Lawmakers press for impeachment of Maine's abrasive governor

ME legislators have voted to indefinitely postpone a motion Thursday that aimed to investigate and impeach Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

But Avery Day, who advises LePage on natural resource issues and is now acting commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, said Tuesday morning that the governor wants to reauthorize the bonds only for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

It was unclear if LePage was serious. They've accused LePage of abuse of power.

A group led by Democratic Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland wanted to punish the brash and outspoken Republican governor for using influence to pressure a school operator into rescinding a job offer to Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves. The panel would report back by April 1, and then the House could vote whether to impeach and refer the matter to the Republican-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority necessary to convict seems unlikely at best.

Last week, he defended himself by announcing that: "Instead of saying, 'Maine women, ' I said, 'White women.' I'm not going to apologize to the Maine women for that because if you go to Maine you will see we are essentially 95 percent white". Critics called the comments racist, while LePage told reporters he had misspoken.

"As I have said all along, this impeachment nonsense was nothing more than a political witch hunt that had absolutely no merit", LePage said in a statement following the vote.

"Because of Paul LePage, Maine's pristine image has taken a beating".

While nobody expects LePage to stay true to his word and actually step down in the face of so many people calling for his impeachment or resignation, the vast number of people who have signed the petition highlights just how petty the governor is being by threatening to bail on the traditional State address, which normally takes place sometime in the first half of February. 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.

As for the speech, Thibodeau said it's the governor's prerogative to decline to deliver the address in person, but he also noted that the governor would be missing out on an opportunity to lay out his priorities not just to lawmakers "but to all Mainers".