Maine is facing a serious revenue gap this year and into the foreseeable future, but instead of addressing the problem, our Legislature is bickering over a cameraman.

The Democratic Party hired a “tracker” cameraman months ago to record all of Gov. Paul LePage’s public events. According to LePage, he didn’t complain about the camera until the tracker recorded a private conversation he had at an event with an elderly Maine veteran on Veterans Day. That was it for him, as he said he felt the Dems were using people “to score political points.” In response, he has now refused to meet with party leaders.

All this while the state Revenue Forecasting Committee says state revenues are lagging behind estimates by $35.5 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and by $128 million during the two-year budget cycle, which starts next July 1, according to an Associated Press report.

It’s true that anyone has a right to videotape public political events, and if the governor is uncomfortable with video cameras, that’s simply too bad. As a public official, he’s going to have to get used to it in this age of YouTube and Facebook.

But the camera itself isn’t really the problem here.

For the Democratic Party to have hired someone to record the governor’s every public statement at every event is an unnecessarily aggressive move that fosters bad blood. Having a tracker in place to film the governor every time he steps out sends a message that the party does not trust him and is eagerly looming in the hopes of catching him in a lie, misstatement, gaffe or other misstep.

That’s no way to foster bipartisanship, and while we don’t blame the governor for being upset with this approach, it’s still not a good enough reason for him to deny Democrats a meeting on looming budget issues.

LePage isn’t the first to have a tracker on his heels, and the campaigns of politicians from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to U.S. Sen.-elect Angus King have complained that their very nature is “lousy” and “demeans the political process.” We agree. It’s a juvenile attempt to catch a “gotcha” instance on tape to use in attacks against the “other guy.”

While this type of approach might be understandable during a campaign, such divisive behavior has no place in the halls of a sitting government body.

One party cannot control what the other does in bad taste, however, and in the meantime, Maine’s business needs to get done. In the interest of doing what’s best for the state and its taxpayers, we urge the Democrats to turn off the cameras, sit down with the governor in good faith and get involved in developing a plan to address the fiscal problem we find ourselves facing.

Now, that would be worth filming.

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Today’s editorial was written by Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.