Morning Sentinel
Despite denials, Heritage center promoted TABOR
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Sunday, December 17, 2006

For weeks, the news in Maine has been filled with stories about accusations that the Maine Heritage Policy Center broke state campaign disclosure laws. A complaint lodged with the state's ethics commission alleged that the center advocated for the passage of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, and should have filed a form detailing how much time and money it spent on that advocacy.

The center is a conservative think tank founded four years ago. Its staff wrote the legislation that became TABOR. Its executive director, Bill Becker, spent months making speeches praising TABOR, very often in the company of leading TABOR advocate Mary Adams. A senior policy analyst for the center, Roy Lenardson, became the chief spokesman for the TABOR political campaign, while remaining an adviser to the center. And, indeed, while meeting with the editorial board of this newspaper during the fall, Becker -- joined by Mary Adams -- clearly urged us to support passage of TABOR.

That's why he met with us. If anyone in the state wanted a comment in favor of TABOR, they only needed to go on the center's Web site, or call it directly. The Maine Heritage Policy Center was the TABOR machine.

Yet, in responses to the ethics commission, center staff and attorneys have steadfastly maintained that they were not directly promoting the passage of TABOR. They were only educating the public, Heritage officials said. Becker said that to us in October. We didn't believe it then. We don't believe it now.

Whether the center is technically in violation of the state law on campaign disclosure will turn on a very narrow reading of an exceedingly narrow law. And even if it is found in violation of that requirement, as ethics commission staff suggest may be the case, that can be corrected with a post-deadline filing and perhaps a penalty.

Yet there is a larger issue at stake here. And that's the Truth -- with a capital "T".

The kind of esoteric hairsplitting that Maine Heritage Policy Center's defenders are engaging in is offensive. Whether they convince the ethics commission or not that they really, truly, absolutely and positively didn't actually advocate for passage of TABOR is irrelevant. We know, and every voter in the state of Maine who didn't turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to current events over the last six months knows, that the center's name was synonymous with TABOR. Their insistence that they didn't really urge people to vote for TABOR is insulting to voters, demeaning to all the work the center actually engaged in, and ultimately, promotes cynicism in a public that is convinced that public figures lie all the time.


Reader comments

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1-5 of 5 comments:

Naran of Kennebunk, ME
Dec 18, 2006 9:46 AM
Rob Tabor - your perennial muckraking and spin are showing. Along with your perennial MISINFORMATION.

Dan Billings had absolutely NO involvement with the TABOR campaign. I know, because I DID have involvement. Lots of it, over two years.

I'll repeat this, and type s-l-o-w-l-y, so you can get it.

Dan Billings had nothing to do with the TABOR campaign, signature collection, or court battles to get it onto the ballot.

He was the legal counsel for Chandler Woodcock. Period.
Capiche?

I know this kind of codswallop is probably your continuing assignment from MoveOn.Ogre, but instead of pretending to be a Republican, I suggest you find something else to do. Your cover is truly blown.

Quit pestering those of us who are doing the actual work to get Maine back on track, like Dan Billings.report abuse
AJ of Rome, ME
Dec 17, 2006 6:03 PM
Yes, and the Katadin Institute campaigned against it. Where is the in-kind outrage?report abuse
Mark Bigelow of Okinawa, JP
Dec 17, 2006 4:27 PM
If they really wish to investigate ethics violations they would go after those on the public payroll that used public time and money to campaign against TABOR. As a federal employee I would face dismissal, fines or even imprisonment if I used government time or resources to promote pending legislation. Also what compounds the ethical lapses of our elected or appointed officials is how they used their public trust positions to promote misinformation or even in some cases outright lies about TABOR, using one's public position to influence the voters is wrong and using it to promote lies is even worse.report abuse
Rob Tabor of Portland, ME
Dec 17, 2006 12:10 PM
I said over and over that Dan Billings being involved in both the TABOR issue and Woodcock's campaign was a problem. It appears that there were many additional problems. This has left a black mark and stink on the Maine GOP that will take some effort to wash off. Needless to say that this is the end of Dan Billings and Rick Bennett as campaign advisors. Sometimes you can not see the forest through the trees. The Woodcock team just were rookies and could not see something as obvious as this. Onward and upward in 2010. To the GOP: Let's use some professionals next time and maybe we could win the Blaine House.report abuse
Brian of West Gardiner, ME
Dec 17, 2006 9:07 AM
These accusations all depend on "what the meaning of "IS" is!

Look...you have your old tax and spend ways back for another four years...leave it alone.

Find somthing else useless to do with your life!report abuse

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