AUGUSTA, Maine — Political eyes will be on the Legislature’s watchdog committee on Thursday, when an inquiry into Gov. Paul LePage’s role in forcing House Speaker Mark Eves out of a job at Good Will-Hinckley will continue. The Fairfield charitable group hired Eves, a Democrat from North Berwick, as its president in June, but that […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Transparency advocates give Maine government an F grade
When Maine Gov. Paul LePage appeared at an impromptu news conference in June bearing a Christmas tree and a miniature rubber pig, it marked a turning point. LePage had decorated the tree with photos of lawmakers, whom he said had negotiated the state’s two-year budget in secret and then filled it with pet “piggy projects” […]
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Posted inMaine, sj-web
Gov. Paul LePage wants to use National Guard in war against drugs
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday he may call out the Maine Army National Guard if legislators don’t quickly provide money to hire judges, agents and prosecutors to fight the state’s drug epidemic. The Republican governor made a surprise appearance before the Legislature’s budget-writing Appropriations Committee, speaking after Attorney General Janet Mills gave an update […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine GOP leaders split over Paul LePage’s beef with Roger Katz
PORTLAND (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s request for a Republican to recuse himself from an investigation into whether the governor overstepped his authority underscores an ongoing rift that threatens GOP unity only a few months out from the next legislative session. Republican Senate President Michael Thibodeau is standing behind Government Oversight Committee co-chairman Roger […]
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Maine lawmakers tour Canadian hydropower facilities
PORTLAND — The leader of a bipartisan group of Maine lawmakers who traveled to Canada to learn about hydroelectric power production believes it could fill some of New England’s energy needs. House Republican leader Ken Fredette, chairman of the Maine Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission, was joined by four other members last week in Labrador, where […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Legislature puts 32 bills on its 2016 docket
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Legislature in 2016 will consider bills aimed at extending stalled conservation bonds and giving priority to in-state companies seeking government contracts after proposals were advanced by legislative leaders on Thursday. The 10-member Legislative Council, evenly split between top Republicans and Democrats, advanced 32 out of 400 bills proposed by legislators […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Re-election could play part in rift between Paul LePage and GOP lawmakers
AUGUSTA — The Legislature is more than two months away from its next session, but the battle lines for a 2016 campaign are being drawn. And as he does so often over state politics, Gov. Paul LePage looms over it all. After a session marked by Senate Republican leaders’ split from their party’s governor on […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Maine’s top executive, legislative staff better paid than counterparts in northern New England
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage frequently reminds people that Maine is a poor state and unable to afford its generous welfare programs. But when it comes to paying his own staff, LePage has been a generous boss compared to his Democratic counterparts in Vermont and New Hampshire. A Sun Journal review of public salary records […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage accuses Roger Katz of conducting witch hunt
Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that the ongoing probe into his role in influencing Good Will-Hinckley to fire Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves as the institution’s president earlier this year amounts to nothing more than the latest salvo a prolonged attack by Republican Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta. “This is a witch hunt by Sen. […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage staff decline to go before panel
AUGUSTA — Two members of the LePage administration are declining to appear before a legislative panel that’s reviewing allegations Gov. Paul LePage threatened to withhold funding for a private school that tried to hire a political opponent. Cynthia Montgomery, the governor’s chief legal counsel, said she and another aide, Aaron Chadbourne, must “respectfully decline” an […]