AUGUSTA – It was hard to believe Friday that only seven months ago, Republicans at the State House were taking Democrats to court in order to resolve their differences with the majority party.

The “new session, new attitude” approach promised by legislative leaders at the beginning of the session appears to have survived its first major test in the aftermath of Thursday’s majority vote on property tax relief.

Aside from some crossover votes, the two major parties largely divided over Gov. John E. Baldacci’s legislation, but there was little bitterness to be found among Republican leaders who had hoped for tougher spending caps and an accelerated schedule to reach the full 55 percent state education funding target.

And although the Republican position on the bill resulted in LD 1 receiving simple majority rather than two-thirds supermajority support, Democrats were not overly disappointed. In fact, during Friday’s bill-signing ceremony, the governor commented repeatedly on how pleased he was that both sides had “worked together for the people of Maine.”

Key legislators agreed Friday that the reluctance to retreat from bipartisanship was prompted by a combination of pragmatism and personality.

While on the campaign trail last fall, candidates heard repeated harsh criticisms over the Legislature’s failure to develop a property tax plan in the midst of a contentious, partisan session. Republicans wound up taking Democrats to court over a pay dispute stemming from their discontent about the way majority Democrats used procedural maneuvers to enact a supplemental budget on their own. The case remains unresolved in court, although a ruling is expected fairly soon according to GOP officials.

The sour sojourn continued through the summer and into the fall when GOP lawmakers refused to support the governor’s bond package that required Republican votes before it could be placed on the ballot.

Neither party desires to repeat the real or perceived failures of the last session, and a new leadership team has tried to maintain an optimistic outlook in their daily dealings. House GOP leaders David Bowles of Sanford and Josh Tardy of Newport bring a new spirit of collaboration to the legislative process that is reciprocated on the Democratic side by House Speaker John Richardson of Brunswick and Democratic floor leader Glenn Cummings of Portland.

“I think that all of us recognize the need to do something for the people of Maine; that’s why we were sent here,” Bowles said. “And even though all of us didn’t walk away with everything that we wanted (in the tax relief package), it’s historic to Republicans because it’s the first time that government has ever publicly acknowledged that we have a spending problem in Maine.”

Richardson publicly thanked Bowles for encouraging a collaborative atmosphere for discussions and engendering a spirit of trust between the parties.

“I have a great degree of respect and trust in the work that the Republican leadership does and has been doing, and I think we’re working very well and that communication between the House and Senate is much better this time,” Richardson said.

In the Senate, where some of the nastiest battles took place last year, new Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, was credited by Senate GOP leader Paul Davis of Sangerville for ushering in a new era of “civility” in the upper body.

“Everyone I talked to this year told me that they wanted me to work together with everyone and come to reasonable and decent solutions,” Edmonds said. “I value it personally – I know my caucus values it – we’ve done our best to reach out and I think we’re going to be able to keep that up.”

While compliments abounded for each other, Democrats and Republicans both remarked that the two-month study and debate on property tax relief had the unexpected effect of producing a new leader in the Legislature who has earned the admiration of both parties.

Although Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, a coach and fisherman, maintained a low-profile during his first term in the Senate, his public profile rose when he was tapped to serve as Senate chairman of the Legislature’s Committee on Property Tax Reform that crafted the bill signed by the governor Friday.

After the Friday bill-signing ceremony, Damon said he had tried hard to encourage a “team spirit” while presiding over the committee and always asked the seven Republicans and seven Democrats on the panel to “check our partisan label at the door when we came to work.”

“I lived through, sat through and was frustrated by divisiveness in the last session that I don’t want to have happen again,” Damon said. “My focus all along was to bring people together and not separate them. It wasn’t always easy, but it was successful as evidenced by the results.”

Still, as Glenn Cummings observed, the 122nd Legislature has reached the summit of a mountain with the enactment of the property tax legislation only to find a larger mountain ahead as discussions begin Monday on the governor’s $5.7 billion state budget.

“It looks like mountains beyond mountains, but I think everyone is willing to work in good faith towards two-thirds agreement on the budget and that’s the tone that’s been set,” he said.