It’s mud season in Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Richmond.
As recently reported, this election year’s mudslinging has been worse than ever the three great towns I represent in Augusta. As in the past, I am waging a positive campaign based on my record. My opponent and some of his helpers are not.
Two years ago, 10 mail pieces were sent out attacking me. But when a group supporting me sent a single mailer against my opponent, I pledged to withdraw from the race if it happened again. It didn’t — and I was honored by the voters’ support that November.
For the two years since, I‘ve been attacked frequently by an anonymously run Facebook page called the Seth Berry Report, which has blueberry pictures and seems harmless, but is wildly misleading and negative. The page refuses to say who’s behind it, but my current opponent regularly invites people to “like” the page. It also went online just after he set his sights on my seat.
For months now, my opponent and a band of his supporters have also been mailing and handing out fliers and letters attacking me. According to them, up is down and black is white.
In truth, I was honored to win the 2017 Maine Clean Energy Champion Award, and have championed the efforts to hold Central Maine Power accountable. Yet in his flier, my opponent claims I vote against renewable energy and lower energy costs.
In reality, I gave 19 years of my life to teaching in public schools, taught graduate-level courses for teachers, won the Hexter Award for Excellence in Teaching and have been endorsed in every election by the Maine Education Association. Yet in his flier, my opponent says I don’t make education a priority.
In truth, I have long advocated for lower taxes and better wages for working people and the middle class. When a massive tax cut for the wealthy was passed in 2011, I fought for an alternative that would have redirected the tax cut to the working people and the middle class. I also supported raising the minimum wage in 2016, which Maine voters approved overwhelmingly. Yet my opponent, who opposed raising the wage in 2016, now claims he favors “lower taxes and higher pay,” and that I oppose them!
In reality, I have been married 22 years, am a proud father of two boys, and have worked to support families and young children by serving on the advisory board of the Midcoast Maine United Way “Success by Six” program, on the Maine Children’s Growth Council, and as a volunteer in the local schools. In 2014, the Maine Children’s Alliance presented me with their “Giraffe Award” for those who stick their neck out for children. Yet in his literature, my opponent claims I don’t value families or protect young children, because I did not vote for two bills relating to two rare and specific crimes.
We don’t need to make new laws on these issues, but to enforce the laws already on the books. Both criminal acts (sex trafficking and female genital mutilation) are already illegal, and neither bill was supported by the police or by victims’ advocates, such as the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Sadly, the FGM bill my opponent supports has been identified as the extremist work of a white supremacist hate group.
In truth, I have always been a strong believer in the constitution, and in the court’s ability to constrain government overreach. I strongly support our constitutional right to referendum, for instance, because I find the people are smarter than the politicians. Yet my opponent, who opposes the people’s will on minimum wage, on medicaid expansion, on ranked-choice voting, and on tax fairness, claims in his videos that I want to take away our constitutional rights.
And in reality, I listen to the experts and to my constituents on every vote. Police, civil rights groups, and victims’ advocates alike opposed LD 1833, an immigration related bill. They warned us it would raise taxes, violate the constitution, and make us less safe. Few constituents contacted me about the bill, and all who did were opposed. So I voted against the bill — as did a majority of legislators in both the Republican Senate and Democratic House. Yet you may have recently received a glossy mailer trying to to help my opponent, accusing me of supporting murderers with this vote!
This postcard was sent by the sponsor of LD 1833, Larry Lockman. Lockman has been disowned by even his own party’s leaders for multiple ethics violations and outrageous statements, such as that men have the right to rape women due to their superior strength. My opponent, Guy Lebida, has still not disavowed Lockman’s mailer, or his other statements.
Fortunately, the voters I’ve talked to are more determined than ever to vote against those who spread lies from anonymous Facebook pages, campaign with negativity and falsehoods, or otherwise act as what the Bible calls an “author of confusion.”
For my part, I have taken the Pro-Truth Pledge, which subjects me to a crowdsourced “truth squad” that would tear me down publicly if I ever failed to be truthful and civil. I encourage my opponent to take the same pledge.
If you agree, please contact him and encourage him to do so. It is never too late to take the high road.
If he chooses more false attacks, please toss them out and demand a focus on our actual records and accomplishments. And as always, please call me directly if you have questions.
Spring mud season is a Maine thing, but fall mudslinging is not the Maine way.
Seth Berry is the state representative for Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Richmond.
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