As readers of this column know, I have had many complaints about the state Legislature during its last few sessions. Inaction on property tax relief was one of the major sources of my irritation, as was excess partisanship.

I, therefore, had low expectations that any meaningful property tax reform would emerge from this session of the Legislature. The very effective campaign that destroyed the Palesky initiative, I feared, would give the Legislature a false sense of security and lead to more inaction.

But I was pleasantly surprised.

Gov. Baldacci acted with decisiveness and dispatch and put forth a plan (LD 1) that was bold and sensible, bipartisan, properly skeptical of selfish interest groups, designed to help those who need it the most and established caps to reign in spending at the state, county and local levels.

Then, instead of trying to micromanage the process, Baldacci wisely stressed his core values (including a threatened veto if the Legislature tried to raise the sales or income tax) and let the process proceed. Moreover, his insistence on a time limit for the tax reform debate was absolutely critical and prevented opponents from stringing out the process until nothing was accomplished.

Also important in the mix were the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, skillfully led by Dana Conners, and other leaders of the business community, as well at the AARP, which promoted the interests of their many members with skill and dispatch. The State Planning office and the Commissioner of Education were also invaluable in helping legislators see the ramifications of each specific policy recommendation and alternatives.

But a good deal of the credit for tax reform progress has to go to the legislative leadership. Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, and Speaker of the House John Richardson, D-Brunswick, chose to lead positively and accomplished what none had been able to do previously. Edmonds and Richardson showed what can be done when legislative leadership is open, firm and outreaching.

Their first act of leadership was in appointing the 15-member Joint Select Committee on Property Reform, ably led by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Hancock, and Rep. Richard Woodbury, I-Yarmouth. Although both were only in their second term, they delivered a critical bill on time and with outstanding bipartisanship. All 15 members of the Committee deserve a great deal of credit for their perseverance and commitment to lowering property taxes.

The committee also produced what Beth Edmonds calls “a template” for future bipartisan and a middle-ground handling of pressing problems. She told me, “Legislators were ready to compromise and to face the fact that people don’t care about the particulars, they just want action.” She emphasized the need to promote good will and trust, both of which matter where the public’s interest is at stake.

On its own, the resulting legislation is noteworthy for many reasons. First, according to the Maine Taxation Bureau, it will reduce the property tax burden of the average Maine homeowner by $200 over the next two years. This may seem a modest start, but it is a definite one, and most importantly, one achieved without raising the sales and income taxes. The bill also raises the Homestead Exemption from $7,000 to $13,000, which should protect those with the lowest incomes, the working poor and retired who would have been forced to sell their homes in order to meet their property tax demands.

As a long-term check on upward property taxes, state funding of education will now reach the long-promised 55 percent in four years.

Wisely, and here we can thank the Chamber, the package puts in place spending limits for the state, counties and towns in order to underscore that government at all levels simply must do more to achieve economies of scale and effectiveness and to face the realities of our spending situation.

Most importantly of all, the process takes place gradually and at a realistic and meaningful rate rather than “all at once” – a demand that would have forced the state to raise other broad-based taxes and thus would have resulted in no net tax relief at all.

All in all, this is one of the most significant steps taken by the Legislature in the last decade and hopefully can serve as a model as to how that body can further do the people’s work.

When legislators think of themselves as holders of the public trust and not as individuals on personal or ideological missions, the people are better served. People don’t care if Republicans or Democrats or Greens do it. They don’t care whose personal agenda are advanced or curtailed. They want action and accomplishment, not anguished cries from the far right and the far left.

Gov. Baldacci, Senate President Edmonds, Speaker Richardson and chairs Damon and Woodbury have gotten us off to a fine start in 2005.

Let’s hope for all of our sakes that their “template” for action will become the rule, not the exception for future Legislative action.

Chris Potholm is professor of government at Bowdoin College, president of a national polling company and a writer, analyst and speaker on Maine’s political scene. He can be reached at The Potholm Group, 182 Hildreth Road, Harpswell, Maine 04079 or by e-mail at [email protected].