By David Harry

Staff Writer

Maine Sen. Larry Bliss (D-South Portland) will leave his District 7 seat April 15 for a job in California.

“I love representing the district and being in the Senate. But I have been unemployed for about a year and we can no longer make it on a legislative salary,” said Bliss, who announced his resignation Tuesday morning.

Bliss, 63, last November defeated Republican challenger Joe Palmieri to win his second term in the district that includes South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and the eastern section of Scarborough.

Bliss served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives before he was elected to the Senate in 2008.

“What I am going to miss most is not what happens in Augusta,” Bliss said. “It is the opportunity to talk with constituents and help solve problems.”

Bliss, the former career services director at the University of Southern Maine, said he will be director of academic advising and career exploration at California State University, East Bay. The school is located south and east of San Francisco and Oakland.

Bliss said resigning almost a month from now will allow Democrats and Republicans ample time to decide who will run to replace him for the reminder of the two-year term.

The Maine Constitution requires the governor call a special election, which must be held within 30 days of the resignation.

Jamie Wagner, a member of the Cape Elizabeth Democratic Committee, said he expects to meet with Democrats from South Portland and Scarborough to discuss who might run to fill the remainder of the two-year term.

South Portland and Cape Elizabeth voters bucked statewide voting trends that placed Republican majorities in the House and Senate in November, but Palmieri gave Bliss the toughest fight of his political career.

Palmieri, a former TV journalist and owner of Chicago Dogs in Scarborough, trailed Bliss by 63 votes on election night. In a recount about 10 days later, the margin was increased to 75 votes, 9,172-9,097.

Palmieri said he was mulling another run for the seat. He said his decision to run again would come after talking with his family, restaurant staff and local Republican leaders, in that order.

He said it was a “grueling campaign,” last fall, but one he enjoyed running. Palmieri also said the reasons for Bliss’s resignation demonstrate the economic problems he hoped to help solve as a candidate.

“It is disappointing he is not honoring his commitment to District 7 voters he made last fall,” Palmieri said. “It also shows how the Legislature has driven the economy off the cliff if he has to leave the state to get a job.”