Republicans hoping to overturn the plan to borrow $447 million to finance the state budget say they’ve raised over $60,000 and already have petitions in circulation to put a people’s veto on the ballot.

The group, under the newly formed political action committee Don’t Mortgage ME, has hired former Congressman Dave Emery to run the petition drive and help raise more money. They need a little over 50,000 signatures by June 28 and hope to raise $100,000 to fund that petition drive.

Sen. Peter Mills, R-Somerset, a chief organizer of the petition drive, said he already handed out 500 petitions at Republican caucus meetings Tuesday morning. He said a combination of paid workers and volunteers will be used to get the needed number of registered voters to sign.

Mills, whose name has been floated as a possible Republican candidate for governor, said the petition drive is not about his political future.

“I’m very genuinely concerned about this issue,” he said, calling the state’s plan to borrow to pay its bills “a tipping point in the economic history in the state of Maine.”

Asked if he was going to run for governor, Mills said, “I’ve not ruled it out, and I’ve not ruled it in. I’m not a candidate at this time.”

Gov. John Baldacci has said the Republican efforts to overturn the borrowing passed in the state budget last month are purely political and designed to weaken his chances for re-election in 2006. When asked questions at a press conference Tuesday morning about the petition drive, the governor said he was eager to move ahead and work with Republicans on bonds, tax reform and the Part 2 budget, which will include making up an $80 million shortfall in federal Medicaid funds.

“The governor is not interested in playing political games,” said his spokesperson, Lynn Kippax.

The petition drive was officially launched by a group of three Republican senators and two House members. That group includes Mills, Sen. Richard Rosen of Bucksport, Sen. Karl Turner of Cumberland, Rep. Sawin Millett of Waterford and Rep. Kevin Glynn of South Portland.

Rosen said he will be taking petitions around in his district, “going to town meetings and local gathering and going door-to-door.”

“It’s very clear from the public’s reaction that this is not the four or five of us who are driving this,” Rosen said. “This is a grassroots reaction and people are looking for a way to express their opposition to the borrowing.”

The actual petition language reads: “Do you want to reject that part of the state budget authorizing bonds of up to $410 million to fund pension costs, to be repaid from lottery, slot machine and other funds?”

The $447 million approved in the state budget – $37 million of which will be used to cover the administrative costs of floating the bonds – will help pay down the debt in the state’s retirement system and pay for increased aid to education, demanded by voters in a referendum last June. The budget, passed with the support of only one Republican in the Legislature, represents the first time the state has borrowed to pay its day-to-day operating expenses. Because the borrowing is being done with revenue bonds and not general obligation bonds, there is no requirement that they first be approved by the voters.

The petition drive to put the bonds on the ballot is the second people’s veto campaign that has been launched this year. The Christian Civic League is looking to overturn the Legislature’s approval of a bill that adds “sexual orientation” to the classes covered by the Maine Human Rights Act.

Mills admitted there may be some confusion among the public with two people’s veto petition drives going on simultaneously.

“There are volunteers circulating both petitions,” he said. “There is no affiliation” between the two groups and “that’s mutual.”

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