AUGUSTA – A commissioner’s nomination that was supposed to be among the first put forward by Gov. John E. Baldacci was finally filled six months into the administration Wednesday when the governor selected a longtime friend and confidant to head the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

Pending confirmation by the Maine Senate, Jack Cashman, 53, of Old Town will assume oversight for the small department, which operates on an annual budget of about $11 million. The agency has a staff of around 40 people and is currently supervised by acting Commissioner Dann Lewis, the state’s former tourism director.

Rumors that a DECD commissioner would be named in the first weeks of Baldacci’s administration began to dissipate in February and were completely dead by March.

Should the Legislature convene for a special session on tax relief and bond issues next month, the Senate would be able to act on Cashman’s nomination, which has been praised by members of both parties.

As the governor’s senior legislative adviser, Cashman soon demonstrated his ability to recognize a successful business-saving strategy during moments of crisis that had left others resigned to failure.

“His legislative experience and the extraordinary leadership he has exhibited during these past months demonstrates he embodies the skills to help provide a brighter future for all,” Baldacci said of the University of Maine graduate.

The DECD works with municipalities and regional planning organizations to create programs designed to aid business development, tourism and community development. In conjunction with the governor’s office and the Legislature, the agency develops policy and oversees the State Economic Development Strategic Plan. The department also encourages the creation and retention of quality jobs through increased private-sector involvement. A commissioner’s salary is set by the governor at between $65,000 and $95,000.

A boyhood friend of Baldacci’s, Cashman further solidified his link to the Bangor Democrat in the 1980s when both men served on the city councils in their respective communities. A few years later, Cashman and Baldacci were elected to the Maine Legislature, where both would eventually hold chairmanships of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee.

Since leaving the Legislature in 1992, Cashman has been involved in real estate marketing and the insurance business while continuing to remain active on Democratic committees in Old Town and Penobscot County. He impressed state and international business leaders during the opening months of the Baldacci administration when he played a critical role in brokering operating agreements between the state and Great Northern Paper when the papermaking giant shut down in January. A few months later, Cashman crafted another plan for cost savings that convinced the Georgia-Pacific mill in his hometown to reduce layoff plans.

In addition to assisting the governor with the development of his Pine Tree Opportunity Zone to provide tax incentives for businesses willing to locate in economically depressed areas, Cashman was also pivotal in convincing Energy East, a major New England energy provider, to relocate its accounting operations to the renovated Pineland Center in New Gloucester.

Acknowledging he and Baldacci went “back a long way,” Cashman promised to do his best to enhance the state’s business profile and “make Maine the opportunity state that the governor has envisioned it to be.” Mostly though, Cashman would be happy if he could simply improve the state’s climate for new and existing businesses in order to stem the exodus of many young Mainers who are building their careers beyond the state’s borders.

“I have a son working in Boston who’d like to come back, and I wish he could,” Cashman said. “We need to provide more opportunities for our young people.”