Lawmakers press for impeachment of Maine's abrasive Governor Paul LePage
Source: AP/MSN
For five years now, Republican Maine Governor Paul LePage has hurled crude insults, heaped abuse on the media and offended many with his brass-knuckle tactics and off-the-cuff remarks — most recently last week, when he complained that out-of-state drug dealers with names like "D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty" are getting Maine's white girls pregnant.
On Thursday, lawmakers take up a longshot bid to impeach him, and while the chief allegation against LePage is abuse of power, not lack of civility, it is clear there is a lot of ill will toward the governor in both parties over what many regard as his bull-in-a-china-shop manner. Impeachment would be unprecedented in Maine.
LePage, 67, is proud of his disdain for the usual courtesies of politics, and voters rewarded him by electing him last year to a second and final four-year term. He said he doesn't pay attention to critics. He doesn't even read newspapers. In many ways, he has come off as Maine's version of Trump, minus the privileged upbringing and the vast wealth. LePage was homeless for a time as a boy in Lewiston before going to college and becoming a businessman.
Democrats have become accustomed to butting heads with the governor over welfare, tax policy and a host of other issues. But they say LePage crossed the line by intervening to kill a job offer for a political enemy, House Speaker Mark Eves. Now they want him to pay. On Thursday, a group of nine lawmakers will try to set the impeachment process into motion by pressing for a vote to launch a private investigation into eight of the governor's actions.
Some Democrats believe that the effort is futile and that failure might just embolden the governor. They would prefer to censure him. Even if the House were to impeach him, the effort would probably fail in the GOP-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict.
Critics also want to look into other matters, including allegations that he forced out the president of the Maine Community College System, got involved in the internal workings of the unemployment compensation board and refused to allow administration officials to testify in front of committees.
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lawmakers-press-for-impeachment-of-maines-abrasive-governor/ar-CCvLAJ?li=BBnb7Kz
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