Pine Tree Puckerdiddle (and Other Gubernatorial Gaffes)

Tiassa

Tiassa

Let us not launch the boat ...
Valued Senior Member
Governor Paul LePage

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This almost defies reality, but, to the one, truth is stranger than fiction for obvious reasons, and, furthermore, once upon a time not so long ago, Gov. Paul LePage (R), one known for inflammatory talk and behavior, lost his temper and vowed to ignore all Democratic-sponsored legislation reaching his desk.

Apparently, he followed through on that threat.

The Portland Press Herald reports that the Republican governor is now also stumbling on how-a-bill-becomes-a-law questions.​

About 20 bills, some of which Gov. Paul LePage opposed, appear to be on track to become law because the governor never took action on them within the 10 days he had to do so.​

Among the bills are one that would allow immigrants seeking asylum in the United States to receive General Assistance welfare benefits for two years, and others that would prohibit the shackling of pregnant women prisoners and reduce criminal penalties for certain drug crimes.​

The procedural aspect of this gets a little complicated. As best as I can tell from local news accounts, the governor thought he was giving a “pocket veto” to the 19 bills, letting them expire without his signature.​

But that only works when the state legislature is adjourned and no longer in session. Maine’s legislative session is still ongoing – members will be in the Capitol next week to consider how and whether to override a series of other gubernatorial vetoes.​

When the legislature is still in session, a bill becomes law automatically after 10 days if a governor doesn’t sign or veto it.​

In other words, LePage, in his fifth year as governor, thought he was derailing 19 pieces of legislation, some of which he strongly opposes, but he was apparently allowing them to become law – by accident.​


I must disagree with Mr. Benen; the procedural aspect of a pocket veto isn't complicated at all.
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Notes:

Benen, Steve. "LePage invites legislative chaos in Maine". msnbc. 8 July 2015. msnbc.com. 8 July 2015. http://on.msnbc.com/1NSYcAG
 
Filed under "Conservative Competence Myth, examples of " - a large category.

Fascists do not make the trains run on time. They never have, they never will.
 
Should Have Been a General Thread

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I should not have made this just about Gov. LePage in Maine.

Didja hear 'bout Oklahoma?

Gov. Mary Fallin (R) and the GOP-led legislature announced they're prepared to ignore the state Supreme Court, at least for now, while they consider new solutions.​

The Republican governor talked to reporters, saying roughly what you'd expect her to say: she's "disappointed" with the court's decision; she thinks they made the wrong call; etc. But as KFOR, the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City, reported, Fallin added one related thought that wasn't expected at all:​

Gov. Fallin said she believes the final decision on the monument's fate should rest with the people.​

"You know, there are three branches of our government. You have the Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the people, the people and their ability to vote. So I'm hoping that we can address this issue in the legislative session and let the people of Oklahoma decide," she said.​

The KFOR report added, "Despite what the governor said, the three branches of government include the legislative, executive and judicial branches" ....​

.... We can certainly hope that Fallin, a former multi-term member of Congress, knows what the three branches of government are. Indeed, in Oklahoma, she's the head of one of them – the one she left out this week.​


Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer ... seriously, what joke do we go with, here? Add in Perry's indictment in Texas, Mr. LePage's potential impeachment over a similar appearance of corruption, and Messrs. Brownback and Jindal trying to govern by executive orders deployed as weapons against people, and there really is a nasty tangle of stupidity in governance to account for. Democrats may well be as middling, mincing, and incompetent as they seem, but this?

These are government executives who don't understand how their jobs work. And while former Vice President Quayle makes the list for iconic stupidity (something about father-son bondage goes here), it's also true he was a vice president and not a governor. I mean, we could go on about governors. Christie in New Jersey, Scott in Florida. It's not just stupidity and incompetence; it really does look and sound like psychological dysfunction.

And Mary Fallin? Come on, Governor, there are brain farts, to be certain, but I don't know how to scrape the skidmarks off the inside of your skull after that foetid, sulphurous blast. Good luck with that one.

It's one thing if Oklahoma Republicans screw up their own policy priorities↱, but the branches of government in these United States are pretty basic.
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Notes:

Benen, Steve. "GOP governor flubs Civics 101 test". msnbc. 10 July 2015. msnbc.com. 15 July 2015. http://on.msnbc.com/1L3zFsE
 
A Note on Narrative

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The question of narrative can be very important. To the one, we often accuses one another of political bias, yet depending on how we define that bias, pretty much most or all of those accusations are their own similar bias. To the other, we ought not be surprised at how much accusation of political bias inherently demands that one hold assertions of fact in isolation.

As an example: Rick M. Green↱ offers the news version, for The Oklahoman:

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a last ditch attempt by the state to keep a Ten Commandments monument next to the Oklahoma Capitol.

Monday, the court turned down a request from the state to reconsider its June 30 ruling calling for removal of the 6-foot granite statue.​

Steve Benen↱ provides the political narrative, and the question of bias can be easily addressed:

It’s been about a month since the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a state-sponsored Ten Commandments monument on the Capitol grounds violates the state Constitution. As regular readers know, it wasn’t a close call – the justices ruled 7-2 that the six-foot-high, stone Christian display is at odds with the law that requires state government to be neutral on matters of religion.

The state Attorney General’s office responded by filing an appeal … to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. If that sounds odd, there’s a good reason – Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt effectively told the justices, “I know you just ruled on this, but I want you to take another look at it” ....

.... The tricky part is what happens next, because it’s not altogether clear officials are prepared to follow the law.

Remember, immediately after the state court ruled, Gov. Mary Fallin (R) said she would leave the religious monument in place, regardless of the court’s decision, while Oklahoma policymakers explored alternatives.

“Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not ignore the state courts or their decisions,” Fallin’s statement said. “However, we are also a state with three co-equal branches of government.”​

And here is even a choose your own political narrative moment: Benen follows up with a point he's made about this question before: "It's never a good sign when a politician says, 'we respect the rule of law,' and then adds the word 'however'."

I would also add that we're talking about a state governor who does not understand the three branches of government↑.

But in this case the narrative has some functional value; what, exactly, did Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt expect in going back before the State Supreme Court to ask them to overturn themselves on the basis of errors and omissions, jurisdictional confusion, and clarifying that no means no?

And, yes, part of me wonders if Mr. Pruitt already knows there is no good path forward for making a federal case out of this.

Oklahoma has been doing its part to embarrass itself in recent weeks, but one striking aspect about the Sooner State in these troubled times is that its conservative Supreme Court appears to be composed of the sort of judges who really do believe in the significance of their jobs. I've read terse, two-sentence opinions from this court before striking down things they clearly wanted in their own political sentiments, and while the gritted teeth of some of these rulings is nakedly apparent, those moments are also reminders of placing duty above desire.

Then again, on this occasion, any sense of gritted teeth might well have been resistance to the urge to reach down from the bench and rap a gavel over Mr. Pruitt's head.
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Notes:

Green, Rick M. "Court rejects state’s attempt to keep monument at Capitol". The Oklahoman. 27 July 2015. NewsOK.com. 28 July 2015. http://bit.ly/1GYRoLO

Benen, Steve. "State faces showdown over church, state". msnbc. 28 July 2015. msnbc.com. 28 July 2015. http://on.msnbc.com/1HY5jFK
 
It Really Is Hard to Explain

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In June, the Editorial Board↱ of the Portland Press Herald called for the impeachment of Maine Governor Paul LePage (R):

Sabotaging House Speaker Mark Eves' private career revealed more of the mean-spirited, small-minded revenge politics for which Gov. LePage has become famous. But this time, he may have gone too far.

The Maine House should immediately begin an investigation of the governor, and if no new facts emerge that put his conduct in a positive light, he should be impeached and tried in the state Senate.

That may sound like an extreme reaction, but the governor's conduct takes Maine into new territory. The state's chief executive appears to have used public money to intimidate a private institution into firing one of his political opponents. The full power of the state was used to put a father of three out of a job because he was a lawmaker who disagrees with the governor on policy.

Most of the facts are known. By his own admission, in a statement released Thursday, LePage linked access to public funds for the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences to Eves' hiring, citing votes the North Berwick Democrat made while the speaker was representing his constituents.​

At the time, the Board noted that LePage's action might not have broken any laws, though the state attorney general was investigating. "And it may not be enough to lose a lawsuit", the Board wrote, "although Eves' attorney is convinced that he has a very strong case."

Speaker Eves has filed that lawsuit:

The lawsuit, filed Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland, has been anticipated since the board of directors at Good Will-Hinckley voted to rescind its offer to pay Eves 150,000 [dollars] a year in salary and benefits to become the organization's next president. The Democrat said the board told him before his contract was terminated that LePage, a Republican, threatened to eliminate 530,000 [dollars] in annual state funding for the school unless it removed him from the job.​

Earlier this month, Mike Tipping↱ of the Bangor Daily News explained:

Right away, Some Republicans realized the gravity of what Governor Paul LePage had apparently done.

"I am very saddened by this situation and shocked by what is being alleged. Nearly all legislators depend on a career outside of the State House to provide for their families, said GOP Senate President Mike Thibodeau. "For that reason, I am deeply concerned about what has happened to Mark Eves and his family. I am still trying to learn exactly what transpired. Above all, we must ensure that the people of Maine can continue to have faith in their public institutions."

Republican Senator Tom Saviello requested an investigation of the governor's actions and Republicans on the Government Oversight Committee joined Democrats in a unanimous decision to begin that probe.

Others, the more stalwart of LePage allies, have attempted to carry the governor's water, but that has proven a difficult thing to do. Without any real defense for what LePage did, they're left instead attempting to smear House Speaker Mark Eves.​

Nor does Mr. LePage make his defenders' jobs any easier. Steve Benen↱ of msnbc noted:

Remember, the Tea Party governor hasn't actually denied the allegations, and neither have LePage's allies. The Maine Republican did argue this morning, however, that when he threatened the school it was comparable to LePage intervening in a domestic-violence dispute.

"It's just like one time when I stepped in … when a man was beating his wife," the governor said. "Should have I stepped in? Legally, No. But I did. And I'm not embarrassed about doing it."

I honestly haven't the foggiest idea what that's supposed to mean in this context.​

Meanwhile, that silly bit with the pocket veto↑ continues as well, with the Governor declaring he will not enforce the laws in question, and preparing to argue before the Maine Supreme Court that regardless of what the state constitution says, he really, really did veto those bills.

The Pine Tree Puckerdiddle plays on.
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Notes:

Editorial Board. "Our View: LePage crosses the line in Mark Eves' firing". Portland Press Herald. 25 June 2015. PressHerald.com. 30 July 2015. http://bit.ly/1MxNel9

Mistler, Steve. "House Speaker Mark Eves sues LePage, claiming governor used power 'to bully and intimidate'". Portland Press Herald. 30 July 2015. PressHerald.com. 30 July 2015. http://bit.ly/1MWWhu6

Tipping, Mike. "Republicans divided in response to LePage's alleged abuse of power". The Tipping Point. 6 July 2015. TheTippingPoint.BangorDailyNews.com. 30 July 2015. http://bit.ly/1VQSzYK

Benen, Steve. "Just when things couldn't get worse for Paul LePage …". msnbc. 30 July 2015. msnbc.com. 30 July 2015. http://on.msnbc.com/1VQdPxX
 
Inevitable

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There is nothing unexpected about the lede from Steve Mistler↱ of the Portland Press Herald:

Maine’s top court has ruled unanimously against Gov. Paul LePage in his dispute with the Legislature over whether he has more time to veto 65 bills already processed into law, delivering a significant blow to a governor already engulfed in withering criticism and scrutiny seven months into his second term.​

So, right. Quick show of hands: Who's surprised?

A bit more detail:

The court’s advisory opinion ruled that the governor misread the Maine Constitution when he failed to veto 65 bills within the 10-day period prescribed by law. LePage’s legal team argued that the Legislature prevented the governor from returning the vetoes because lawmakers had temporarily adjourned. However, the ruling by six of the seven justices on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court rejected that reasoning. The seventh justice recused himself and did not participate in the proceedings.

In its essence, the 55-page opinion asserted that while the constitutional language describing a situation that prevents the governor from returning bills is ambiguous, the Legislature determines when it’s in session and when it adjourns, not the governor.​

It is an interesting contrast; for all we hear from Republicans complaining about imperial presidencies and Democratic regents in the White House, the list of Republican governors who think the law is subject to their whim grows. Maybe it's just myths of imperial presidencies they disdain. But a usurping governor whose name precedes an (R)? That seems all well and fine with conservatives.
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Notes:

Mistler, Steve. "Maine’s high court spurns LePage in veto dispute". Portland Press Herald. 6 August 2015. PressHerald.com. 6 August 2015. http://bit.ly/1DxshoA
 
YGTBKM: What Paul LePage Said

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During an afternoon appearance Tuesday on a conservative talk radio show, Maine’s Republican Gov. Paul LePage said he may run for the U.S. Senate in 2018.

LePage made the comment during an appearance on the Boston-based “ Howie Carr Show,” which was broadcasting from Maine on Tuesday afternoon.

LePage said specifically he was thinking about challenging U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent and former two-term governor, because King caucuses with Democrats in Washington.

“I’m thinking about it very strongly,” LePage said during the hour-long segment.

(Thistle↱)​

I mean, come on. Really?
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Notes:

Thistle, Scott. "LePage tells Howie Carr he may challenge Angus King in 2018". Bangor Daily News. 25 August 2015. BangorDailyNews.com. 27 August 2015. http://bit.ly/1NXQkxp
 
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