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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