PORTLAND (AP) — The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing in on a request to reinstate a lawsuit accusing Maine Gov. Paul LePage of abuse of power and blackmail.
Lawyers for Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves and the Republican governor delivered arguments Wednesday. Now the three-judge panel in Boston will decide whether to overturn a decision by a federal judge in Maine to dismiss the lawsuit.
Eves’ lawsuit accuses LePage of using blackmail to force a charter school operator to rescind a job offer to him, and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
His lawyer, David Webbert, said the lawsuit aims to protect Mainers from being “blackmailed, threatened, and intimidated by a politician willing to abuse government power for partisan reasons.” LePage’s lawyer, Patrick Strawbridge, had no comment.
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