BANGOR – The final straw for former state Rep. Hugh Morrison came when his Republican leadership called him “into the woodshed” for voting with Democrats on a budget bill.

“I said never again will they summon me down there and chew me out for voting in the best interests of my constituents,” said Morrison, who, elected twice as a Republican, represented a part of Bangor’s west side in the 1990s.

About a month after that 1993 showdown – and a similar scolding from one of GOP Gov. John McKernan’s top aides – Morrison decided to find some new political allies.

Signing a new voter registration card, he became a Democrat. Now 70, he has been a Democrat ever since.

Such political conversions have been relatively rare in the past 25 years, during which time 18 state lawmakers have changed allegiances.

For some – including Morrison – the defections didn’t prevent them from winning re-election and sometimes led to appointments to powerful legislative committees.

For others, however, the change brought swift political ruin.

“It cost me the election,” said former state Sen. Raynold Theriault, a Democrat turned Republican from Fort Kent.

Indeed, voters in Theriault’s district, which includes the heavily Democratic St. John Valley, didn’t embrace their senator’s 1991 defection. Far from it: They overwhelmingly chose then-Rep. Judy Paradis, a Democrat from nearby Frenchville, to take his place the next year.

“They were very upset with me,” said Theriault, who had been elected six times before his switch. “They still make wisecracks every now and then … sort of in jest.”

Theriault, now 69, is one of 10 lawmakers who have left the Democratic Party since 1980. Five became Republicans, and five became independents. Of the seven who left the GOP, all – like Morrison – became Democrats.

During that time, one lawmaker, Rep. Troy Jackson of Fort Kent, joined the Democratic Party after first arriving in Augusta as an independent.

Last week, Rep. Joanne Twomey of Biddeford took the reverse path, dropping her Democratic affiliation to become an independent for the remainder of her fourth term. Under term limits, she is prevented from running again for the House next year.

“It was a way of saying that our party’s in trouble,” said the left-leaning Twomey, who found herself at odds with more centrist Democrats – most notably Gov. John Baldacci, she said – on budget and environmental issues. “It was me making a statement that I’m a Democrat but this is not what I signed up for.”

Do voters care?

One could say that voters in Twomey’s heavily Democratic district also didn’t sign up for an independent representative. Some of those voters, political observers contend, are bound to take offense.

“There are a few people who will get upset,” said Jim Melcher, a political scientist at the University of Maine at Farmington. “Party insiders are going to feel betrayed, but it’s not the sort of thing most voters care about.”

While certainly not conclusive, past election results seem to confirm Melcher’s observations. Of the 15 lawmakers who ran for re-election after switching parties since 1980, nine won and six lost.

Twomey is undecided about her political future but, on Tuesday, didn’t rule out a run for Senate in 2006.

Should Twomey (pronounced TOO-mee) decide to run, she can take heart in the fact that Maine voters appear to rely more on personality than party when choosing a candidate, according to Colby College political scientist Sandy Maisel.

“Most legislators have a personal relationship with their constituents,” said Maisel, while warning that such devotion is never absolute. “But it might be tested.”

Although Morrison of Bangor won a tight re-election after his switch, it did prompt at least one angry letter to the editor from a Republican voter in his district who urged readers to “kick him out.”

That test of voter loyalty still remains for the three lawmakers who have crossed the aisle most recently.

Sen. Arthur Mayo of Bath cut his GOP ties after being sworn into office in 2004. He said he expected some resistance in his midcoast district, which has been controlled by Republicans for decades.

“There are some, I imagine, who are very concerned about it,” said Mayo, who is serving his sixth term in Augusta – and his first as a Democrat.

Turning points

The turning point in Mayo’s decision, he said, came when he encountered resistance within Republican ranks to his continued service on the Legislature’s Insurance and Financial Services Committee.

“I knew things weren’t all sweetness and light, but I didn’t see that coming,” said Mayo, who was known in the GOP caucus – and sometimes referred to himself – as a “liberal Republican.”

While Mayo’s defection simply padded the Democrats’ majority in the Senate, others have caused more wholesale change.

When Rep. June Meres of Norridgewock became a Republican in September 1995, she gave the GOP its first House majority in 21 years – for about a month.

Meres said she became troubled by pressure from her fellow Democrats to change her vote on a hospital taxation issue, an issue on which she already had taken a public stand.

After failing to receive an apology from party leaders, she said she became “willing to listen” to the idea of joining the GOP, which she saw as more tolerant of dissent within its ranks.

“I didn’t look at it as a battle,” said Meres, who, after switching, won a second term in 1996. By that time, Democrats already had regained control of the House, winning two vacant seats at a special election in November 1995 and improving that lead in the 1996 general election.

Complaints of most political converts – regardless of their party – have been similar.

Many wanted to make a statement. Most said their party became either too extreme or too moderate and no longer reflected their views.

Others complained of shoddy treatment from party leaders who would relegate them to undesirable committee assignments if they didn’t toe the party line.

Following Mayo’s lead and converting to the majority party might seem the wiser path for those who want to push their agenda in Augusta.

But just the opposite was true for former lawmaker Charles Webster of Farmington.

During his first term in the House, Webster, then 25, left the Democratic Party to join the minority Republicans.

Webster, who clashed with his former Democratic colleagues on several small-business issues, said he was more effective in the GOP and after several re-elections became the Senate minority leader.

Webster, as minority leader, said he took pride in engineering the 1991 government shutdown over workers’ compensation reforms, something he said he never could have accomplished as a member of the majority.

“You always have those people that tell you you should try to change the party from within,” said Webster, 50. “But what’s the sense in being in a party if you don’t agree with that party?”

The old switcheroo

In the past 25 years, 18 state lawmakers have switched political parties or left a party to become independent. For some, the change has had little consequence. For others, it has meant political ruin.

1981: Rep. Charles Webster of Farmington switched from Democrat to Republican in 1981. He won re-election in 1982 and served several more terms in the House and Senate, ascending to minority leader in the Senate in 1989.

1981: Rep. George Boyce of Auburn changed from Republican to Democrat as a freshman lawmaker. He ran for Senate in 1982, but lost in the Demo-cratic primary.

1989: Rep. Clyde Hichborn of LaGrange switched from Republican to Democrat after six terms in the Legislature. He won re-election to the House in 1990 after winning a primary against one Democratic opponent.

1991: Sen. Raynold Theriault of Fort Kent switched from Democrat to Republican after 12 years in the Legislature. He lost his 1992 re-election bid to Judy Paradis of Frenchville.

1993: Rep. Hugh Morrison of Bangor switched from Republican to Democrat. He won a close re-election in 1994, but lost in the 1996 general election.

1993: Rep. Peggy Pendleton of Scarborough switched from Republican to Democrat during her third term in the House. She went on to serve four terms in the Senate.

1994: Rep. Ralph Coffman of Old Town left the Democratic Party to become an independent during his first year in the House. He lost his 1996 re-election bid.

1994: Rep. John Michael of Auburn left the Democratic Party to become an independent. Michael sought to return to the House in 1996 and lost. He did regain his seat in 2000.

1995: Rep. Edgar Wheeler of Bridgewater switched from Democrat to Republican, creating a 75-75 deadlock in the House. Wheeler won re-election in 1996.

1995: Rep. June C. Meres of Norridgewock switched from Democrat to Republican, giving the GOP its first House majority in 21 years. Democrats regained control, however, after winning two special elections later in the year. Meres won re-election in 1996.

1996: Rep. Belinda Gerry of Auburn left the Democratic Party to become an independent. Gerry narrowly won re-election in 1996.

2002: Rep. John McDonough of Portland switched from Democrat to Republican in July after losing the Democratic primary in June. He then lost in the general election to Demo-crat Edward Suslovic.

2002: Sen. Michael McAlevey of Waterboro switched from Republican to Democrat during his fourth term in the Legislature. He changed parties in August after losing the GOP primary in June. He then lost in the general election to Republican Richard Nass.

2003: Rep. Stanley Moody of Manchester switched from Republican to Democrat during his first term in the House. He was re-elected the next year.

2004: Rep. Troy Jackson of Fort Kent became a Democrat in January after being elected to his first term as an independent. He won a second term in November.

2004: Sen. Arthur Mayo switched from Republican to Democrat in December after being sworn in to serve his sixth term in the Legislature. He is up for re-election in 2006.

2005: Rep. Thomas Saviello of Wilton left the Democratic Party in July to become an independent. He is up for re-election in 2006.

2005: Rep. Joanne Twomey of Biddeford left the Democratic Party in November to become an independent. She is serving her fourth and final term in the House and is undecided whether she will run for Senate in 2006.

SOURCE: State Law and Legislative Reference Library