2/19/99
editor@asmainegoes.com
According to two conservative Maine Republican State Committee members, a sheepish Kevin Raye and Steve Abbott attended the Feb. 13 State Committee meeting in Hallowell. Raye and Abbott (chiefs of staff for Snowe and Collins) flew to Maine from D.C. on a Damage Control Mission. It was the first time, the conservatives said, they felt Abbott and Raye listened to their concerns about key Maine conservative issues, i.e. private property in northern Maine.
One conservative wrote in a post-meeting email, “Like it or not the impeachment [trial] is over. What do [conservatives] do now? We can't forget we were double-crossed by our Senators, [but] there are too many [other] important issues effect[ing] us to take a walk. If [conservatives] do, we have no say at all. This could be a chance to get [Snowe and Collins] to listen to us like never before. [Maybe] they want to mend some fences. Maybe not. But what do we have to lose?”
What conservatives have to lose is their most precious asset: time. Let’s acknowledge that Snowe and Collins are well-meaning, give them credit for doing what they think is right. But conservatives must stop wasting time trying to change the leopards’ spots. Maine’s U.S. Senators are moderates from the tops of their heads to the tips of their toes. They’re also politicians very adept at placating angry constituents. Placate means to pacify. It doesn’t mean adopting a conservative point of view or a change of heart.
Two short illustrations.
A Snowe campaign worker, 1992, was speaking with Snowe’s campaign manager just days before Election Day. It was clear Bush would lose and Clinton would win. Clinton’s win, said the campaign manager was good for then-Congresswoman Snowe because “philosophically she has more in common with Clinton.” And weeks after the election, the same campaign worker was discussing President-elect Clinton with a Snowe staffer in D.C. “I voted for Bill Clinton,” the staffer said. “I’ll bet half Olympia’s staff voted for Bill Clinton.”
A campaign worker for Collins drives her to an Augusta Collins fundraiser. The worker has been around Maine Republican politics many years. As they’re leaving the fundraiser he turns to Collins and says, “I didn’t recognize anybody in there.” Candidate Collins answers, “That’s because they’re Democrats.”
More recently, on 2/14/99, Steve Campbell’s Press Herald column mentions Snowe’s and Collins’s standing in a Congressional Quarterly study “based on 72 Senate votes on which Clinton took a position” in 1998. Collins agreed with Clinton 63 percent while Snowe side with Clinton on 55 percent of the key votes.
The point of these stories is not to bash Snowe or Collins. The point is conservatives need to face facts. Moderates are not going to become conservatives. They may help forward some conservative positions, but only to the extent that doing so won’t damage their moderate standing.
What do conservatives do now? asks the State Committee member. The work ahead for conservatives can be likened to early Maine farmers. Before planting seeds they had to create fertile fields through the hard work of clearing land -- cutting trees, digging stumps, removing rocks. Fortunately for Maine conservatives some of the political soil has been cultivated by earlier generations.
In the weeks ahead AMG will look at options for building and uniting Maine’s conservatives. As always, we welcome your views. Until then our advice to conservatives is simple: Get ready for the long, hard haul. And don’t expect help from moderates.