Peter Mills earned a reputation as a thoughtful, knowledgeable Republican legislator who spent 16 years in the Maine House and Senate.

But he finished a distant third in last year’s gubernatorial primary when Paul LePage’s campaign caught fire as part of the tea party movement.

Voters were in no mood for experience and moderation.

Last summer, Mills penned an essay for “Maine Policy Review,” the publication of the Margaret Chase Smith Center at the University of Maine.

It was titled “Bite-Sized Democracy: The Virtues of Incremental Change.”

Mills’ argued that government works best when it works incrementally, that small changes more often successfully shape the future than large, dramatic gestures.

As an example, he pointed to last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare), which he feels was overly ambitious and now is under attack.

Another example, he said, was the tax reform measure passed by the Legislature in 2009, but which was overturned by Maine voters in 2010. Mills said the law failed because it was “so big, complex, and poorly understood.”

“Too often,” Mills wrote, “interest groups who want to change policy try to cram all their dramatic reforms into a single piece of legislation.”

And that is about as good a description of LD 1, Gov. Paul LePage’s regulatory reform package, as we’ve seen.

The bill contains 64 proposals, the most visible of which involves repealing a Maine law that will go into effect next year banning the chemical additive BPA in children’s toys and beverage containers.

Other provisions are more obscure, like decreasing setback requirements for construction around vernal pools from 250 feet to 75. Others are sweeping, like repealing the Informed Growth Act.

Some just boggle the mind, like “requiring” that 30 percent of the massive land area under Land Use Regulation Commission jurisdiction be zoned for development.

What if the landowners, mainly paper companies, do not want it zoned that way? What about the vast tracts that are already subjected to standing conservation agreements?

The ideas, the governor says, resulted from the Red Tape Audits that were conducted around the state. Although some of the proposals, like the BPA repeal, were never mentioned at the hearings.

Some ideas slated for repeal, like the Informed Growth Act, had significant business support when they first passed.

The bigger question is how to proceed with LD 1.

The legislation cuts across so many jurisdictions, and involves so many complex ideas, that it is difficult to see how it can receive thoughtful consideration and fair hearings in one legislative session.

And this, the governor says, is merely “Phase 1” of his regulatory reforms. Two more packages are soon to follow.

One idea might be to hold a bull-rush style hearing at the Augusta Civic Center.

That would give the appearance of judicious consideration without the reality. It would be both undemocratic and unwise, and likely would create as many problems as it solved.

Contacted Wednesday, Mills agreed that state agencies are loaded with unnecessary and burdensome regulations.

Had he been elected, Mills said he would have undertaken a four-year program of legislative reviews and hearings to carefully separate red tape from necessary regulation.

Gov. LePage’s red tape audits were a visible starting point. But approving 64 hastily conceived ideas in one massive bill is a risky approach that invites failure.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.