AUGUSTA (AP) – The Baldacci administration shares the view of Maine’s top law enforcement officer that a tax cap initiative awaiting a statewide vote runs counter in at least some parts to the Constitution of Maine, the governor’s chief legal adviser said Thursday.

“We agree with the attorney general’s office that there are fundamental constitutional flaws in the bill,” gubernatorial counsel Kurt Adams said.

Adams summed up the administration’s position a day after Attorney General Steven Rowe made his own presentation to the legislative committee reviewing a proposal that was the subject of a successful petition drive and is backed by the Maine Taxpayers Action Network and its president, Carol Palesky.

Rowe focused on constitutional issues of just value and unequal apportionment of taxes under the proposal to cap property taxes at $10 per $1,000 of assessed value, based on values in 1996-97, according to the House chairman of the Taxation Committee, Democratic Rep. David Lemoine of Old Orchard Beach.

Critics of the initiative suggest that the initiative would fail to meet state constitutional standards requiring that property taxes be based on market value and that all property be treated the same.

Palesky, who attended the committee session Wednesday, asserted that a similar tax cap plan enacted two decades ago in California had withstood review.

Echoing the widespread view of others, she said the citizen initiative would undoubtedly be put up for a referendum vote.

A written analysis from the attorney general’s office is expected next week. Members of the Taxation panel have expressed interest in seeking a state supreme court advisory.

Adams suggested Thursday it would be up to the Legislature to decide whether to approach the law court.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville, said he too believed portions of the pending initiative would be unconstitutional – “That doesn’t mean that all of it is unconstitutional. In fact, I don’t think all of it is” – but that an advisory court opinion would be only that, with “no force of law.”

Looking toward the debate of a referendum campaign, he added, “from a political standpoint, there may be value in that.”

AP-ES-03-18-04 1425EST

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