We need to resolve the contrast over discontent with high taxes and the election of high-taxers.

Winston Churchill had a marvelous quote about one of his political rivals: He was "adamant for drift, solid for fluidity."

Much the same could be said about our state Legislature.

Despite much rhetoric, this Legislature failed to deliver. As I noted last week, they particularly failed in addressing the pressing problems of the Maine economy. Even with a respected, nonpartisan plan in place, the Brookings Report, the gang that couldn't shoot straight barely got off the mark.

The question is what to do about this. The obvious answer in a democracy is to vote nonperformers out of office.

Yet, a good part of our problem stems from the fact that we seem incapable of doing so. Even though Mainers have repeatedly over the past five years indicated their concerns about high taxes, we have returned heavily Democratic majorities in the House and narrow Democratic majorities in the Senate.

As one Democratic legislator confided to a veteran business lobbyist, "If taxes are such a problem, why do we have a 30-seat majority in the House?" It's a fair question.

I would like to think that part of the answer is simply one of not enough good information.

TOO LITTLE TRACKING

The average voter may not spend much time tracking what is going on in Augusta. Often what we hear from our leaders and candidates is about what a good job they are doing in tackling tax and spending issues and economic growth.

Moreover, in a local race for state representative, we may know little about the voting record or inclinations of the candidate. We tend to vote on party preference or personal connection or even by a whim.

There are other sources for information on political candidates. One good source is MERI, the Maine Economic Research Institute (www.meri.org). MERI is a business-funded group that rates legislators and potential legislators on actual votes (or, in the case of new candidates, a questionnaire).

While Democrats complain that MERI is a partisan Republican organization, it employs a transparent methodology based mostly on votes on issues that bear on the Maine economy.

If you view the current Legislature on a MERI chart, you will note it is decidedly bipolar: most Republicans score above 80 (on a 1-100 scale where 100 is pro-business, pro-economy) and most Democrats score below 30, including all of Democratic leadership.

Literally, there are only half a dozen legislators who fall between 40 and 60, the range of moderates.

When I first saw this, I thought MERI's methodology must be flawed because there had to be more moderates in the Legislature. I have come to believe that, while MERI is more narrow in its views of political positioning than I would prefer, its rankings are more than directionally accurate.

Thus, if we were able to elect more legislators with MERI scores in the 40-60 range, this would be a good thing.

In addition, the Alliance for Maine's Future (www.allianceformaine.org) also ranks candidates on their approach to Maine's economic issues, and in particular, focuses on getting more moderates elected to the Legislature.

For a completely different approach on ranking candidates, one might check the Maine Education Association's rankings (www.maine.nea.org). One caveat: If candidates score high with the MEA, they are unlikely to be moderates.

Another indicator to help inform is simply to determine whether the candidate supports the principal recommendations of the Brookings Report. The Brookings Report is available on-line at www.growsmart.org.

A note of caution on this approach: Many current legislators claim to endorse the Brookings Report but voted to dump the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Maine's Future Prosperity, many of which came straight from Brookings.

Growsmart itself may be a source for ascertaining true support for Brookings as the group tracks the progress of Brookings' initiatives in the Legislature.

BETTER INFO NEEDED

On balance, one would hope that with better information, Mainers will be able to make more informed judgments about whom to support. Over time, such judgments should move the Legislature more to the center, because that is where most Mainers reside.

However, I believe several structural changes are also needed if we want the Legislature to better reflect the interests of all of Maine. I will have more on this in future columns.