AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — After months of talk of impeachment, critics of Gov. Paul LePage are ready to introduce an impeachment order to investigate allegations of abuse of power.
A group of lawmakers led by Democratic Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland submitted the impeachment order, which was due to be debated Thursday on the House floor. The proposal, which faces long odds, aims to punish the Republican governor for using influence to pressure a school operator into taking back a job offer from Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, who responded by filing a civil lawsuit in federal court.
LePage’s foes also want to look into allegations that 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, elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, has said he did nothing wrong and the attacks on him are political and a tantamount to a “witch hunt.” All the governor’s opponents need to start the investigation is a simple majority vote in the Democratic-controlled House. But some Democrats believe that the effort is futile and that failure to win enough votes could embolden the governor.
An impeachment order would be unprecedented. It also wouldn’t likely survive long as 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, to rescind the job offer to Eves.
LePage is known for a blunt style and off-the-cuff remarks that get him into trouble. He was criticized last week after saying out-of-state drug dealers with names like “D-Money, Smoothie and 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.
Now at least one DUMBOCRAT knows how we conservative feel in being aced out of a job for our political and moral convictions.
Years ago before I was laid off with a group of others who would not train our East Indian replacements, my manager at the time called me into a private meeting and told me, ” You can not work for this company having your political views.”. You know? He was right. They canned me and a bunch of other undesirables. We did our work and got the job done well ,but that was not managements priority. It was communism.
Leftists wage economic warfare against we patriots every day, and when they get pushed aside, slammed down hard I’m reveling in their misery. They’ve EARNED it!!