AUGUSTA, Maine — The executive order issued by Gov. Paul LePage on April 20 to start an investigation into the Maine Human Rights Commission, which wasn’t released publicly until Tuesday, was withheld in apparent violation of Maine public records law.
According to Maine Revised Statutes, all executive orders must be filed with the Legislative Council and the Law and Legislative Reference Library when they are issued. In addition, the orders must be posted on the state’s website within one week of the issuance date.
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, a Democrat, said Wednesday that he never saw the executive order. His office, which normally receives such documents through the Legislature, is responsible for filing and archiving all official documents from the legislative and executive branches.
“Those are not common documents, and it is an arguable point whether such a document has any force when it is never made public,” said Dunlap. “At the very least this is gross negligence; it’s incompetence at the base level. If it was done intentionally, it borders on malfeasance. The duty of public officials is to make their work public. This is about doing the people’s business.”
A total of seven executive orders were signed by LePage earlier this year and not properly filed. A spokeswoman for LePage said Wednesday the proper steps have now been taken and that failure to post the orders online was an oversight on her part.
Adrienne Bennett also said the governor ordered the probe, which has not started five months after being ordered, to ensure the Maine Human Rights Commission’s process is “fair for all parties.”
She also denied allegations that an investigative review of the Maine Human Rights Commission the governor ordered in April is political retaliation.
“The governor’s intention when he created this group was and continues to be an effort to safeguard the process,” said Bennett in response to questions from the Bangor Daily News. “We have a diverse panel and even took the direction from [the commission] on appointing members.”
Amy Sneirson, director of the commission, said Tuesday that her organization learned in August that LePage had ordered the creation of the review panel in April, about three weeks after the commission rejected a request by LePage to reopen a religious discrimination case that went against Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro.
“I can’t help but notice that this executive order was signed around the same time that we refused to do what he wanted in a case,” Sneirson has said. “I can’t help but see the relationship between those things.”
Bennett dismissed Sneirson’s statement.
“For her to claim this as retaliation is unfortunate and baseless,” said Bennett.
LePage responded to the rejection by refusing to sign a financial order for the commission to move $4,000 from one of its accounts to another to cover a temporary staffing shortage. That order still has not been issued.
Bennett said other than that financial order, LePage “does not intend to intervene with the process or any of the casework conducted by the MHRC.”
“The creation of the group is only to address the process, not the outcome of cases,” she said.
Bennett announced the task force members on Wednesday afternoon: lawyer Eric Uhl to represent MHRC respondents, lawyer Jim Clifford to represent MHRC complainants, Bob Seavey to represent independent businesses, Chris McMorrow to represent the Maine Apartment Owners and Managers Association, lawyer Frank D’Allessandro to represent Pine Tree Legal, lawyer Patricia Peard as an expert in administrative investigation practices and lawyer Zach Heiden to represent the MHRC.
Bennett said the Nov. 1 deadline set by LePage’s executive order would be extended.
“They will have adequate time to do their work,” said Bennett.
Sneirson said she welcomes the review because it will highlight the work accomplished by the commission, which in fiscal year 2015 heard more than 750 individual complaints.
“We feel as an agency that we have nothing to hide so we’re not afraid of this sort of review,” she said. “If anything comes out of it, it will be a conclusion that we need more resources.”
