Politically, it’s a nonissue. Lewiston Mayor Lionel Guay has about a year left in office and can’t run again because he’s limited to two terms by the City Charter.

But the image of a crying teen taking the stand at Guay’s trial this week and accusing him of groping her – Guay was found innocent – will probably stick with people, although it won’t necessarily dent his popularity, and shouldn’t hurt the city’s image.

That’s the take of several political observers, who offered insights into the possible fallout of the case this week. They agreed that the age difference between Guay, 65, and his accuser, 19, could leave lingering anxiety.

“For lack of a better word, it’s creepy,” said Ron Schmidt, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Southern Maine.

Echoed professor Dick Simpson, head of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of books like “Winning Elections: A Handbook in Modern Participatory Politics”:

“That is seen as much more serious than if this were a woman of 40 or 50 or that sort. It’s seen as preying on a child and that’s a harder stigma to escape.”

Outside of a judge ruling the charges had absolutely no merit, even a not-guilty finding doesn’t fully exonerate a person in high office like this, Simpson said.

“Most people will assume when it gets to this stage that he’s guilty as charged,” he said. “It doesn’t mean he can’t still be popular, it doesn’t mean he can’t still do business in town.”

Guay was re-elected to his second two-year term in 2005.

The unlawful sexual touching charges will likely haunt the mayor, Simpson said, bound to pop up as an aside in larger, unrelated stories.

Controversy has certainly muddied Lewiston mayoral politics before.

Larry Raymond set the city abuzz in October 2002 when he issued a letter to the Somali community saying the city was “maxed-out,” then vacationed in Florida when white supremacists tried to play on tensions here.

Mayor Kaileigh Tara was criticized for personal use of the lone city credit card (charges at Victoria’s Secret and a Hawaiian hotel were reimbursed) and for racking up large city cell phone bills.

In 1997, a man who announced he would run for mayor, Dennis A. Smith Sr., became the first person prosecuted here for operating an unlicensed massage parlor. He pleaded guilty.

Two years later, another former candidate fled the city on his sentencing day for sexual assault. In a twist, Doug Lane left a suicide note with his attorney, who happened to be a former Lewiston mayor. He was caught in Boston in 1999.

The reason Mayor Guay’s charges didn’t ignite the public – or media – as much as his predecessor’s letter is national mood, Schmidt said. It didn’t resonate with our anxieties.

“I think right now national attention is really focused on international issues,” he said. Had this been the Monica Lewinsky-era, or adding to “stresses already in Lewiston politics,” the charges would have grabbed more attention.

Michael Starn at the Maine Municipal Association said the last time he could remember a Maine mayor being in legal trouble was Bruce Taliento. Taliento, a Bates College graduate, was the youngest person to be elected mayor of Portland in 1978. In 1980 he pleaded guilty to embezzling from a former employer and went to prison for three years.

W. Godfrey Wood, chief executive officer of the Portland Regional Chamber, hadn’t heard of the troubles of that city’s former mayor.

He said he would not expect the trial this week to tarnish Lewiston-Auburn’s image. The cities have put a concerted effort the past few years to highlight growth, investment and the positives.

“I think we need to remember that charges are very different from a conviction,” Wood said. “The system has done what it’s supposed to do. I hope the city can move forward.”

Simpson, a former Chicago alderman, said combined efforts of public officials and business leaders have more to do with charting a city’s course than one person alone.

“We’ve had 27 aldermen go to jail since 1971; we’re seen as a very corrupt city,” he said. “That doesn’t always mean the city doesn’t do well.”