SOUTH PORTLAND – Most Mainers are familiar with the notion of two Maines – the rural north and the wealthier, more populous south.

South Portland Mayor James Soule proposed making it formal by calling for the city and its neighbors to secede from Maine. He described the state as an “oppressive regime” that withholds the communities’ rightful amount of state aid.

South Portland generates more than $45 million a year in sales taxes, most of it from the Maine Mall area. But the city receives about $4.1 million in state assistance for its schools – about 10 percent of the school budget, Soule said.

“The state of Maine needs South Portland more than South Portland needs the state of Maine,” Soule said in his inaugural address Monday.

A spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci described Soule’s proposal as “silly” and “counterproductive.” State Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, said she was “speechless” before describing the proposal as “shocking.”

Some of Soule’s fellow councilors were also shocked by his proposal, but they say they understand his frustration. City Councilor Linda Boudreau said she wants to have discussions with municipalities that have similar concerns before moving on to a secession campaign.

At times, Soule spoke lightheartedly about his proposal. But, he said, “I’m very serious about the need for South Portland and other municipalities to state their case for secession from the state of Maine.”

The knife cuts both ways when it comes to talk of carving away parts of Maine.

Republican Henry Joy, a state legislator from Aroostook County, made waves in the past with his proposal for a feasibility study of a secession of northern Maine. He contends forest and land regulations hamper growth in northern Maine.

Joy’s proposal in 1998 led to a detailed economic study that found that there were not two Maines, but five Maines, in terms of distinct regions. The report also included a road map for economic development in rural Maine.

“The report was typical of state reports. It was filed and put in the library, and there it sits. Nobody ever goes back there and looks at it,” he said Tuesday.