Having stripped Republicans of their ability to influence the budget this session, majority Democrats now seem surprised that a GOP group has turned to the public for help. Amending a budget through citizen’s initiative, as the group proposes, is about the least-efficient way to conduct the state’s business, but the tactic was brought about in this case by a Democratic miscalculation.

The Republicans want reconsideration of a line in the budget that would borrow $447 million over 14 years to pay for state pension liability and ongoing pension costs and add $66 million to a rainy day fund. They wanted reconsideration before the budget was passed, barely and by simple majority, late last month. You may think that it is merely too bad they didn’t get what they wanted in the budget and they should accept it and move on. But that ignores the way Maine’s legislative process is supposed to work.

In brief, lawmakers are expected to pass the budget in the spring by a two-thirds vote so that it can go into effect immediately, in time for the next fiscal year starting July 1. If lawmakers approve a bill by only simple majority, it does not go into effect for 90 days. Democrats have gotten around the two-thirds vote provision by passing the budget with a simple majority, ending the session early, before much of the work has been done, and starting the 90-day clock to that the budget bill is in effect by July 1. To complete the rest of their work, the governor must then pretend some “extraordinary occasion” has occurred, according to the standard in the state constitution, and call lawmakers back into session.

The reason for wanting a two-thirds vote on the budget is clear enough – that level of support provides a mandate for whatever actions the state takes. Especially since both houses of the Legislature have become closely divided, the supermajority assures that a bipartisan agreement is reached and neither party can claim it was excluded.

The Legislature is in special session now, and, with the citizen’s initiative, something special really has happened, making an honest man of the governor. Republicans are fighting back by asking the public the dangerous question of whether they think it is a good idea to borrow the $447 million as part of the budget process. The governor is in trouble if he lets this question get even as far as having the petition’s required 50,000 signatures certified because that would represent a significant rebuke to his policies.

The initiative must gather the signatures by the end of June to appear on the November ballot. It would not stop the budget from going into effect in July; it wouldn’t have any immediate effect on spending. If passed, however it would represent the equivalent of

a significant revenue shortfall in the budget – reason enough to avoid a vote.

One other point: The Republicans who brought the initiative – Peter Mills of Cornville, Richard Rosen of Bucksport, Karl Turner of Cumberland, Sawin Millet of Waterford – are from the party’s moderate, number-crunching policy wing. They aren’t ideologues. Several of them were willing to support a temporary sales tax increase to avoid the borrowing plan and its interest. If Democrats cannot find agreement with this group, they are cutting off any chance at negotiation except among themselves.

That’s not the way the budget process is supposed to work, but it is why initiatives such as this one appear inconveniently.