After their historic wins in November, the Republicans in Maine are hitting the ground running.

From the Portland Press Herald:

Maine’s first Republican-majority Legislature in decades convenes this week for the 2011-12 session, beginning with ceremonial swearing-in ceremonies mixed with serious business.

Newly elected House and Senate members will be sworn in Wednesday morning, after two days of preliminary gatherings to acquaint members with their roles for a session that will take a new political direction, and to nominate candidates for attorney general, treasurer and secretary of state.

“The transition from Democratic control of the Legislature to Republican control represents a dramatic change in state government,” Republican Rep. Robert Nutting, the presumptive speaker, said in a radio address leading up to the week’s events. “It means Mainers will see a new philosophy of governing – a pro-growth and pro-freedom approach to get Maine’s economy moving again.”

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Gains by Republicans mean there is going to be a new look legislature in Washington state.

From SeattlePI:

Republican gains, Democratic leadership shake-ups and a conservative fiscal mandate from voters will shape the way Washington’s new-look Legislature deals with its most significant budget deficit yet.

That work could start early next month with a possible special legislative session to rebalance the current budget. Another round of diminished tax forecasts has plunged the state’s books back into the red, and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire appears to be nearly out of options for fixing things within her limited authority.

January’s regularly scheduled 105-day session also provides no respite, with lawmakers staring at an estimated $5.7 billion deficit in the roughly $33 billion two-year general fund.

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From Helenair.com:

Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and top incoming Republican legislative leaders pledged to work with each other during the 2011 session and fully consider each other’s proposals.

Schweitzer invited incoming Senate President Jim Peterson, R-Buffalo, and House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, to meet with him, and they took him up on it. Republicans will have a 68-32 majority over Democrats in the House and a 28-22 margin in the Senate.

The meeting was friendly, with each side making its points. All three men are farmer-ranchers and Montana State University graduates so they basked a little in the Bobcats’ football victory over the University of Montana Saturday before getting down to business.

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The seat was won by a Republican who passed away before election day. The sitting Democrat Representative who was term limited, has decided to step down in January despite an opinion from the Democrat Attorney General that he could stay until 2012, allowing the Governor to call for a special election.

From TalkBusiness.net:

David Goins with our content partner, Fox 16 News, reports that Rep. Rick Saunders says he’ll vacate the legislative seat in January 2011 when his term expires.

At that time, Gov. Mike Beebe can call a special election to fill the vacancy in House District 24 created by the election of Republican Keith Crass, who died unexpectedly shortly before Election Day. Crass still received the majority of the votes for the House seat.

The dates for a special election are likely to leave the seat unfilled for the majority of the 88th General Assembly, which convenes in January 2011.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel opined that Saunders, a Democrat, could hold the seat until the 2012 general election, even though he was term-limited.

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