One of the fundamental bedrocks of Maine government has always been local control. It’s most recognizable in the form of the traditional town meeting – here, as in the rest of northern New England, it’s still a form of government, not just a general term for a public forum.

It’s as close as we come anywhere in this country to pure democracy. Far closer than the more common citizen initiative process, which has been increasingly corrupted by well-funded special interests. While town meetings can certainly be contentious, they’re rarely undermined by partisanship or big money. It’s just ordinary citizens coming together and governing themselves.

Town meetings are especially important here because municipalities have a lot of power. If you’ve never lived anywhere else, you might not be aware of it, but it’s not the case elsewhere in this country.

In other states, towns are not geographic entities like counties and states, dividing up the entire map. Instead, they only cover certain areas, while more rural areas are left to the counties to govern directly. This makes counties much more important elsewhere than they are here in Maine, where they have far less power.

Our system of government has, for the most part, been embraced and respected by both parties over the years, rather than being a point of contention. The last time this system faced a major challenge was when Democratic Gov. John Baldacci launched his school consolidation plan. Although it survived a people’s veto attempt, the version passed was nowhere near the initial proposal, and it never had the sweeping effect initially intended.

Today, local control is under attack for a completely different reason: the need for more affordable housing.

Democrats have already passed a measure dramatically limiting local control in a supposed attempt to address this issue, forcing towns to allow more multi-unit structures. That legislation was a travesty; it should never have have been considered, let alone passed. Just as they did with school consolidation, opponents should have gathered signatures for a people’s veto, rather than merely complaining about it. Even if they had been unsuccessful in overturning the law, it would have delayed implementation, giving municipalities more time to comply. It also would have demonstrated to the Legislature the depth of opposition to the new measure, giving it the opportunity to reconsider.

None of that happened, however, and now Democrats are back at it with a revised version of their original proposal to create a statewide board to consider affordable housing projects. There are a number of problems with this idea.

One of them is timing. The law passed last session – the result of good-faith negotiations – hasn’t even had a chance to have much of an impact. It doesn’t make any sense to develop a completely new process without giving recent changes a chance. Proponents of the new measure are essentially admitting that the law passed last session was simply a placeholder. That’s not simply unreasonable, it’s dishonest, which will undermine future efforts to address the issue.

Moreover, no matter what the proponents claim, any attempt to limit the power of municipalities to make their own decisions is an attack on local control. Since that’s one of the key features of Maine government, this proposal would undermine democracy in our state. If proponents of affordable housing were really confident in their position, they wouldn’t have any qualms about making their case directly to voters. Instead, they want to take voters out of the process completely, creating an entirely new entity that would be more amenable to their proposals. That’s not just unwise, it’s undemocratic.

If legislators wanted to address housing affordability, they could do it in a way that incentivizes towns to approve projects. If they instead continue this assault on local control, opponents ought to be much more vocal.

Republicans should take this up as a cause; it gives them an opportunity to attract new voters with an issue that’s less tied up in national politics. It meshes perfectly with the party’s values of conservatism and small government. Republicans have a real chance to make gains on this basis, providing they make their opposition clear. If they don’t, Democrats will continue to attack local control whenever it’s politically convenient, and keep inventing new excuses to do so.

Regardless of whether it’s politically convenient for wealthy developers and the politicians they own, Mainers deserve to have a say in shaping their own communities.

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