The latest shenanigans on the Allagash are part of a pattern of political influence peddling by an elected official who thinks that he personally owns the waterway. During my 18 years as waterways supervisor, I witnessed the following:

• In 1984, then Speaker of the House Martin protected his headquarters at Jalbert’s Sporting Camps. He pushed through a law requiring approval before the state could change the use of “his” camps.

• In 1990, Speaker Martin ordered LURC to change permit rules to accommodate a hot tub that had been illegally installed at the same camps.

• In 1997, without public knowledge as part of an 11th-hour deal, he attempted a $100,000 appropriation to construct a camp within a few hundred feet of Round Pond in T13R12. Thanks to Republican senators, that measure failed.

• In 1999, Sen. Martin introduced legislation to make the AWW supervisor’s position a direct political appointment.

The original vision of a wild Allagash is being degraded through years of trench warfare by self-interested politicians. Bulldozing the Michaud Farm Road by Sen. Martin and Rep. Jackson illustrates that those officials have no regard for the law, the Department of Conservation, waterway staff or people volunteering their time to serve on the Governor’s Working Group presently examining waterway governance.

To break this pattern of self-dealing, the offending individuals should be held accountable. Unless the political will is mustered to repel these political hijinks, the original vision of a wild Allagash will never be redeemed.

Tim Caverly, Millinocket