Race: Gubernatorial

Party: Democratic

TV ad: “Not me”

Length: 30 seconds

Sponsor: Rowe for governor

Text, audio and visuals:

Rowe says, “When I started running for governor, people had some strange ideas about how I should do it.” A director-type snaps his fingers and fireworks spelling R-O-W-E go off in the background. “No,” says Rowe. An image of the Boston skyline appears. “No, that’s not even Maine,” says Rowe. A mountainous background, with someone in a bear costume waving and holding a sign that says “Vote” shows up. “That’s just weird,” says Rowe. “Can’t I just tell them that I beat the Bush administration to protect Maine’s clean air and water, that I beat the drug companies to reduce the price of prescription drugs and that I helped save thousands of jobs by making sure the Bath Iron Works deal protected both jobs and taxpayers, and that I’m Steve Rowe and that I’m running for governor to fight for Maine families?”

Purpose: To show a lighter side to Rowe, who served as Maine’s attorney general for eight years and is a Democrat running for governor, while also highlighting his accomplishments.

Accuracy: There’s no way to know if people actually suggested these ad campaigns to Rowe (let’s hope not), but here’s the breakdown of his claimed accomplishments.

Rowe, as attorney general, joined the state of Maine in a lawsuit filed against the Environmental Protection Agency under the Bush administration in 2003. A total of 12 states were petitioners in the suit, which asserted that the EPA had a mandatory duty to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the states.

Rowe helped craft the so-called Maine RX law and served as Maine House Speaker when the Legislature passed it in the spring of 2000. The measure aimed to provide poor and elderly Mainers with discount prescription drugs. The law’s constitutionality was appealed by a coalition of drug makers and, in late October of that year, a federal district judge issued an injunction delaying implementation. Maine’s attorney general at the time, Andrew Ketterer, moved forward with an appeal on behalf of the state. Rowe was elected as AG in December of 2000 and in 2001 his office took the lead on the case that ended with a favorable decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.

The final claim is that Rowe helped save thousands of jobs at BIW thanks to his successful effort to link an approximately $3 million annual tax credit given it by the state to certain employment levels. Rowe served on the Legislature’s Taxation Committee when it passed the tax break, which took effect in 1999. As written, the law allows the credit to be as little as $2.625 million if BIW’s employment dips to 3,500, or as much as $3.5 million if employment is more than 7,000. Current employment is about 5,500 workers, good enough for a $3.125 million credit. The Rowe campaign says he insisted the credit be tied to employment levels and his commercial asserts that this demand “helped save thousands of jobs.”

BIW, a company that depends on federal defense contracts for work, was slated to receive $1 billion for construction of a Navy warship in the 2010 defense authorization bill. In 2011, it’s supposed to receive about $1.5 billion for building another Navy ship. Its employment levels are more likely dictated by the amount of work available from billion-dollar federal contracts than a — relatively speaking — small tax break from the state, the bulk of which it would still receive even if it employed 2,000 fewer workers.

Our view:  Rowe is not about fireworks, so it’s appropriate that pyrotechnic devices were avoided in wooing votes. Good, too, to lose the costumed bear.

The Rowe ad does not bestow airs or accomplishments on the former attorney general that he does not possess or has not earned. 

Instead, the ad focuses on Rowe’s successes, and even though we can never know whether the tax break enjoyed by BIW “helped save thousands of jobs,” there’s no question it’s part of a number of incentives that helps keep this much-needed mega-employer in state.

Rowe’s ad is straightforward, just like the man, and uncolored by spin. How refreshing is that?

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