Sportsman’s Alliance withholds endorsement for gubernatorial race

AUGUSTA – Political leaders of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine have decided to issue no endorsement for governor this year, but that doesn’t appear to denote deep dissatisfaction.

The SAM panel has awarded grades of A to both Democratic incumbent John Baldacci and Republican challenger Chandler Woodcock.

Independent state Rep. Barbara Merrill, another Blaine House hopeful, got a B. Green Independent Pat LaMarche received an F.

“I’m pleased with our process. I think it was thorough,” said SAM Executive Director George Smith, describing an assessment that involved surveys and personal interviews.

Smith said a full account of the organization’s determinations would be written and sent to members soon.

The nonendorsement tie is not the best news for Woodcock, the Farmington legislator who throughout his campaign has touted his interests in the outdoors and whose campaign biography lists registered Maine guide as a credential.

Four years ago, SAM’s political action committee endorsed Republican Peter Cianchette for governor while giving grades of A to both Cianchette and Baldacci, who was winding up his eighth year in Congress.

But Woodcock spokesman Chris Jackson said the SAM group’s decision not to back Baldacci was “unusual” and “pretty remarkable.”

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, organizations like that will endorse the incumbent,” Jackson added.

Baldacci and his campaign, which issued a statement noting SAM’s grade for the governor but not mentioning the lack of an endorsement, saw it another way.

“I am honored to receive this high rating from the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine,” Baldacci said in the statement. “Maine has a long and proud tradition of outdoorsmanship. I have always been and will continue to be committed to the issues and traditions that sportsmen hold dear.”

For Baldacci, nonetheless, it is twice in a row that he has been unable to garner a SAM recommendation for election to the Blaine House.

Smith said Baldacci benefited from “two big pluses” – opposing curbs on bear hunting and trapping and supporting a generous budget for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

But Smith said Baldacci’s stature with sportsmen was undercut by “some pretty big negatives,” focusing in large part on access questions relating to the Allagash waterway and Katahdin Lake.

Woodcock, well regarded by the sportsmen’s group, presented “a much less extensive record,” Smith said.

Smith said Merrill could have won an A if she were merely seeking re-election to the state House of Representatives but that SAM had “very little experience with her” to consider her as a potential governor.

LaMarche is at odds with SAM on a number of issues, Smith said, while crediting her for being a highly articulate spokeswoman for the Green Independent Party.

In another top-of-the-ticket race, Democrat Jean Hay Bright has picked up an endorsement of an organized labor group representing 5,500 Maine workers in her campaign against Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.

The Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Council executive John Hanson says Hay Bright is more than just a friend of labor, she’s an ally who’s been willing to take a place on the picket line.

Hanson says Hay Bright’s strong support for national health care was also a factor in the endorsement.

The Maine Education Association, a union representing 25,000 current and retired educators, is endorsing Snowe.

The MEA, which is affiliated with the 2.8 million-member National Education Association, also endorsed Snowe in her bid for re-election to the Senate in 2000.