AUGUSTA (AP) – Saying their action is prompted by the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling case in Washington, Democratic legislative leaders said Tuesday they will assemble a panel to see whether adequate safeguards against conflicts of interest are in place in the State House.

“We are a citizen Legislature,” said House Speaker John Richardson, who made the announcement with Senate President Beth Edmonds during an informal briefing. “We will be in a position to face ethical conflicts from time to time.”

Richardson said the study in Maine should examine the role of the state’s existing ethics oversight commission, whether Maine’s ethics laws should be strengthened, and whether legislators get sufficient training on how to avoid ethical breaches.

A Republican leader said he welcomes the review.

“I’m encouraged that the Democrats through their presiding officers are following the lead of congressional Republicans” in pursuing lobbying ethics reforms, said House GOP Leader Josh Tardy of Newport.

Richardson, a Democrat from Brunswick, said the planned study is prompted by the Abramoff scandal, and not a recent case in Maine involving a House member. “I think the issue is what’s going on at the national level,” the speaker said.

Abramoff was a top fundraiser for President Bush’s re-election campaign who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion charges in an influence-peddling scandal. The case has prompted calls for Bush to disclose White House contacts with Abramoff.

Abramoff’s relationship with Republicans will be an issue in this year’s congressional campaign, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean has said.

In Augusta, Richardson said the mission of the new ethics advisory panel will become clear as its membership is disclosed. He said the panel will be free to examine a range of issues, including political action committees which are run by legislative leaders of both parties.

Tardy said the lobbying issues at the national level “are absolutely distinct” from what happens in Maine, but it can’t hurt to look at state ethical issues.

One issue the Republican would like to see raised is increasing the level of scrutiny over lobbying by nonprofits, he said. The legal requirements for corporate and nonprofit lobbyists are the same, according to the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

Edmonds, D-Freeport, said an important issue for the panel to consider is when a lawmaker is obliged to vote on a bill that affects his or her employer. Members of Maine’s part-time Legislature are often faced with those decisions because most of them work off-session.

“The public needs to understand the bind a legislator is in,” said Edmonds.

Richardson said the planned study was not prompted by a recent case in which Rep. Thomas Saviello, an employee of International Paper Co., engaged in discussions with state officials, I.P. and another paper company about water pollution regulations.

Saviello, an independent from Wilton, asked the ethics commission to be reassigned from the Natural Resources Committee pending an investigation by the state into the water-pollution discussions.

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