who blogs at Tiny Ripples of Hope
Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, AP
Speaker Eves [left] greets the Governor at LePage's second inauguration.
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On June 9, Republican Maine Governor LePage complained that a charter school that selected Democratic Maine House Speaker Mark Eves to be its future President should not hire him based on the Governor's political personal opposition. The school decided otherwise based on Mr. Eves qualifications and planned to employ Mr. Eves.
Today, Governor LePage, after a long month of dozens of veto overrides and legislative action designed to put in place a budget that would be veto-proof, struck back personally at Speaker Eves' future livelihood. The Governor actually threatened to withhold $530,000 per year from the school in state funds because of the Speaker's eventual leadership of the institution. This thuggish action unfortunately resulted in the school breaking down and rescinding its offer of employment to Mr. Eves.
And so Maine now has a Governor who will threaten a lawmaker's employment using withholding state funding to exact personal vengeance. Mr. Eves has engaged a prominent Maine Civil Rights Attorney, David Webbert, who has outlined Governor LePage's First Amendment violations in his misuse of power.
All that remains now is to see if Maine and especially the Maine Republican Party leadership will stand for having a thug as its Governor.
UPDATE
NAOMI SCHALIT AND JOHN CHRISTIE ©MAINE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING
"Gov. Paul LePage reversed a routine and state-approved payment to a Fairfield non-profit that operates a charter school the day it was announced that Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves was named president of the organization, according to a source inside state government."
LINK:
Full report by these excellent journalists.