Paul LePage says legal notice bill props up 'dying, antiquated industry'

AUGUSTA — Maine’s Republican governor says requiring legal notices to be printed in newspapers “props up a dying, antiquated industry.”

Gov. Paul LePage is no fan of Maine newspapers, and has said journalists use words to destroy people.

State legislators on Thursday overrode LePage’s veto of a bill that requires the continued posting of newspaper legal notices on a publicly accessible website.

The bill doesn’t address existing requirements that legal notices be printed in newspapers.

But the governor says he couldn’t support the bill because lawmakers must explore eliminating such requirements, which he calls a “taxpayer subsidy of the worst sort.”

In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has said he’ll make such a change a priority in 2017.

Lobbying efforts from publishers have stopped similar efforts in other states.