Chronicle of a Broken Promise

Maine: The Associated Press has a good chronology of Susan Collins' broken promise to the voters of Maine:

A first hurdle for Collins has been justifying a run at all.

Collins said during her first campaign for the Senate she did not plan to serve more than two terms and thereafter reaffirmed that position when she first sought re-election.

The Bangor Daily News, on Sept. 17, 1996, reported Collins saying: "I want to go to Washington, serve two terms, and then come home."

Six years later, in a letter dated Sept. 6, 2002, to Carl Lindemann of Portland, Collins wrote: "I am proud of the accomplishments I have made during my first term, and I hope to have the opportunity to serve the people of Maine in the Senate for another six years. I intend to serve only two terms as I indicated in the Sanford forum six years ago."

But now, heading into a campaign for a third term, Collins says she has had a change of heart. On Oct. 13, 2006, the Sun Journal of Lewiston reported after Collins met with the newspaper's editorial board that Collins confirmed she would seek re-election in 2008.

"I've found that I really underestimated the importance of seniority and how much difference it makes when you are a more senior member," said Collins, who worked for former U.S. Sen. William Cohen for a dozen years after college.

So, Susan Collins worked in the U.S. Senate as the aide to a Maine Senator for twelve years and saw first-hand what it was to work as a Senator for the state of Maine. Then, she campaigned to run herself and made the two-term-limit promise. Then, she reaffirmed her promise during her 2002 re-election campaign. Then, after twelve years as a Senate aide and more than six years as a Senator herself, when it comes due to make good on her promise, reaffirmed only a few years ago, she all of sudden realizes the "importance of seniority" and decides that her promise to the voters of Maine isn't worth keeping. Self-serving, dishonest, and shameful.

This year, another self-imposed term-limited Senator announced his upcoming retirement. These are his words:

I just didn't think I could back away from the (term limits) commitment. It is a matter of integrity and keeping your commitments. I have never wavered on that," Allard told the Rocky Mountain News.

Appearing with his wife, Joan, at a press conference at the state Capitol, Allard said, "The people of Colorado placed their trust in me based on a promise I made to them and I am honoring that promise. In an age when promises are cast away as quickly as yesterday’s newspaper, I believe a promise made should be a promise kept."

"A matter of integrity and keeping your commitments." Wayne Allard's words. Susan Collins should listen to her colleague.