Last spring’s controversy involving Good Will-Hinckley School, Maine House Speaker Mark Eaves and Gov. Paul LePage has faded from the headlines, but a legislative Government Oversight Committee hearing scheduled for Oct. 15 and a simmering civil suit mean it’s far from over.

There are valuable civics lessons to be learned from this unfortunate episode. For those who want to learn more, I would recommend reading the 25-page investigative report by OPEGA, published Sept. 9 and posted online.

The OPEGA report is factual in content, neutral in tone and commendably thorough (though it suffers from the refusal of the governor and his staff to participate). It avoids speculation where hard evidence is absent. Nonetheless, the saga it describes seems a shabby affair, reflecting poorly on everyone.

Like the 1980s prime-time soap opera, “Dallas,” its story line suggests cronyism, hypocrisy, vindictiveness and abuse of power. I use the term “suggests” because the players were operating in a political environment, where the truth is often elusive.

Though the details are far too complicated to fully recount, the sequence of events is roughly as follows.

Good Will-Hinckley (“GWH”) is a more than century-old nonprofit institution in Fairfield that offers educational programs for at-risk and homeless youths. It ran into financial difficulties after the 2008 recession, forcing it to suspend most of its educational and residential programs in July 2009.

It was able to reopen its high school in 2011, first as a magnet school, then in 2012 as a charter school (known as the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences or “MeANS”), with the help of a Harold Alfond Foundation grant, public charter school funding and a Center of Excellence for At-risk Students (“COE”) annual appropriation which started at $330 million per annum in 2012 and jumped to $530 million thereafter.

LePage strongly supported initial COE funding for MeANS. Indeed, he took a special interest in the program, probably because its students reminded him of his own hardscrabble childhood.

In order to accommodate its target enrollment of 210 students, GWH renovated and enlarged an existing school building, using the first half of a $5.5 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation and a $3 million line of credit as a bridge loan. The last $2.75 million installment of Alfond money would not be payable until 2019 and then only after GWH satisfied certain conditions, including implementation of a plan for long-term financial solvency.

Until GWH received the last of the Alfond grant, it would remain reliant on COE appropriations ($132,500 per quarter). In fact, it hired lobbyists to persuade the Legislature and LePage to carry forward the $530 million COE funding through fiscal years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Enter Mark Eves, a 38-year-old family therapist, who was elected to the Maine House in 2008 as a Democrat and became speaker in 2012.

In February 2015, GWH began advertising for a new president. The required background and qualifications listed on its job postings included: successful management of financial systems, budgeting, development and fundraising; administrative experience in strategic planning, staff assessment, institutional changes and technology implementation; and experience developing partnerships with K-12, four-year institutions, business and industry. Also required were a master’s degree and experience working with legislators, state policy makers and governmental agencies. School administrative experience and an earned doctorate were listed as preferred qualifications.

Eves was among 19 applicants for the job. This pool was narrowed to six, and, after a series of candidate interviews by a search committee, Eves was recommended to the Goodwill-Hinkley board, which voted to hire him. A member of Eves’ legislative staff was on the search committee and also served as chair of the MeANS board, though he didn’t participate in the formal interview of Eves or recommend or vote on his selection.

Eves’ resume included a master’s degree, credentials in the mental health field and experience working with legislators and other government players, but he didn’t appear to possess most of the qualifications called for by the job description, namely a strong background in finance, administration or  education. Moreover, the search committee had some concerns about his lack of availability, given his stated intention to complete his legislative term and live at a substantial distance from the school after the start of employment, as well as his past vocal opposition to charter schools.

On June 5, 2015, Gov. LePage, a Republican who’d had a contentious relationship with the speaker, learned that Good Will-Hinckley was planning to employ Eves. He immediately contacted school officials, both directly and through the Department of Education’s acting commissioner and other aides, and, according to the OPEGA report, made it clear he wouldn’t support continued state funding to the school if Eves got the job. LePage scolded GWH for offering the position to someone he considered unqualified and a hypocrite.

Under intense pressure and facing a potential loan default if its COE funding was cut off, the GWH board quickly buckled and withdrew its offer to Eves, announcing its decision on June 24. The school’s COE funding thereafter remained intact in the state’s FY2016 and 2017 budget.

It’s unclear from the OPEGA report whether the governor intended to order an immediate funding cutoff if Eves was hired or was simply stating his unwillingness to back future legislative appropriations for the school. However, the report does conclude that remarks made to GWH officials, coupled with actual withholding by the Department of Education of a quarterly payment already in process to the school, were understood by the school to mean it would face an imminent loss of $530,000 in annual state funding.

It’s also unclear whether GWH’s chief motivation in hiring Eves was a desire to use his insider access so he could act as an unofficial lobbyist to protect its COE funding lifeline, and, indeed, whether this was understood by both parties as his major qualification (given his lack of experience in many other areas and his prior advocacy against charter schools). According to OPEGA’s report, a member of GWH’s senior leadership team did note that “the Speaker’s network of connections could bring opportunities to GWH.”

Finally, while there’s no evidence that the speaker’s legislative aide exercised any formal influence on the selection process, it’s fair to ask whether he informally helped steer the decision to Eves.

What is evident is that GWH was extremely dependent on, and had a history of lobbying for, state funding and that Eves was well positioned to influence the state budget both during and after his legislative career.

It’s also evident that the governor, like former President Richard Nixon, does not distinguish between opponents and enemies and that, during his tenure in office, he has repeatedly abused his authority by withholding or threatening to withhold state funds to wring concessions out of agencies and institutions he is not supposed to be running (such as the Community College System and Land for Maine’s Future). Certainly that’s what GWH officials feared would happen if they kept Eves on.

Perhaps the pending civil suit or legislative committee hearing will bring greater clarity to the facts in this matter. But, whichever party wins or loses, it’s unlikely anyone will emerge from it untarnished.

Elliott L. Epstein, a local attorney, is the founder of Museum L-A and author of “Lucifer’s Child,” a book about the notorious 1984 child murder of Angela Palmer. He may be reached at [email protected].