LePage, who succeeds Democratic Gov. John Baldacci on Jan. 5, said the diverse group of volunteers will help identify skills needed by applicants for key administration positions as advisers wade through the roughly 1,000 applications that have already been submitted.

“We are looking for the best and brightest without concern about political party or labels,” LePage told a State House news conference.

The new team includes Democrats, independents and Republicans, he said. It also represents a variety of Mainers, from a carpenter, forester, and political activists to business representatives, lawyers and doctors.

Transition Team co-chair John Butera said the advisers would be broken into smaller groups taking up broad subject areas. One member, Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson, said she’ll offer advice in an area that could involve criminal justice, social services, and corrections.

Among other advisers are Bill Beardsley, one of LePage’s six GOP gubernatorial primary opponents and former Husson University president, who hopes to offer his expertise in education and energy areas. Another member is Peter Geiger, executive vice president of the business that publishes the 194-year-old “Farmer’s Almanac.”

LePage said he has not yet asked anyone occupying the roughly 150 positions he can fill in the Baldacci administration to resign, but has interviewed candidates for two positions — heads of the Conservation and the Public Safety departments. “And I’m not telling you who they are today,” he added.

Asked whether his mention of the Conservation Department implied that the new administration would not propose merging all of the state’s natural resources departments — a moneysaving plan that has come up before — LePage said no such assumption should be made.

Transition Team co-chair Tarren Bragdon said later that even if a merger would be contemplated in the future, individual commissioners of the departments of Conservation, Environmental Protection, Agriculture and other resource-based agencies would have to be appointed at least temporarily.

The transition team staff has already begun separating the applications for administration posts by levels of expertise and which jobs they are applying for, said LePage. After the list is thinned out, potential candidates will be vetted and interviews will begin, LePage said.

LePage’s appointees to his Transition Advisory team drew some criticism. Mike Tipping of the Maine People’s Alliance, a health and environmental activist group, asked for the removal of Pete Harring, a carpenter and webmaster of a pro-tea party site. Tipping contends that some of Harring’s past statements have been “immoderate.”

LePage was the tea partiers’ most favored gubernatorial candidate.

In his announcement Tuesday, LePage thanked Baldacci and his staff “for living up to my every expectation in terms of cooperation and insight. I appreciate their help.” He added that the state is well-served “by their commitment to making sure my administration gets off on the right foot.”

Baldacci could not seek re-election because of term limits.

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