In a letter to the editor in the BDN, Carol Woodcock, director of Sen. Collins’ Bangor office, asserts that “Sen. Collins did not want the activists [Bangor Six] charged.” If that is true, then why were they arrested?

This letter is the first indication that Sen. Collins may not have wanted activists in her Bangor office arrested on March 7, 2007, if and when they refused to leave at the normal office closing time. None of the trial testimony on April 29, at which I was present, implied in any way that Sen. Collins opposed the arrests. In fact, testimony by the arresting police officers indicated her office was complicit in charging the activists.

Ms. Woodcock is concerned the public might “get the wrong impression” about the senator’s position on the charges. But the public has yet to hear directly from Sen. Collins on this matter. I believe, through her 14-month silence, the senator has communicated quite clearly.

Susan Collins is consistent. She does not speak out to defend the rights of those with whom she disagrees, nor does she meet with those constituents whose opinions differ from hers.

I applaud the Bangor Six and the others who have been arrested over the years in the offices of Sen. Collins, Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Tom Allen, for their persistence in trying to end this horrific war in Iraq by whatever nonviolent means possible. The not-guilty verdict is indeed precedent setting.

Herbert J. Hoffman

Independent Candidate for U. S. Senate

Ogunquit