LEWISTON – The Maine State Chamber of Commerce will officially take sides in the TABOR debate today.

What’s not clear is which side.

Supporters of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, however, are confident they know what the score is and are trying to get out in front of the announcement.

The chamber says it will go public at 2 p.m. today at the Ware Street Inn in Lewiston. A similar event will be held earlier in the day in Bangor.

Mary Adams, the leading advocate for TABOR, issued a stinging rebuke to the chamber in a news release Tuesday.

“While small businesses throughout Maine continue to line up in support of the Maine Taxpayer Bill of Rights, the Maine State Chamber of Commerce continues on as the handmaiden for Big Government,” Adams wrote.

Dana Connors, president of the state chamber, would not reveal the organization’s position on Tuesday.

“We are going to make the announcement tomorrow,” Connors said. “I’m not going to, in advance, indicate what our position is.”

Roy Lenardson, a consultant for the TABOR campaign, said that he was certain of the chamber’s position, which was voted on Monday night. He also said that it represents a change in direction for the group.

“At one point, they were going to support it,” Lenardson said. “No question about it. They were going to support it.”

The chamber has been talking with other groups in the state to develop an alternative to TABOR.

“We have a problem with … guys sitting in a closed room in Augusta and trying to undermine the public referendum process,” Lenardson said. “Their last solution was L.D. 1, 111 pages of gobbledygook that failed. It was going to be historic tax relief. I’m not sure if anybody in Lewiston would buy that.”

According to Connors, the chamber has spent an enormous amount of time on the TABOR question and has developed a carefully considered position.

TABOR, which will appear on November’s ballot as Question 1, would place strict taxation and spending limitations on state and local governments and require a two-stage override process to exceed the limits. First, the governing body would have to approve of the override by a two-thirds vote and then it would be sent to voters in a referendum.

“The state chamber might think of renaming their organization the Maine State Chamber of Government,” Adams said. “These are big businesses getting into bed with big government once again.”

Also on Tuesday, the National Federation of Independent Business/Maine announced that it had endorsed TABOR. The NFIB/Maine says it represents 4,000 small and independent businesses in Maine.

“Our members’ support is driven by a mixed sense of frustration and optimism,” said state director David Clough in a news release.

The Maine Sunday Telegram, the largest newspaper in the state, endorsed TABOR on Sunday.