Impeach Governor LePage!

Dear Representative,

Governor Paul LePage has violated the First Amendment by using the power of his office to exact political retaliation against House Speaker Mark Eves.  The governor's threat to cut $500,000 in already-approved state funding for the Good Will-Hinckley charter school unless it fired the Speaker from his new job as school President has resulted in Eve's loss of employment and livelihood for his family.

This latest abuse of state power by Gov. LePage comes on the heels of many others. The governor has held land conservation bonds hostage, even though they were approved by the voters. And he has indulged in indiscriminate vetoes as political retaliation for not getting his way on repealing the state income tax, tying up the Legislature in endless veto override votes and wasting taxpayer money.

Maine has no recall provision, but the state constitution does provide for impeachment. Gov. LePage's abuses of power and the office of the governor are clearly impeachable offenses.

This is not a partisan issue.  It was Maine's Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith who spoke out so eloquently against government blacklisting in 1950, saying "The exercise of [First Amendment] rights should not cost one American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood."

Under the Maine Constitution, only the House of Representatives can initiate impeachment. We the undersigned hereby petition you to begin bipartisan impeachment proceedings immediately. Maine deserves better!