In the coming debate this winter over Maine’s referendum process, there should be plenty of room for defenders of this expression of direct democracy and plenty of room for defenders of the representative form of government. But there should be no room for the unfortunate comments aimed this week at Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky.

At issue is the increasing use of ballot initiatives, the referendum questions that supporters put on the ballot by gathering a required nut, has voted on more referendums since 1993 than between the years 1910 and 1970.

But if defenders of the current system think the increase means that Mainers have recently grown more dismissive of the legislative route or just more feisty, they need to think again. Maine is a paradise for the pet subjects of special-interest groups. A state with a small population, low television advertising rates and polling places that allow petition signatures to be collected, Maine serves as the perfect test market for these national groups.

Some referendums, of course, are entirely home-grown, entirely sincere and entirely justified. But whether the topic is reform of campaign financing, abortion laws, clear-cutting or gay rights, chances are excellent that the debate at some point will turn divisive and Mainers will act out the pros and cons of a subject that will later be refined and presented in other parts of the country.

Secretary Gwadosky said recently that he would wait for a court challenge before trying to change the Maine initiative process after the U.S. Supreme Court last week disallowed certain restrictions on Colorado’s system. For this he was unjustly attacked, called by former legislator John Michael of On Our Terms of being a leader of “a political class of elitist Democrats and Republicans who wish to destroy the right of the people of Maine to have initiatives and referendums.” And that was the kindest thing Mr. Michael said.

If advocates of a more open initiative system want to be taken seriously by the public, they will need first to explain why Maine should be the petri dish for special interests and then to find someone who can present their case without vitriol. Maine gets enough of that during the campaign season.