PORTLAND (AP) — Portland and Westbrook will join a municipal group to challenge Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s administration’s policy banning some immigrants from receiving welfare. The cities say they will take part in lawsuit the Maine Municipal Association plans to file over the directive that immigrants who can’t prove that they’re in the country legally […]
Paul LePage
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Cutler supporters’ lawsuit challenges constitutionality of Maine donation limits
AUGUSTA — Four supporters of independent Eliot Cutler’s bid for governor filed a suit Monday in U.S. District Court over what they argue are inequities in Maine campaign finance laws. The injunction asks that individual contribution limits for donations to Cutler’s campaign be the same as they are for major-party candidates — and in time […]
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LePage says trip to China ‘productive’ but no deal announced yet
AUGUSTA — Maine’s Republican Gov. Paul LePage said a recent trip to China to court a manufacturer of rail cars to the Loring Commerce Centre would lead to continued negotiations, but he did not announce any pending developments. LePage is hopeful that Norinco, a giant Chinese company that makes military weapons as well as industrial […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Independent lawmaker requests AG’s investigation of LePage meetings with radical group
AUGUSTA — An independent lawmaker from Friendship says he thinks Maine’s attorney general should investigate whether Gov. Paul LePage and a group of radical activists discussed violence against top Democratic lawmakers during a series of meetings last year. As revealed by liberal blogger and activist Mike Tipping, the Constitutional Coalition met with LePage eight times […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Group that met with LePage denies terrorist links
AUGUSTA — The group with alleged ties to domestic terrorism that met eight times with Gov. Paul LePage in 2013 consists of four Maine men who believe their constitutional rights have been violated. The little-known Maine Constitution Coalition was thrust into the state and national spotlight Monday when Mike Tipping, a Maine liberal activist, detailed […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
LePage phone campaign blames liberals for Social Security flap
PORTLAND (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s re-election team has launched a phone campaign seeking to clarify the Republican governor’s position on Social Security. LePage’s political foes criticized a news release from his office last week that they said categorized Social Security, Medicare payments, Medicaid and unemployment insurance benefits as forms of “welfare, pure and […]
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Feds again urge Maine to delay EBT card photos
AUGUSTA (AP) — Gov. Paul LePage’s administration said Monday that it will begin putting photos on welfare benefit cards throughout Maine, but federal officials are again urging the state to wait to ensure that it is complying with laws and regulations. Maine has been issuing the new electronic benefit transfer cards in Bangor since April, […]
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Immigrant community, advocates decry ‘morally indefensible’ LePage proposal to cut assistance for refugees, asylum seekers
PORTLAND — Members of the immigrant community and their advocates gathered Saturday in Deering Oaks Park to protest a mandate by Gov. Paul LePage to end General Assistance to refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. As faith leaders called the order “unconscionable” and “morally indefensible,” the mayors of three Maine cities said they would not […]
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LePage returns from China
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage is returning to the United States after several days in China, where he met with businesses in the hopes of attracting them to Maine. The Republican governor is scheduled to return on Thursday. He left for Beijing on Saturday. LePage officials said the governor had planned to meet with representatives […]
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Federal report on economic growth spurs partisan attacks in Maine
LEWISTON — A new federal report on economic growth — or lack thereof — is providing fertile ground for criticism from both Democrats and Republicans running for office in Maine. The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis on Tuesday released the latest data on economic growth in the U.S., including a state-by-state breakdown that shows Maine’s […]