In every session of the Legislature, there are good bills that don’t quite make it, but could have if they’d gotten a bigger push. One of them was LD 1297, which proposed a constitutional amendment to allow direct election of some of Maine’s most important officials – the attorney general, treasurer, and secretary of state.

Sponsored by Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, the bill would have provided Maine voters what almost every other state already has – a choice.

Why do Mainers not have that choice? In a word, history. When the state constitution was adopted, indirect elections through the Legislature were commonplace. Many states used this system; until the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1913, state legislatures chose U.S. senators – a system widely regarded as corrupt.

Back then, direct primaries to choose presidential nominees were unknown, and most states also entrusted political parties with choosing candidates for state, county and municipal offices, without voter input.

It would have been appropriate, exactly one century later, for our lawmakers to finally turn this responsibility over the people, but they did not. Constitutional amendments require two-thirds of both House and Senate, and this one didn’t come close, though it did muster nearly a majority in the Senate, which rejected it 18-16. The House turned it down, 79-59.

You might have expected a different result after the State and Local Government Committee vote, which offered a rousing 10-2 endorsement.

Cushing told the committee that the vast majority of states already use direct elections. Only three states have other methods to choose their attorney general. Three states do use legislative election for the treasurer and secretary of state, while a slightly higher number allow governors to appoint. But there’s no other state in which lawmakers elect all three.

As Cushing testified, the case for a popularly election AG is particularly strong: “When you consider that our Attorney General is the chief attorney for the state, whose office is handling both prosecutions of major crimes, representation of the state in court and offering many rulings and opinions, does it not make sense that people want a say?”

But the truth is that the Legislature will never surrender this power without substantive persuasion; people with power almost never do. You can gauge that tendency by looking at what members of State and Local Government did when the bill reached the floor.

Sens. Colleen Lachowicz and Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, both Democrats, voted for the amendment in committee, but opposed it on the floor. In general, Democrats are reluctant to vote for these measures – and there have been many – because they usually control the Legislature, and decide who gets these jobs. Hint: Mostly former legislators.

In fact, in the entire Democratic Senate caucus, only Majority Leader Seth Goodall voted in favor – the way most of his constituents would have preferred.

For I have no doubt whatsoever that if this amendment ever turned up on the ballot, voters would approve it overwhelmingly. Sen. Emily Cain (D-Orono) may have told one of the biggest whoppers of the session when she said, “Maine doesn’t need more elections.”

It doesn’t? In fact, because the Legislature hogs this responsibility, we have fewer elections than any other state – which hurts us, particularly when we’re choosing a governor.

In most states, no one gets elected to the top job with having served in one of these three offices, or as lieutenant governor – an office in 43 states, but not Maine.

Vermont is a good example. Its governors are thoroughly vetted and widely respected – as much for Republicans like Jim Douglas, a college classmate of mine, as for Democrats like Howard Dean, who emerged as John Kerry’s main challenger for the 2004 presidential nomination.

Though the Maine governorship is a powerful office, our choice of candidates is, shall we say, less than ideal. Sometimes we get lucky, as we did with Angus King – at the time, a small businessman and television talk show host with no political experience. More often, we don’t.

What would finally awaken the Legislature from its dogmatic slumber could be the next round of candidates for governor in 2014. We want our governor to be above the fray, able to talk with members of both parties, and to represent the people honorably on the broader stage of the region and nation.

What better way to demonstrate that ability than by advocating as a candidate – and then insisting on in office – that we grant the people the right to choose their leaders? Then the next version of LD 1279 might actually make it.

Douglas Rooks is a former daily and weekly newspaper editor who has covered the State House for 28 years. He can be reached at [email protected].