Recently, Democratic leadership in the Legislature passed an historic tax relief package that was initiated by Gov. John Baldacci. I applaud the governor and the Legislature for taking on this difficult task. While I was Speaker of the House, and during the term of numerous speakers before me, many attempts were made to bring real and sustainable property tax relief to Maine’s citizens. Unfortunately, we were never able to reach the critical mass needed to make this dream a reality. But, with the strong and courageous leadership of Gov. Baldacci, Senate President Beth Edmonds and Speaker of the House John Richardson, Maine was finally able to reach this once elusive goal.

I have been listening to many Republican pundits try to spin this as something less than the historic achievement it is. These people are playing a game of politics that for many years had been reserved for players in Washington, D.C., not the honest and hard-working members of Maine’s citizen legislature. The Politics of No does not have a place here in Maine.

Rather than rolling up their sleeves and doing the work, many are content to sit on the sidelines, making excuses for not supporting this plan rather than making sure that Maine citizens receive tax relief now.

Only 20 Republicans in the House and four in the Senate chose to side with progress instead of inaction. They are to be commended. House Minority Leaders David Bowles and Josh Tardy are foremost among them. It is unfortunate that they could not be more persuasive with other Republicans in the House. Had they been able to convince just six more of their Republican colleagues to support sustainable tax relief, Mainers would be receiving this reprieve from their tax burden today instead of this fall. It’s a shame that partisan politics has gotten in the way of providing real property tax relief to the people of Maine.

While it unfortunately will not happen immediately, we will soon have the tax relief that Maine people have been demanding for so long. Mainers will save an average of $328 or 13 percent of their property tax bills next year. This plan also sets in motion limits to the rate of growth at all levels of government. Under the new Circuit Breaker and Homestead plans, $210 million in property tax relief is available to Maine residents. That’s $87 million more in possible property tax relief than available under current law.

In fiscal year 2006, increased state education funding will make available at least $146 million in property tax relief. Most Maine towns will be able to reduce property taxes paid for education. Also, while the majority of towns receive an increase in state funding next fiscal year, not one will receive reduced funding because of this new law. That is a win-win solution for all of Maine.

I challenge those naysayers to roll up their sleeves and join our governor and the Democrats in the Legislature as they do the hard work of tackle the task of balancing the state’s budget. Instead of playing this blame game, the game of just saying no, bring some real ideas into the open. If they believe state spending is too high, find cuts, specific cuts, real cuts. It is far too easy to say someone else’s plan can do more, it is much more difficult to come up with a better plan.

As President Bush was fond of saying during the presidential debates: “It’s hard work.”

It is easy to sit at home and be an armchair quarterback; it is much more difficult to come up with real solutions to Maine’s problems.

I look forward to seeing my former colleagues from the State House live up to the legacy of the Grand Old Party left to them by Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. I look forward to seeing them help our governor and Democratic leaders in the Maine Legislature steer the ship of state instead of trying to scuttle it.

Pat Colwell is the newly elected chair of the Maine Democratic Party and is the immediate past speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.