By David Farmer,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Independent gubernatorial candidate Barbara Merrill stood on the banks of the Androscoggin River on Thursday and tried to dunk the environmental record of Gov. John Baldacci.

Instead, she’s the one who almost ended up soaked.

A day of campaigning in the Twin Cities culminated with a visit to the Auburn side of the river, where Merrill unveiled a television ad critical of the administration’s policies.

The setting was as appropriate as it was picturesque: The ad builds its case for Merrill around the handling of the Androscoggin River by Baldacci and the Democrats, Republicans and Green Independent in the Legislature.

The 30-second television ad assails the passage of a law, which created a lesser set of environmental standards for the Androscoggin.

But three words in the ad forced Merrill to pull it before it could be broadcast.

In the ad, Merrill levels a number of charges against the Baldacci administration that are based on facts.

One, though, she got wrong.

She said that “Maine was sued” on its handling of the river, and the suit forced Baldacci to change course. That’s not correct.

Fourteen different groups, ranging from environmental organizations to International Paper, appealed to the Board of Environmental Protection the specifics of state-issued waste discharge permits allowing effluent to be flushed into the river. The Natural Resources Council of Maine sued IP, in a case that was ultimately dismissed. But the state has not been sued, at least not yet.

Reached late in the day on her cell phone, Merrill said that the language in the ad needed to be fixed.

“I agree that the ad should be clearer,” Merrill said, after a reporter pointed out the problem.

The advertisement will be corrected this weekend, she said, and the new version will begin running Monday.

“We’ll substitute the line,” she said. “The point is, all the legal action that came after that was the catalyst for things getting straightened out.”

The rest of the criticism, she said, stands.

“The bill endorsed a deal worked out by the Baldacci administration that put off the cleanup of the Androscoggin River for 10 long years,” Merrill had said earlier in the day with the river as a backdrop. “This issue deserves the attention of every Maine voter because the action is a direct repudiation of the leaders of Lewiston and Auburn who understand that a cleaner Androscoggin River means a healthier local economy.”

Merrill also criticized Baldacci, a Democrat seeking a second term, for secret meetings that were held between the Department of Environmental Protection and NewPage mill in Rumford. According to the state attorney general, the meetings violated Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.

“Legal action by environmental groups revealed secret meetings and deals that violated Maine’s right-to-know laws,” Merrill said. “When the administration’s misconduct was revealed, the governor didn’t talk straight with Maine people. Instead, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection was made the scapegoat, which left all of us to wonder: Why did the governor reward the former commissioner with another good-paying state job if she was solely responsible for this colossally bad judgment?”

Former DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher resigned in December. She has since taken a temporary job within the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Hold on a minute, everyone knows that Gov. Baldacci’s record on the environment is incredibly strong and his administration, led by DEP Commissioner David Littell, cut the timetable for cleanup of the Androscoggin in half,” said Jesse Connolly, Baldacci’s campaign manager. “In fact, the Androscoggin Lake Improvement Corp. last week praised Gov. Baldacci for his ‘courageous support.’ I think it’s time for Barbara Merrill to wake up and get her facts straight,” an open jab at Merrill’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Tour, which has taken her to breakfast spots around the state to introduce herself to voters.

Since Gallagher’s resignation, Littell has reconsidered the discharge permits issued by his predecessor for the International Paper and NewPage mills on the Androscoggin and has proposed tighter deadlines and tougher standards.

“The governor only turned it around after he was caught,” Merrill said. “After you get caught with your fingers in the cookie jar, that’s too late.”

Brownie Carson, the executive director of the NRCM, offered a defense of the Baldacci administration.

“Dawn Gallagher clearly made some mistakes,” Carson said. “We took those mistakes to the governor.”

In his seven months as commissioner, Carson said Littell has dealt with the issues on the river constructively and openly.

“All his meetings start with the premise: We have one goal here. We want to get the river cleaned up,” Carson said of Littell.

Merrill saved some of her sharpest words for members of the state’s three political parties, including the only elected Green Independent legislator in the country, Portland Rep. John Eder.

“Anyone familiar with the Legislature would be surprised with the number of intelligent, progressive people who voted for a deal that allows 10 more years of pollution,” Merrill said. “When Maine needed them to stand up, they lowered their heads and went along.”