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Maine Tea Party Governor Caught Red-Handed Blackmailing Democratic House Speaker

Maine Tea Party Governor Caught Red-Handed Blackmailing Democratic House Speaker

Karmic justice is coming for the embattled Governor of Maine, Paul LePage, who is expected to be sued for attempting to blackmail the Democratic Speaker, Mark Eves- by threatening to cut public funding for, of all things, a non-profit school. LePage made headlines earlier this year for announcing his refusal to pass any bills at all from the legislature until they ratify his massive, economy-crippling tax cuts to the rich and corporations while shunting the burden of the cuts on to the working people, by raising the sales tax and expanding the services covered under it.

The new allegations against LePage accuse him of illegally threatening to withhold state funding from his employer Good Will-Hinckely nonprofit organization. The school was forced to break its contract with Eves after LePage threatened to withhold over a million dollars in funding, in an act of atrociously petty Chris Christie-esque political punishment.

LePage’s feud with Eves stems from the Democratic Speaker’s efforts to protect public schools and keep LePage’s Americans For Prosperity cronies from funneling support from public schools towards private charter schools.“The governor’s actions represent the worst kind of vendetta politics Maine has ever seen,” said Eves in his news release. “If it goes unchecked, no legislator will feel safe in voting his conscience for fear that the governor will be after the legislators’ family and livelihood.”

Both Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature are in rebellion against LePage’s AFP budget proposals. Their counterproposal was just vetoed by the Governor, propelling the state towards a government shutdown unless an agreement can be reached by Tuesday evening.

If successful, Eves’ suit may end with the impeachment of LePage and Maine will finally be rid of their Tea Party, Koch-Brother shill of a governor. If not, Maine may end up going the way of Kansas as free market fascism ruins their public institutions and drains the middle class of their income.

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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