At an Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Ryan Low, the Governor’s nominee to replace Rebecca Wyke as Commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, received unanimous support to take over as top money-man in the State.  But, were all of the legislative caucuses represented in that decision?  No, not technically.

Throughout the legislative session, Karl Turner sat on the powerful Appropriations Committee as the only Republican Senator.  On Wednesday, however, he was there as a third Senate Democrat.

This past spring, Turner switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party to vote for Adam Cote in Democratic primary for Maine’s first congressional district.  Although Turner has said numerous times he intends to switch back to the GOP, Maine law prohibits him from doing so until 90 days after his first switch took place.  Despite Turner’s support, Cote lost the nomination to former State Senator Chellie Pingree.

Turner’s switcharoo wasn’t lost upon his fellow committee members.  At one point, a member asked if the committee was “in the presence of a Republican senator?”  This inquiry was met with silence from Turner.

Does the Turner switch, and subsequent silence at the hearing, point to an unraveling of the already loosely knit Senate Republican caucus?  Or, is this just a maverick senator doing his own thing without much concern from the Democrats or the Republicans?  Probably the latter—it’s unlikely that Turner will abandon his pledge to return to the GOP.  In fact, just last night he hosted a fundraiser for former State Representative Jerry Davis, the Republican running to replace the term-limited Turner in the Senate.

There is not much at stake here.  Let’s just consider this post another hit for the political junkies out there.