst negative ad campaign in the state and should be rejected. The best way to do that is to vote for the candidate pictured in the ad no matter what awful thing it says about the candidate and no matter how nice his or her opponent is. Just vote for the candidate in the nasty ad.