BANGOR – In a speech here Wednesday, Gov. John Baldacci warned lawmakers debating his tax relief proposal 75 miles away in Augusta not to get sidetracked by those on the “fringes of the debate.”

“We’ve got to take this train down the middle,” said Baldacci, who during his speech counted Republican-backed constitutional spending caps among those fringe issues.

“If anybody’s doing any political grandstanding, they’re going to be put off to the side, because Mainers are serious about this,” he later said.

Baldacci, whose tax plan was again the subject of lengthy debate before the newly appointed Joint Select Committee on Property Tax Reform on Wednesday, stressed that failure to move quickly on his bill, LD 1, could derail future reforms and test the patience of voters.

“If we can’t settle this and end up with a competing measure, the people of Maine will be completely dissatisfied,” Baldacci said after addressing an afternoon meeting of the Bangor Lions Club.

If the Legislature does not act by Jan. 20, there lies the potential for any subsequent tax reform measure emerging from Augusta to be considered in a statewide vote. That would only occur if other tax reform groups are successful in gathering enough signatures by the Jan. 20 deadline to place their proposals on the November 2005 ballot.

Among those alternatives is tax reform advocate Mary Adams’ Taxpayer Bill of Rights which, like GOP plans, calls for constitutional spending caps, which would require a two-thirds vote by lawmakers and a majority popular vote to override.

Baldacci’s plan also includes spending caps, but they could be overridden by a legislative majority.

After Baldacci’s talk, Penobscot County Republican Committee member W. Harrison Clark disagreed with the governor’s characterization of the GOP-backed constitutional provision as a “fringe issue.”

“Two-thirds needs to be part of it,” Clark said.