PORTLAND (AP) – Two years after leaving office, former Gov. Angus King is trying to balance a desire to avoid the limelight with the hope of using his lingering political influence to effect change.

King says he is careful about choosing the issues on which he takes a public stance. He worries about becoming “the governor who never left” and says he isn’t pining for higher political office.

King spoke out last week at a state conference on urban sprawl because he believes it threatens Maine’s future. He publicly opposed the casino referendum in 2003, and the Palesky tax-cap initiative this year. And he campaigned for John Kerry this fall, after voting for President Bush in 2000.

“There was nothing in that for me,” says King. “But if I felt the country was moving in the wrong direction and I had even a tiny influence on (the election), I didn’t want to wake up the next morning and think, Gee, I wish I had done something.’ “

Few Mainers expected the popular, two-term independent to drop out of sight after he left office. And King makes no apologies for going public with his feelings on issues involving politics and public policy.

“I didn’t check my affection for Maine at the door when I left the State House,” he said. “I’m just trying to make a contribution in a different way. I’ve been on the winning side of things and I’ve been on the losing side. I’m just trying to call em like I see em.”

King said he chooses his issues carefully. His time is fairly limited, since he traded one job for several. He says he avoids commenting publicly on Gov. John Baldacci’s administration and State House issues in general.

That’s one reason he took his family on a five-month, cross-country road trip when he left office.

“He just wanted to get out of the way of the new governor,” says Dennis Bailey, a media consultant who was King’s press secretary for several years. “He’s still careful not to second guess him . . . He doesn’t want the governor to feel like he’s looking over his shoulder.”

King said he doesn’t want to be “a constant presence,” but believes that there are matters on which he can have an impact.

“I’m trying to find the right balance between involvement in issues that are important to the future of Maine and not being in everybody’s face,” he said.

King, 60, has been staying busy. In addition to being a lawyer and strategic consultant at Bernstein Shur Sawyer & Nelson in Portland, he’s working with Leaders LLC, a Portland firm that matches buyers and sellers of Maine businesses.

He also was a visiting fellow this fall at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He returns in January to Bowdoin College, where he teaches a course on leadership.

He also serves on various boards and heads a foundation that raises money for the school laptop computer program that his administration introduced.