The findings of the Legislature’s investigation into the Governor Paul LePage/Good Will-Hinckley scandal were crystal clear.
The nonpartisan Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability produced a thorough report detailing the course of events and confirming the governor’s abuse of power and misuse of state funds.
I, along with the other five Democrats and the six Republicans on the Government Oversight Committee, endorsed the report’s findings on the governor’s actions.
And still, the governor’s supporters are trying to muddy the waters and detract from the truth.
This all began last summer when Good Will-Hinckley, a private organization serving atrisk kids, chose House Speaker Mark Eves as its new president at the conclusion of a nine-month search. A few weeks later, the board abruptly rescinded its offer.
Information soon surfaced that Governor LePage had stepped in. He had threatened the school with the loss of $530,000 in state funding – and he even boasted about it to the press. His exact words were “Yeah, I did… Why wouldn’t I?”
The Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously to launch an investigation into whether the governor used his position of power to influence a private organization’s hiring decision and punish a political rival.
The months-long investigation included interviews, public hearings, careful fact-checking and hours of testimony from witnesses including the chair of Good Will-Hinckley’s board as well as often reluctant members of the governor’s administration – two of whom had to be subpoenaed by the committee to get them to show up – to get to the bottom of the story.
It took a lot of prodding to get the truth out of the LePage administration. Under oath, members of the governor’s staff testified that they had not threatened to take away state funding. One of his advisers, Aaron Chadbourne, testified that when he spoke of the “loss of support” from the governor, he wasn’t talking about money. It wasn’t his fault, he argued, that Good Will- Hinckley representatives got the impression that the funding due to the school was at risk because of its hiring of Eves.
The report confirmed, however, that the governor did indeed take steps to redirect taxpayer dollars intended for Good Will- Hinckley when he learned that Eves had been hired, forcing the school to fire him. In fact, a regularly-scheduled payment to the school had been put on hold. Funding was restored only after the governor got his way.
My colleagues and I believe that the abuse of power is not something to be taken lightly.
I am proud of the balanced approach we used to get all of the facts out in the open. I commend my fellow members of the committee, especially Senate Chair Roger Katz and House Chair Chuck Kruger, for being determined to expose the truth despite repeated attacks by the LePage administration and claims that our bipartisan investigation was nothing more than a political “witch hunt.”
It is no secret that the governor and the speaker do not always agree. But it’s not just politics as usual for the governor to use his position to strong-arm a private organization and interfere in the private life of an elected official.
This is about more than Speaker Eves and Governor LePage. It is about the precedent it sets for the chief executive of our state and the integrity of our state government. Shouldn’t private organizations and businesses be free to make their own hiring decisions without interference and threats from a politician?
Shouldn’t lawmakers be able to vote their consciences, making decisions based on what is best for their constituents and their communities, without the fear that they might inspire the wrath and retribution of the chief executive?
Maine citizens deserve to have confidence in the integrity of their elected officials. They shouldn’t have to worry that a public official might use his or her political influence to punish someone they disagree with – whether that’s another politician or a private citizen.
No elected official should be able to wield the power of their office or taxpayer dollars to punish or bribe an individual or a private organization. We do not yet know whether the governor broke any criminal laws, but it’s clear that what the governor did was wrong. The Legislature must do everything in our power to ensure the law is crystal clear so nothing like this can ever happen again.
— Rep. Anne- Marie Mastraccio, D-Sanford, is a member of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee.
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