Republicans had little good news to grasp after Maine’s election results became clear.

The party had hooked its wagon to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which lost. The party’s nominee for governor lost by 8 points to the Democratic incumbent.

And the party took a thumping in the Maine House of Representatives, where Democrats extended their numbers to 89, pending several recounts, and knocked off 11 Republican incumbents.

But when state Senate Republicans met last week to chose their new leaders, there were two bright spots. Republicans gained a single seat in the Senate, to narrow the Democratic advantage to just one seat, 18-17.

But the celebration, for what it was among the clear disappointment and long faces, was saved for Paula Benoit of Phippsburg.

Benoit knocked off incumbent state Sen. Art Mayo in District 19. Mayo, once a Republican, switched parties, forever gaining the ire of some of his former GOP colleagues.

“With all kinds of great pleasure, I cannot tell you folks what a pleasure it is to introduce Paula Benoit,” said state Sen. Paul Davis, outgoing floor leader for Senate Republicans. “My last conversation … with soon to be a former senator (Mayo), I told him you shouldn’t do this. You’re going to regret it.”

For avenging Mayo’s switch and beating an incumbent, Benoit is on her way to folk hero status in the Republican Senate caucus. Along with the victory of state Rep. Earle McCormick in Senate District 21, an open seat, her win was one of the few bits of good news for Republicans in New England on Nov. 7.

Changing rules

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is scheduled today to consider recommendations for changes to the state’s election laws.

One of the biggest proposals would change the rules regarding independent expenditures. The change would extend an important deadline from 21 days before an election to 60 days.

When an outside group spends money to expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a named candidate, Maine law considers it an independent expenditure, which can trigger matching money under the Maine Clean Election Act.

In the last 21 days of a campaign, any expenditure that names a candidate is considered to be an independent expenditure. Before the 21-day threshold, political parties and other groups can say almost anything – as long as they don’t use words like “vote for” or “elect” – without triggering matching money.

The proposal would move that back to 60 days, and could change the nature of third-party advocacy on behalf of candidates.

Independent Barbara Merrill and Green Independent Pat LaMarche complained during this year’s election that hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising by the Maine Democratic Party and the Republican Governors Association should have qualified them for more public money for their campaigns.

Because the ads ran prior to the 21-day threshold, the ethics commission denied the request.

Predictions, checked

SurveyUSA, the national automated polling company that did work for WCSH-TV throughout the election, ended up calling the state’s gubernatorial race pretty close.

In its last poll, released on Nov. 5, the Sunday before the election, SurveyUSA predicted 36 percent for Gov. John Baldacci, 30 percent for Republican Chandler Woodcock, 21 percent for independent Barbara Merrill and 11 percent for Green Independent Pat LaMarche.

The unofficial results from Election Day: 38 percent for Baldacci, 30 for Woodcock, 22 for Merrill and 10 for LaMarche.

The SurveyUSA poll, which was conducted Nov. 2-4, also predicted that 50 percent of voters would vote “no” on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, while 33 percent would vote “yes.” Seventeen percent were still undecided.

The Election Day tally: 54 percent against TABOR, 46 percent for it.

Good grade, bad grade

State Sen. David Hastings, a Fryeburg Republican, was randomly audited by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices because he ran a publicly financed campaign.

The results of the audit, which will be presented to the commission at its meeting today, found no exceptions. In other words, his record keeping and spending were all in order when the ethics commission came looking.

Republican state Rep. Joan Bryant-Deschenes can’t say the same thing. A random audit of her records found that she had inappropriately deposited Maine Clean Election Act funding into a personal bank account instead of a separate campaign account. Otherwise, her spending and record keeping are in order. Commission staff has recommended that she be found in violation of election law but face no penalty.

Bryant-Deschenes lost her bid for re-election in District 96 to Democrat Lawrence Sirois.

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