WINDHAM – Bill Diamond, a Democrat from Windham, has served in the Maine Senate since 2004. As a result of term limits, which hold legislators to four consecutive two-year terms, the former Windham Field-Allen School principal is stepping down at the session’s end in December.

Diamond, who ran a security company and The Suburban News newspaper based in Windham prior to his time in Augusta, said he has no plans to run for higher office, and instead will pursue business and a book tour. And, contrary to rumors that arose when U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe announced her withdrawal plans recently, he had no intention to run for U.S. House.

“I’d rather eat a concrete sandwich than run for Congress,” Diamond said. “I ran for House in 1994 and I realized halfway through that campaign that I really didn’t want to leave Maine and I wondered what the heck I was doing in that race, but it cleared my vision on that, and that was good.”

Diamond isn’t running for the Maine House, either. Republican Gary Plummer, who is running for Diamond’s Senate spot, is term-limited out of the District 111 seat. Diamond could have submitted papers for District 111, but decided against it.

“Gary Plummer’s seat was an option, but I decided not to do that,” Diamond said. “I think term limits by its very nature was to ask people to take a break and that’s what I’m going to do.”

In a previous interview, Diamond indicated he may be interested in holding local office, such as a Town Council seat. However, with other plans in mind, that’s out, as well.

“I can’t imagine I’d ever do that, because it’s something where I don’t think I have the skills to do a Town Council seat, frankly,” he said. “I think I’m better suited for the state side as opposed to the local. I think it takes a special person to do that and I give them all the credit.”

What he is going to do post-Senate is tri-fold. Using knowledge gained in his years on the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee and oversight of the Maine Sex Offender Registry, he’s recently finished writing a book, “The Innocent and the Evil,” which will be published in April. He plans a book tour.

He’s also recently launched two new businesses: All Med Staffing, which provides medical care professionals such as CNAs and nurses on a per diem basis, and Development and Construction Advisors, which provides advice to people who are considering developing commercial buildings.

The medical staffing venture is with Windham resident Ray Roux, who was a partner with Diamond in The Suburban News and also bought Suburban Security from Diamond. (In 2003, Current Publishing purchased The Suburban News.) The part-time staffing concept is similar to Suburban Security, which provides flaggers for road construction projects.

For the development consultancy, Diamond is partnering with David Cook, president of Allied Cook Construction, whose father built the Maine Mall.

“David brings building expertise and I bring how to deal with state and local governments, how to get through the permitting process,” Diamond explained.

While soon to be out of public service, Diamond, a former Maine secretary of state, says he’s had a good run.

“It’s been wonderful. I totally loved it. I loved working for the people and it allowed me to do things back home that I couldn’t have been able to do without having the name ‘Senator,’” he said. “I think that’s been a big, big help, even things like Windham Neighbors Helping Neighbors. Having ‘Senator’ as a title really cuts through red tape and gets things done. So, that’s really been rewarding.”