AUGUSTA (AP) – With the NCAA basketball tournament under way, Gov. John Baldacci said Maine’s own political March Madness is playing out in the State House, but the stakes are much greater than winning or losing a sports championship.

The Legislature has an opportunity “to do great things and to lay the foundation for a better tomorrow,” Baldacci said in a text of his second weekly radio address carried over radio stations and Web sites. But he said talk in the Legislature has dwelled on what can pass instead of what should pass.

“Politics and dealmaking threaten to derail our state’s chances at a dream year,” Baldacci said.

The Democratic governor pledged to continue pushing hard for education reforms that include school district consolidation and are designed to provide property tax relief.

He also previewed his planned Monday announcement of a bond issue package, which he said will focus on education, business, job growth, quality places and transportation.

Noting that bond issues require a two-thirds legislative vote of approval in order to be sent to voters, Baldacci took a verbal swipe at lawmakers “driven by ideology and political gain” who have refused to give voters a chance to decide on long-term borrowing proposals for two years.

“March Madness would take a whole new meaning if we allow bickering and ideological zeal to block meaningful investment in our future,” Baldacci said. “It’s my hope that the madness will be left on the hardwood courts and not find its way into the halls of the State House. Unlike the tournament, this is no game.”

In the Republican response, Sen. Christine Savage of Union also gave a glimpse of her party’s borrowing priorities and highlighted issues in the coming debate.

Of the $200 million in bonding proposed by GOP leaders, $180 million would go to repairs of roads and bridges and $20 million to improve sewer systems and water quality.

“Once this separate investment is established, Republicans will consider lower-priority bonding,” said Savage, a 10-year member of the Transportation Committee.

Savage said recent bond packages have combined necessary public safety investment with lower priority proposals, forcing legislators to make an all-or-nothing choice.

“Maine’s infrastructure was hijacked,” Savage said in her prepared response.

Savage said Republicans are prepared to take swift action to improve roads, bridges, sewer and water systems amid an “infrastructure crisis” in the state.

“Our citizens’ safety cannot be held hostage by negotiations for a wish list of lower priority proposals,” she said.

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