Hamel: 2nd District race getting dirty

BANGOR – There have been no public debates, no television ads and just a handful of face-to-face meetings between the candidates for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat.

But Republican challenger Brian Hamel said Monday that, behind the scenes, Democratic incumbent Rep. Michael Michaud has set the tone for a nasty campaign by hiring an opposition research firm whose Web site promises to serve Republicans “skewered, roasted or deep-fried.”

“Obviously, he doesn’t reject this brand of politics,” Hamel said in a Monday afternoon news conference that was billed as a “major announcement” about the race for the seat representing northern and eastern Maine.

A spokeswoman for the first-term congressman scoffed at Hamel’s objection to what has become standard procedure in political campaigns. The practice is designed to ensure, she said, that desperate politicians don’t make false claims about their records.

“It allows us to check the facts,” Michaud spokeswoman Monica Castellanos said, noting they had used the same firm in their 2002 race against Republican Kevin Raye. “We have every intention of running a positive, clean campaign based on the congressman’s record.”

Hamel’s news conference comes amid written exchanges between the campaigns in which they challenge each other to sign pledges rejecting negative attacks.

Neither candidate, however, has agreed on the terms of such a pledge. Hamel on Monday said Michaud’s hiring of the Austin, Texas-based research firm Stanford Everhart was proof he had no intention of entering into an agreement.

Hamel took particular exception to a section of the firm’s Web site that refers to him as an “evildoer,” President Bush’s now famous – and often mocked – reference to foreign terrorists.

Jason Stanford, president of Stanford Everhart, said in a telephone interview that the “evildoer” reference was part of a company Web log and – like the “skewered, roasted or deep-fried,” comment – was obviously meant in jest.

“If he doesn’t get the satire, maybe politics isn’t the best vocation for him,” said Stanford, who called Hamel’s objections “really silly.”

“But for the record, we never believed that Brian Hamel was in al-Qaida, and we do not believe he has links to Saddam Hussein,” Stanford added.

Stanford rejected any dastardly intentions in his opposition research, which is derived solely from records readily available to the public. Furthermore, Stanford said, the Michaud campaign limited the query to Hamel’s professional career.

“I think maybe tomorrow [Hamel] will recognize everyone has the right to go to the library without him holding a press conference,” Stanford said.

Hamel on Monday accused the firm of asking for “minute details” of his career at Loring Development Authority, which helped to transform a former Air Force bomber base in northern Maine into a commercial center.

Hamel’s news conference also comes at a time when the National Republican Congressional Committee has yet to devote financial resources to the race, despite reserving more than $10 million in fall advertising in other competitive contests throughout the country.

It’s a signal, some say, that the GOP has given up on the race, which is led by Michaud by a significant margin, according to public polls.

NRCC spokeswoman Caryn McLeod rejected the notion last week, saying the committee still believed the race was competitive and had not committed all its advertising dollars.