Republican Rep. L. Gary Knight of Livermore Falls has a long resumé. He's a retired community banker, a professor of business, a board member for countless community groups and institutions. By all accounts, he's got the depth of experience in the towns of House District 81 to represent their interests well.

But one job on his resumé stands out as particularly useful for a stint in the Statehouse: Knight is the former umpire-in-chief of the West Central Maine Umpires Association, Softball Division.

That means he's able to render swift judgments about what's fair in highly charged situations where people may be yelling at him and each other.

Knight's a moderate Republican whose views largely reflect the conservative, blue-collar tilt of his part of Maine. He's not as strong as we would like on conservation issues, which are an increasingly important aspect of economic development in the state.

His sponsorship of a bill to limit out-of-state college-student voting access was wrongheaded. But in the main, he's a reasonable and caring lawmaker with serious qualifications and deep community roots.

Knight's challenger, Democrat Peggy Dwyer, is thoughtful and well-spoken but simply doesn't have the qualifications and experience that Knight does. And in a legislative session where lawmakers will be yet again wrestling with a large budget shortfall, those qualifications and experience are even more important than ideology.

The Kennebec Journal endorses Rep. L. Gary Knight for re-election to the State House of Representatives.