AUGUSTA, Maine — A dispute between Gov. Paul LePage and a coalition of land conservation groups and lawmakers over funding for the state’s Land for Maine’s Future program is unlikely to end anytime soon.
LePage has refused to issue voter-approved funds for the program until the Legislature allows some of the revenue from timber harvested on public lands to be filtered to a low-income heating program.
The nearly 2-year-old standoff has thrown some $11 million and more than 30 land conservation projects into jeopardy, driven a political wedge into the Land for Maine’s Future’s board of directors and sent local conservation groups scrambling to secure temporary funds for deals that were in the works before the dispute.
At the heart of the controversy is Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte, who also serves as the director of LePage’s Office of Policy Management. LaBonte, also the former executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust, has been tasked by LePage to review the Land for Maine’s Future program and make recommendations on improving it.
At a Land for Maine’s Future board meeting on Tuesday, LaBonte delivered the first draft portion of his report — mainly a factual background on the program — noting the final version would be delivered in November.
But LaBonte is facing criticism from conservation advocates and some lawmakers who say it’s hypocritical for him to be involved in LePage’s attempt to dismantle a conservation program from which his former organization, the Androscoggin Land Trust, benefited.
“I think [LaBonte] is going to have to live with the consequences of his actions,” said David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which is among a number of groups urging LePage to release the funding for conservation projects.
Trahan said LaBonte was well-respected in his former role as a land trust director for the work he did to help protect and preserve for public use many acres in the Androscoggin River watershed.
LaBonte, who was traveling on Friday, exchanged several messages with the Sun Journal via Facebook stating he would be happy to discuss the issue on Monday. He said he had previously tried to discuss the matter with Trahan and still hoped to meet with him in the days ahead.
Thomas Abello, senior policy adviser for the Nature Conservancy in Maine, which is a part of the Land For Maine’s Future Coalition, a group trying to pressure LePage into releasing the funding, said the conservation community also is concerned with the politicization of the program, which had always stood above the partisan fray.
“It has been nonpartisan, it has been supported throughout the state,” Abello said.
The dispute, along with the delayed action on conservation projects, also is slowly undermining confidence in the program from landowners who may have been considering a conservation option, Abello said.
“If you think about it, it throws predictability out the window,” Abello said. “I’m not aware of any landowner, at this point, walking away, but in the future you know that certainly could be the case.”
Possible resolution to the Land for Maine’s Future standoff may not come until January when the Legislature reconvenes for the second half of the 127th lawmaking session. In limbo is an amended bill that would strip the governor of authority to hold up the Land for Maine’s Future bond funding that’s been approved by voters.
That amended measure, authored by House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, is sitting on LePage’s desk. The governor will have three days after the Legislature reconvenes in January to veto the measure.
“The fact is that the governor hasn’t provided any actual suggestions for improvement to this program or provided anything that we can actually take action on or have a discussion on,” McCabe said. “It’s just at every turn he’s trying to pull the rug out from under the [Land for Maine’s Future] program.”
McCabe, like Trahan, said LaBonte’s role in the process remains puzzling.
While LaBonte has been presenting information to the Land for Maine’s Future board meetings, McCabe said it’s often just repeating information previously prepared by the Land for Maine’s Future staff.
“It’s not clear what his role is and what he is actually providing because he’s not providing clear guidance as far as it relates to the governor’s office,” McCabe said.
“He doesn’t come to the meetings with a clear message, and I don’t even think he can answer on behalf of the governor. At this point in time, it seems like the goal of the administration is to do everything they can to destroy this program.”
Peter Steele, a LePage spokesman, declined comment Friday but instead released copies of letters LePage has written to a local official in Cumberland and to the president of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
In one, LePage criticizes the land trust for not disclosing the millions of dollars it has in reserves and in the other he defends the vote of Rep. Mike Timmons, R-Cumberland. Timmons was one of the six Republicans to switch his vote on the issue to support LePage.
“This was not about one project in Cumberland or North Yarmouth,” LePage wrote to Cumberland’s Town Council Chairman Peter Bingham Sr. “It was about rewarding rich organizations with wealthy donors and big corporate benefactors while poor and low-income Mainers were struggling to stay warm in their homes during long, cold winters.”