Every year after an election, no matter which party wins, the talk in Augusta and Washington turns to bipartisanship. Everyone claims to hear the electorate’s disdain for bickering and they are finally going to work together to solve problems.

The fact is that once the honeymoon period is over bipartisanship flies out the window. It doesn’t matter which party is in control. The only solution is to force both parties to work together.

During the rancorous debate about revenue restrictions (TABOR) last year there was a lot of hand wringing about the consequences of it from Maine Municipal Association, Maine Education Association, and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. These groups joined together and said they had a better way.

While everyone was anxious to see the details of the plan, I believe the public placed a lot of their faith in thinking there really was going to be a plan. It allowed them to vote against TABOR, knowing deep down that something needed to be done to lower Maine’s tax burden. They overlooked the history of failure these organizations have had in Augusta trying to reduce taxes, but it gave them hope that something new was in the works.

The major piece to the plan was to change the Joint Rules of the Legislature. The Joint Rules define how the chambers are operated. They take precedence over any statute concerning operation of the body adopted by a previous legislature. There also happen to be House Rules and Senate Rules. They are adopted at the beginning of each legislative session for the ensuing two-year term.

In the first three weeks, rules are adopted by a simple majority vote. After the third Friday in January it then requires a two-thirds vote. Remember this deadline. This is important to know as I try to clarify what I believe is going on. During each session, a rules committee is formed early on to see if any rules need to be amended, deleted, or any new rule needs adoption.

We all know what happened in November. TABOR was defeated and a large Democrat majority was elected. Bipartisan was the buzzword of the day as I mentioned earlier and yes, everyone from the governor on down heard the message of lower taxes. According to the aforementioned organizations they had the solution. Their solution was to install a Joint Rule on the Legislature that would require a two-thirds override vote for the Legislature to exceed the LD 1 spending limits. This is a simple idea with major implications. It actually had more power than any statute because it would require a two-thirds vote to change it after adoption so it could not be easily avoided.

I thought it was a pretty ingenious way to stop some of the runaway spending especially seeing the makeup of the Legislature. I thought to myself that with the continuing love fest that was happening it would surely pass. The Democrats were assuring me that it was going to happen. Since everyone heard the message they could really make progress on reducing state spending. I was titillating with excitement for about five seconds. I then understood what was really going to happen.

One of the inside moves that happens in a legislature is for one chamber to be the good cop and for the other chamber to play the bad cop. We all know that adage. In this scenario the Senate is playing the role of the good cop. A unanimous vote of the Senate supporting the rule change and everybody was happy. Isn’t that great! It then went to the House where the Speaker was talking a wonderful bipartisan message. Guess who is playing the bad cop? The Democrats have asked for an opinion from the Attorney General asking about the constitutionality of such a rule.

Do the Democrats really think we are all that dumb? It is not even close to being a concern since the rules reflect the operations of the bodies. If you read this far then you know that the deadline for changing the rules easily is next Friday. What does asking for an opinion do? It delays action on the motion of a rule change and the nearer the deadline approaches the easier it becomes to stall until the rule change fails.

How in good conscience could this Legislature avoid adopting such a simple rule change? They say they all heard the message of the voters. Every municipality is living under the spending restrictions of LD 1 except for the Legislature, who exempted themselves. People should be outraged. I urge anyone that has received this message to call their Representative and ask them to support Joint Rule 219.

The symbolism of this vote will go a long way toward true bipartisanship, and many good things could happen in the forthcoming months of this session. If the rule change fails, then we know that words of a bipartisan new day were hollow and tax relief is never going to happen. Let’s hold everyone accountable.

I will post the rule change below for your review. It does have some concerns from me because of the broad language. At this point it is about the body agreeing to it and the message it would send that there is hope. If it fails in the House, there are other parliamentary maneuvers that may happen, but I will talk about those after next Friday. The deadline is approaching so please let your concern be heard.

“ORDERED, the House concurring, that the Joint Rules be amended by adding a new Joint Rule 219 to read:

Rule 219. Legislation that exceeds spending limitations.

Any legislation that exceeds the spending limitations established under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 5, section 1534 must be proposed in a separate measure that addresses the excess amount solely and that may be enacted only by a 2/3 vote of the elected members of each chamber.

This rule expires Dec. 2, 2008.”

Joseph Bruno is chairman of the Maine Republican Party. He also serves on the town of Raymond’s Board of Selectmen.