AUGUSTA (AP) – Four months after being sworn in and halfway through this year’s legislative session, Maine Republicans outlined their priorities Thursday using a venue outside the State House as their backdrop.

Gathering in a small waterfront park along the Kennebec River in downtown Augusta, GOP House and Senate leaders called for smaller government and lower taxes while saying they would also protect the needy and invest in Maine’s youth.

Senate Minority Leader Kevin Raye of Perry said Republicans have spent months soul-searching since their losses in last November’s elections and want to kick off a new era of communicating with the public. Democrats boosted their numbers in the 151-member House from 90 to 95 and in the 35-member Senate from 18 to 20.

Raye also said the outdoor setting of the news conference was symbolic.

“Maine Republicans have been on the outside looking in for a long time in Augusta,” he said.

Democrats have been on a winning streak in general elections for the House since 1974. Republicans have held the Senate outright for only one two-year period since 1982.

Currently, Democrats hold the governorship and both chambers of the Legislature with a 20-15 majority in the Senate and a 95-55 edge in the House, where there also is one independent.

“We understand we don’t control the agenda,” House Minority Leader Josh Tardy of Newport told reporters, but said Republicans hope to work constructively with Democrats to try to incorporate some of their ideas into legislation.

Tardy highlighted a handful of Republican-sponsored measures that he said demonstrate GOP principles and priorities, including one to reduce the income tax and another to overhaul the welfare system.

A third proposal he cited would require state employees, including legislators, to pay a portion of their health insurance costs and a fourth would allow Maine residents to purchase health insurance from out-of-state insurers.

Tardy also touted a bill to promote the teaching of domestic and consumer skills.

Bottom line, said Raye, “we need to do a better job of electing Republicans.”

Democratic House Speaker Hannah Pingree of North Haven said minority party lawmakers actively participate in committee deliberations and voting, are fully involved in legislative budget negotiations and will have a big say in how the Legislature handles major borrowing proposals.

“I definitely feel that Republicans and bipartisanship are alive and well in the Legislature,” Pingree said, adding that she hoped GOP lawmakers would line up behind a Democratic plan for overhauling the state tax code.

The plan calls for lowering the income tax rate and applying the state sales tax to a broader array of goods and services.

As of Thursday, 1,455 legislative bills have been printed – more than 99 percent of the expected total – and just over half have already been voted on in committee. This year’s legislative session is due to conclude by mid-June.

AP-ES-04-09-09 1535EDT

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