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AUGUSTA -- Legislators voted this morning to advance Gov. John Baldacci's nomination of Jack Cashman as a commissioner of the state's three-member Public Utilities Commission to the full Senate for a vote.

The 11-2 vote by members of the Legislature's joint Utilities and Energy Committee followed approximately two hours of testimony by Cashman and supporters of his nomination and legislators' questions for the nominee.

Rep. Herbert Adams, D-Portland, and committee chairman Rep. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, cast the two votes opposing Cashman's nomination.

The committee's public hearing attracted no opponents of Baldacci's choice of his senior economic adviser and longtime friend for the utilities post.