Last Saturday, I headed to Lisbon for the annual Moxie Festival. This weekend-long celebration is a great Maine tradition. This year’s festival celebrated not only its namesake fizzy drink, but our servicemen and women.

During the parade, I ran into Senate Republicans Leader Garrett Mason. Lisbon is his hometown, and I was happy to give him a hug, snap a photo together and join him for a little while. I didn’t think anything of it when I posted the photo online, but lots of folks have reached out to tell me how nice it is to see two senators from different parties getting along.

To be honest, I’ve enjoyed great relationships, even friendships, with my Senate colleagues from the other party. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but that doesn’t stop us from eating lunch together, sharing a joke between sessions or working together on the issues that matter to our state.

That’s the way Maine politics is supposed to be: Regular citizens from each corner of our state run for office and go to Augusta to do the best they can to help Mainers succeed. I’m proud that in the Senate, we’ve managed to uphold that ideal and that tradition. We all fight hard for what we believe is right. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. But we do it with respect and without resorting to the kind of extremist rhetoric and political tactics that seem to have crippled Congress.

That’s why the government shutdown that occurred earlier this month is so disappointing and dangerous. I fear it could sour Maine’s political process and spoil Maine’s citizen Legislature for years to come.

On June 30, the deadline to pass the budget and avoid a shutdown, there was a compromise on the table. Republicans won the elimination of a tax on wealthy Mainers that had been approved by voters in November. Democrats won $162 million in new funding for schools, and protected Maine families from cuts to property tax relief programs, health care and rural hospitals that had been proposed by Gov. Paul LePage.

In the Senate, we all recognized that in divided government, we don’t get everything we want. We recognized that we had a responsibility to pass a budget, as required by the Maine Constitution. We knew a shutdown would hurt Maine’s economy. That’s why the Senate voted 34-1 for the compromise and against the shutdown.

Unfortunately, 60 members of the House of Representatives, emboldened by Gov. Paul LePage, didn’t do the same. They put their party and themselves ahead of the people of Maine. They forced the shutdown by blocking the budget for four days.

A state government shutdown delays or makes unavailable state services, from routine business at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to more critical programs within the Office of Child and Family Services and the Department of Labor. It leaves 12,000 Maine workers locked out of work or forced to work without pay, including state employees and contractors such as road crews. Each day of a shutdown costs the state’s economy at least $2.5 million in the form of lost wages.

During the shutdown, Democratic and Republican senators joined together in the Senate Chamber to meet Mainers affected by the shutdown. The fear in their voices was real. How long would their families endure this uncertainty as politicians in Augusta bickered?

Their stories hit home. I worked in the Department of Corrections in 1991, the last time uncontrolled partisanship caused a shutdown. My family went 16 days without income. The financial insecurity was truly scary. I was trying to manage a mortgage, a car payment and a young son at home. It was difficult to give him the summer vacation he deserved. No family should have to go through that uncertainty through no fault of their own.

All of us in elected office need to recommit ourselves to the better kind of politics that for generations made Maine famous for its commonsense leaders who understand the value of moderation and compromise. We all need to remember that our constituents, the families, small businesses and communities that make Maine great, are what matter — not our political parties or how many checkmarks are in our “win” column.

So thanks for the warm welcome in Lisbon, Sen. Mason. Let’s keep working together to maintain our camaraderie, to do right by our constituents and always remember that “compromise” isn’t a dirty word.