Maine law doesn’t address whether a state senator can also be a paid lobbyist, and there’s a good reason for that: no one has had the audacity to ask.

Now that Sen. David Trahan has raised the issue, the resounding answer should be “no.”

Trahan, R-Waldoboro, a longtime member of the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, is also interested in becoming the next executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.

The group approached him after former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap decided he didn’t want the position after only six months on the job.

Dunlap told writer Douglas Rooks for an article in Saturday’s Sun Journal that the job of lobbying for Maine’s sportsmen was overwhelming.

“I took the job in January and, by May, I had taken exactly one day off — Easter,” he told Rooks.

Now, however, he’s mulling a job that would likely be just as grueling, challenging U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe in next year’s election.

His predecessor, Tim Bell, resigned after the SAM board refused to hire another lobbyist to help him out.

George Smith, meanwhile, spent 18 years stalking the halls of the State House and was renowned for his dogged pursuit of his organization’s goals.

Officially, the SAM director’s duties are split between administration of the organization and lobbying, but there is no doubt that lobbying and raising money are the director’s chief duties.

That means long hours either meeting with sportsmen, testifying at hearings, helping to draft legislation and buttonholing legislators on pending legislation.

Now Trahan wonders aloud whether he can be a paid lobbyist and still work as a  senator until the next legislative session begins in January.

Which strikes us as an obvious conflict of interest. Maine law, however, doesn’t address the issue specifically.

Of interest, however, are federal rules on the subject. Members of Congress can not only not work as lobbyists, they must wait one year after leaving office to lobby their colleagues.

Over the past decade, 43 percent of congressmen have become lobbyists after leaving office.

A variety of former legislators have also worked as lobbyists.

It is a tremendous advantage to have spent years in the Legislature getting to know your fellow legislators on a first-name basis.

That kind of familiarity opens doors and gets telephone calls answered. It is far easier to get face time with an old acquaintance than a stranger.

An even bigger advantage would be holding office, setting the agenda for committee meetings and working on subcommittees.

Allowing Trahan to work both sides of issues, even temporarily, would likely open a Pandora’s box of problems.

Trahan points out that other legislators serve on nonprofit groups and commissions, and he’s right.

But few of those groups hold as much sway in Augusta.

It is admirable that Trahan wants to finish his term and represent his constituents. But the time has come for him to choose between his new job and elective office.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.