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Effort to impeach Maine governor comes up short

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AUGUSTA, Maine – Critics of Maine Gov. Paul LePage failed to muster enough support to require a vote Thursday on an independent investigation that could have led to impeachment for alleged abuse of power.

Instead, House lawmakers voted 96-52 to indefinitely postpone debate after Republican leader Ken Fredette introduced a motion to pre-empt any action on the impeachment order.

A group led by Democratic Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland wanted to punish the brash and outspoken Republican governor for pressuring a school operator into rescinding a job offer to Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves.

LePage’s foes also wanted to look into allegations he forced out the president of the Maine Community College System, refused to allow administration officials to testify in front of committees and involved himself in the internal workings of the unemployment compensation board.

LePage is known for a blunt style and off-the-cuff remarks that get him into trouble.

He was criticized just last week after saying out-of-state drug dealers with names like “D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” sell heroin in Maine and “half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave.” He later apologized for the comment, calling it a slip of the tongue.

Eves left the House chambers during the discussion Thursday. House Democratic leader Rep. Jeff McCabe served as the chamber’s presiding officer during the debate.

Democrats urged their colleagues to vote their consciences and support an investigation into an alleged pattern of bullying and abuse, saying that ignoring the governor’s behavior sets a precedent for future chief executives to run roughshod over the legislative branch.

Democratic Rep. Charlotte Warren l invoked the name of Maine’s Bill Cohen, who as a freshman Republican on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee broke with his party to vote to impeach President Richard Nixon.

“You know in your heart that what’s going on around here is not right. Today follow your heart,” she said. “Stand up for the Maine tradition.”

But not everyone agreed.

Rep. Lawrence E. Lockman, R-Amherst, said the governor did the right thing in questioning the hiring of Eves, suggesting the House speaker had unfair advantages in the hiring process.

“Given what we now know about the hiring process, I believe the chief executive deserves not an impeachment order but a public service award for blowing the whistle on Good Will-Hinckley,” Lockman told the chamber.

After the vote, an impeachment supporter watching the proceedings from the gallery shouted insults and was removed by security.

She identified herself as Barbara Moore of Indian Island. She had led a petition drive aimed to pressing the House to impeach LePage.

The debate got underway after the House approved a resolution of “values and principles” that talked about leaders speaking in one voice and “refusing to accept a political climate based on fear and personal animosity.”

Republican Rep. Joel Stetkis, of Canaan, spoke against the resolution, calling it a “thinly veiled” reference to the governor and suggesting it was a waste of time.

LePage, elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, has said he did nothing wrong and the attacks on him are political and tantamount to a “witch hunt.”

All the governor’s opponents needed to start the investigation is a simple majority vote in the Democratic-controlled House. But some Democrats thought that the effort was futile.

Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, said the impeachment was created to punish treason and bribery, and that the governor’s actions didn’t rise to such serious offenses.

An impeachment order would have been be unprecedented. It also wouldn’t likely have survived long because it would eventually go to the Republican-controlled Senate.

The state attorney general, Democrat Janet Mills, already declined to investigate LePage’s conduct. She said there was no evidence he committed a crime when he pressured Good Will-Hinckley, an organization that serves at-risk young people and runs a charter school, to rescind the job offer to Eves.

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