AN UGLY END

Maine Republican Party leaders are upset about recorded phone messages Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky made in behalf of Democratic candidates for the Legislature, claiming the partisan solicitations were a breach of trust by the state’s chief elections officer. Mr. Gwadosky, an unabashed Democrat elected to his position by Democratic legislators, responds that the calls violated no oath of office nor any code of ethics and that they were positive messages aimed entirely at rebutting vicious Republican attacks.

Though technically right about the lack of any violation, this is a clear and regrettable lapse of judgment by a public official charged with running elections as cleanly and fairly as possible, a job in which appearance does

matter. “It was appropriate only in the sense that it capped a consistently ugly ending to a campaign of which many Maine politicians should be ashamed and that no Maine voters deserved.

Mr. Gwadosky, a former legislator himself, says he was called at home on Sunday, Nov. 3, two days before the election, by Democratic party leaders asking his help in combating a late onslaught of negative ads – mailings and phone calls – funded by PACs run by House and Senate Republican leadership. Mr. Gwadosky made the recordings for his 20-second phone messages – positive messages that boosted five candidates he knows personally without attacking the other candidates – that day, on his own time. He defends the use of his job title as appropriate since that is how he is known and notes that, unlike some states, the Maine secretary of state has no role as arbiter of contested elections.

All true, but still wrong. Maine’s constitutional officers (secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general) and judges are a distinct breed, nominated and elected in an entirely partisan way by elected lawmakers, yet must serve the entire public equally and energetically, without the slightest regard for political affiliation. Such persons are not deprived of their right to free speech upon taking office. They certainly are entitled to campaign on behalf of candidates. Using the office title, however, adds an element of official endorsement that is inappropriate, especially when that officeholder conducts elections and relies upon the outcome.

The injured parties here are the citizens of Maine, who deserve conduct beyond reproach, and the Republican opponents of the Democrats Mr. Gwadosky rose to defend. As was the case across the state, these individual candidates had nothing to do with the attack ads being run in their behalf, yet the phone messages easily could be taken to imply that they themselves were spreading false allegations.

The tactics the House and Senate PACs have employed the last two elections were deplorable. The secretary of state has overstepped the spirit of the rules of election ethics. The point is not whether both sides have an equal grievance but that the voter is getting cheated in the process. Let’s call it square and start over.