Is the state using its resources wisely in prosecuting a respected Maine guide?

There is an epic battle continuing in northern Maine between an innocent individual and a giant lumbering beast.

The first battle was won by the little guy, but a second battle continues to harass and drain a man whose love of Maine, and ethical conduct in the pursuit of his career as a Maine guide, is being attacked.

The state of Maine has dragged this man, Randy Spencer, through the courts. Randy has spent more than an entire year’s guide income defending himself against a charge of allowing a customer – an undercover warden posing as a customer – to take one fish, a bass, over the limit. The charges were dismissed against him.

Maine’s game warden bureaucracy is trying to punish Spencer, claiming he allowed an agent posing as a sportsman to keep one 11-inch fish over the daily limit of two. Spencer says he caught the third fish. The agent says that Spencer allowed him to catch and keep all three of the fish, which were eaten at lunch. More than 50 fish were caught that day between the two; all the others were released.

The undercover agent didn’t keep any notes of the operation and admitted during the trial that he could not account for each fish. He could not disprove Spencer’s statement that the third fish was his and not his own. Maine’s misfired undercover sting operation cited Spencer on two charges, both over this one fish. The case went to a jury trial, which ended in a hung jury and the case was dismissed.

The story became national news because several of Spencer’s customers with national news connections were outraged at the behavior of the state’s leadership and the warden bureaucracy.

A civil case is now scheduled for Dec. 8. This is a charge of failure to report a violation, a difficult case since the violation was never proven. Maine bureaucracy is embarrassed by the national publicity and has dug in its heels. Why does the Democratic leadership in Maine not see the damage it is doing to the state in canceled trips and a bad image? They are now in a place where the state will lose whether or not it wins this case. Why don’t they show character and leadership and just dismiss this charge?

The state of Maine is continuing to attack Spencer with the full weight – and stubbornness – of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the knowledge Gov. Baldacci, on a charge of “failure to report.” How does one fail to report a violation, when there was none?

The state has yet to produce a single name of any person who complained about Spencer. Spencer’s fellow fishermen unanimously praise him for his professionalism and integrity. There is not one inkling that he has ever failed to comply fully with the law.

Additionally, the first and second cases have been reviewed by practicing attorneys – some former prosecutors – unrelated to the case. All agreed that this second trial makes no sense.

The state of Maine is embarrassing itself and is spreading a negative public image, affecting Maine’s reputation as a place that values the outdoors and the environment. News stories and editorials have appeared in Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, the Sun Journal and other publications. Groups planning fishing trips have canceled plans to come to Maine and are looking elsewhere.

This would seem funny, or stupid, depending on your point of view, except for the fact that it is all so unnecessary and petty.

This is just another in a long line of abuses and usurpations negligently designed to destroy the spirit of one fisherman and, by example, the spirit of citizens of the state of Maine.

How can we stand by and allow the crushing weight of the bureaucracy to hammer one innocent? How is it that our government has become the instrument of unelected, unresponsive, uncompassionate bureaucrats?

Way can’t Gov. Baldacci just find a way to issue a warning to Spencer? Is Maine’s government and leadership this dysfunctional?

Lawrence E. Dwight Jr. lives in Wilton.