AUGUSTA – In the aftermath of Gov. John Baldacci’s State of the State address, Republican legislative leaders Wednesday were questioning the administration’s motives and justification for advancing a Maine gay rights law as a major objective in the current legislative session.

House GOP leader David Bowles of Sanford; Senate Republican leader Paul Davis of Sangerville and assistant Senate GOP leader Carol Weston of Montville said Wednesday Mainers have rejected the proposal twice since 1995. They challenged Baldacci’s rationale for resurrecting the emotional and divisive issue at a time when lawmakers are wrestling with a $5.7 billion two-year state budget and a yet-to-be determined bond proposal for transportation, research and development, education and other state initiatives.

“It’s a diversion to take away the attention from the pressing issues of the day and place it on something totally unrelated,” Davis said. “Maybe that’s the smart thing for him to do.”

During his speech Tuesday evening, Baldacci said the “time has come” to protect all Mainers from discrimination, and he proposed that a person’s sexual orientation should be a protected class under the Maine Human Rights Act. That law prohibits discrimination based on race or religious beliefs in the areas of housing, employment, public accommodations and credit.

Bowles said the governor seemed to be sidestepping the larger question of whether there is an actual need for the law since he had yet to see any empirical evidence indicating that discrimination is a problem for lesbians and gay men.

“It just seems that what we have here is a solution in need of a problem,” Bowles said.

In the past, the gay rights issue has prompted emotional and intense debate that has frequently involved the Christian Civic League of Maine and its executive director, Michael Heath. The religious spokesman said Wednesday his membership was already mobilizing to draw a line in the sand on the volatile topic.

“It’s outrageous,” Heath said of the governor’s insistence on advancing the bill. “It’s nothing more than a foot in the door for gay marriage as far as we’re concerned.”

Maine is the only state in New England to exclude sexual orientation from civil rights protection. Baldacci said he was not interested in attaching a statewide referendum requirement as part of his bill as was the case in two earlier citizen initiatives.

“At this point I want it enacted, and I want to put it forward so it’s not a referendum per se,” he said. “If someone wants to put a referendum attachment to it, that’s for other discussions. … Maine is by itself in New England as the only state that doesn’t have equal protection under the law for all citizens. When you’re looking to attract economic development opportunity in the creative economy or stimulate growth opportunity, you have to be tolerant. It’s not just technology and talent, but it’s also tolerance.”

“I just don’t understand that – he’ll have to explain that to me,” said Weston. “Isn’t there opportunity here for everyone?”

Weston said she believes when one group is given special rights, certain rights are taken away from others and that many lawmakers will be reluctant to pursue the approach advocated by Baldacci.

“The Legislature has always been loath to take anything that the people have done by referendum and change it through a majority vote,” she said. “If that’s what he’s asking for, he’s going to have to explain why.”

During a press conference Wednesday, the governor also entertained questions on a wide variety of initiatives in his speech.

Bonds

The governor reiterated his desire to attract enough support from Republicans for a bonding package that will require two-thirds support in the Legislature in order to be placed on a statewide ballot. Baldacci remained vague on the exact size, number of proposals within the bond package and even whether the vote should be held in June or November.

Despite concerns voiced by Republicans over Maine’s fragile economy, the governor remained optimistic over the likelihood of picking up the needed GOP support.

“Different organizations have been telling me there are different Republican senators and representatives who have signed on to their bond packages,” he said. “So it’s going to be important to reach out to [Republicans].”

Davis and Bowles questioned whether the state could afford a bond initiative as large as they suspect the governor has in mind. Bowles said administration staffers already are sending the message that they would like to schedule a vote in June.

“We will support a responsible bond package with a single question that can be sent out to voters in November,” Bowles said. “The administration has been trying to make a case for a June bond, but there’s nothing else on the ballot in June which would create unnecessary expense for municipalities and probably result in a light turnout.”

“We’re going to look at what he’s got to say with some skepticism and see where we go from there,” Davis said. “Bonds are borrowing, and they have to be paid back. But I’m not going to say that we’d be opposed to a bond package.”

Budget discussions

Lawmakers had yet to see an actual budget bill Wednesday, but Republicans were already unhappy with Baldacci’s plan to seek a $250 million loan on future state lottery revenues and the imposition of some hefty fines and new fees. Bowles said House Republicans were suspicious of the lottery plan which he said would forfeit a potential $150 million in future revenues for the sake of balancing Baldacci’s current budget priorities.

“This is another example of mortgaging our children’s future by refusing to deal with unsustainable levels of government spending,” he said.

Davis said Baldacci must do more to shrink the size and expense of state government in the budget. He scoffed at the governor’s plan to eliminate about 30 jobs from the state payroll, claiming the number was insignificant when compared to as many as 600 state positions that, although now vacant, remain funded in the budget.

“Why don’t we just bring the size of everything down and bring the spending down instead of looking for ways to get more money?” he asked.

Baldacci said he would prefer that, rather than focusing on the issues that separate them, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle first would consider Mainers serving in the military who have been asked to put their lives on the line.

“I’ve had to make some pretty difficult phone calls, and if those in the military can do what they’re doing, it seems that when we’re in this building working for the same people we ought to put their interests first,” he said. “So I’m asking everybody to work together.”

Washington County voc ed

Baldacci was pleased that Republicans and Democrats united to establish a vocational education high school plan for Washington County, the only region in the state that does not host a technical high school. Rep. Eddie Dugay, D-Cherryfield, and Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, worked with local school superintendents Down East to secure acreage for the school in Jonesboro. Baldacci plans to direct as much as $10 million in state funding – probably through a bond – for the project.

“We’re really excited about this,” Dugay said. “The school is definitely needed.”

“It’s something that we’ve been talking with the governor about along with some of the superintendents from Washington County,” Raye said. “It certainly will be welcome, especially given the hard hit that we’ve taken [in education cutbacks] under LD 1.”

Baldacci said the new school was a classic example of people working at the local level to improve the economic climate of the region, In the future, he said, more Washington County students will have viable trades that are desperately needed in the area which he said suffers from a skilled labor shortage.

“I’m very much committed to this because I want to see Washington County prosper,” Baldacci said.

Connect Maine

The governor and the Public Advocate’s Office at the Maine Public Utilities Commission wasted no time Wednesday in developing information for Baldacci’s “Connect Maine” initiative which is supposed to result in statewide cellular phone service by 2008 and statewide high-speed Internet service by 2010.

“If we’re going to continue to grow Maine and Maine is going to be a place where people can find opportunities to do business around the world, they’ve got to be able to communicate and we need to make sure it’s universal throughout the state,” Baldacci said.

As a result, those with access to the Internet are being encouraged to log on to http://www.state.me.us/meopa/indexpages/cellular.html where they can leave information about where cell phone communications are lacking.

“We want to hear from people,” Baldacci said. “We want to know where the dead zones are. I’ll be driving this pretty hard.”

The big 5-0

The governor told reporters he was probably in for some serious payback this Sunday when he celebrates his 50th birthday. After directing some considerable ribbing toward his slightly older brothers, Peter and Bob, the governor was preparing for the inevitable retaliation. As a result, he said, he would be doing his best to maintain a low profile this weekend.

“We’re trying to play it down, not play it up,” Baldacci said.