AUGUSTA – A long-running feud between a Washington County lawmaker and House Speaker Patrick Colwell has ended with the legislator’s resignation from the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

Whether the resignation was offered or imposed remained a matter of interpretation Monday as state Rep. George Bunker, D-Kossuth Township, stated he had been of the opinion that a resignation he offered to Colwell in June had been declined. Colwell countered that he had accepted the resignation, and deferred acting on it until the end of July.

Regardless of the circumstances, both men seemed willing to accept the change in assignment. Bunker, a private detective, had been the House chairman of the committee that deals with law enforcement issues. Rep. Patricia Blanchette, D-Bangor, will take over the gavel for the panel. Bunker will continue to serve on the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee.

Much of the dispute between Colwell and Bunker had its roots in the Washington County legislator’s objections to funding new positions within the Maine State Police and what he perceived as a refusal by Colwell to consider his attempts to preserve the state Bureau of Liquor Enforcement that was eliminated by Gov. John E. Baldacci as a cost-saving measure.

“We all know that you can’t fight the budget bill, so I was on a collision course with the speaker and the governor,” Bunker said. “But I’m OK with it. This stuff happens and I’m not too awfully worried about it.”

Colwell and Rep. Lois Snowe-Mello, a Republican member of the Criminal Justice Committee, said Monday that Bunker had become overly passionate about the liquor enforcement issue and focused on preventing the elimination of the bureau to the exclusion of other issues.

“For me, all of my chairs really serve at my pleasure and I have to be able to feel comfortable with that,” Colwell said.