Former Maine Senate President Richard Bennett, a Republican, wrote one of the year’s great guest columns for the Sun Journal (Feb. 5).

He believes strongly in keeping a healthy, clean Maine, and that support includes not only the physical environment, but the political environment. Clearly, we need clean air, clean water, clean soil. And just as clearly, he points out, we need clean politics.

The Maine Clean Election program works wonders to achieve that.

Bennett recognizes the foolishness of the Supreme Court defining corporations as people (my 5-year-old grandchildren know better) and money as free speech. That will have a terrible impact on the Maine political process, as corporations push negative ads in an attempt to elect the candidates they own.

Mr. Bennett is right, and he is appreciated. Maine’s Clean Election laws are a great asset to Maine, and we must do all that we can to both support them and prevent outside corporate control of Maine. Could there be a very high tax on political ads bought by out-of-state corporations?

A clean environment and clean elections are much better than a dirty environment and dirty politics.

Jim Wellehan, Auburn