Disturbing voice mail

I am the Republican candidate, now senator-elect for District 20, who first brought attention to the matter of the secretary of state using his official title to endorse one candidate over another in our recent state elections. I naturally agree with the position the Bangor Daily News takes in its Nov. 12 editorial, which is that the secretary of state has no business using his official title as part of a partisan political endorsement. As I expressed in a statement released Election Day, I would have had no problem with Dan Gwadosky making any endorsement; my problem was that he made an endorsement using his official title as the chief constitutional officer charged with ensuring fair elections in our state.

I’d like to share how the secretary of state’s actions affected me. As a first-time candidate for office, my heart skipped a beat when I listened to my voice mail late Monday evening, Nov. 4, after a long day on the campaign trail, to hear, “Hello, this is Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky.” In that instant, my mind raced to consider what I possibly may have done wrong to rate a phone call from the secretary of state. What followed, an instant later, was the secretary of state urging me to support my opponent in the District 20 race.

My heart sank. I had run a positive campaign that focused on the issues and on my aspirations for our state. My only mention of my opponent was to alert voters to the fact that he had failed to show for five candidate forums in a row, abrogating his responsibility to present his vision for Maine to the electorate. There were no negative mailings in my race, on either side. But the secretary of state insinuated in his phone message that there were, and that my opponent had been somehow portrayed in some unfair manner. When Gwadosky made that recording, he and the Democratic Party knew his assertions were untrue.

What was true was that the Senate Democrat leadership knew quite well that I was leading the race in District 20; that I had out-campaigned my opponent; and that I had brought a compelling message to the electorate. In my case, the Senate Democrat leadership was not countering any “onslaught of negative ads,” since there had been none. What they were trying to do was derail my campaign at the last moment. Once I realized the message the secretary of state was delivering, all I could imagine was the impact of the secretary of state calling voters insinuating that I somehow was a part of negative mailing that never occurred in my race. It’s true, he never mentioned my name. He was very careful to parse his language, suggesting that negative mailings had occurred, without attributing them to me directly. But the message was clear: it was the secretary of state setting the record straight, not citizen Dan Gwadosky stumping for the Democrat candidate.

During my campaign, I made it very clear to the voters of District 20 that I was not looking for a job in Augusta, but that I am willing to work in Augusta to help promote economic policies that encourage our young people to stay and make their lives here. At every opportunity, I eschewed the label “politician.” Through term limits and even the so-called Clean Elections law (which I disagree with), I reminded voters in my campaign that they were demanding “citizen legislators” step forward to counter the entrenched partisan politicians who have ruled in Augusta for so long. My message was, “Here I am!” As a small businessperson responsible for some 20 Maine jobs, plus responsibility for a growing family, and for aging parents and grandparents, running for office has been a tremendous burden. But, until I found myself attacked by the one person whose ultimate responsibility is to ensure fair elections, I believed it was worth every moment.

There were other events that occurred in my race that I found to be unfair, but I let them go without comment so as to not detract from my message. The actions of the secretary of state, hitting me so late on the very last day before the election, gave me pause to wonder if the months of going door-to-door, of being away from my family, of shifting my workload to eager colleagues, was a wasted effort. But it also occurred to me that the misguided actions of the secretary of state represented a microcosm of why I had decided to run in the first place – to stand for accountability in Augusta.

As such, my first action as a state senator-elect has been to introduce a bill to ensure that no secretary of state ever again uses his or her title of office to attempt to sway an election. I never would attempt to prevent any citizen – even the secretary of state – from endorsing whomever they like using their own name. But I hope we never again have to hear that the person we have empowered and entrusted to ensure fair elections ever again uses his or her title of office for or against any candidate for elective office.

Once that law is in place, I’ll be ready to call it square. Until then, I remain ever vigilant on behalf of the people of Maine.

Ken Blais is a resident of Litchfield.