AUGUSTA, Maine — The National Governors Association will be returning to Maine for the first time in nearly four decades, announcing on Monday that it will hold its 2020 summer meeting in Portland after lobbying from Gov. Janet Mills.
Mills, a Democrat, has re-established ties with the nonpartisan organization after former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, stopped paying Maine’s $60,000 share of annual dues in 2012 alongside other Republican-led states, saying it was a waste.
Governors of the 50 U.S. states and five territories are members, although some benefits are only available to paying members. Mills spokesman Scott Ogden said the state has resumed paying nearly $61,000 in dues.
The Portland meeting will coincide with Maine’s bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage nationwide. After Mills became governor earlier this year, she became the chair of the association’s natural resources committee.
On Monday, Mills said her relationship with the association has resulted in forming alliances and sharing information, and that she has an “open door” with Republican and Democratic governors alike. She said the event has economic ramifications, too. The meetings typically feature state-specific recreational activities. Conference visitors will be staying in the area.
The association, which is now chaired by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, provides lobbying and consulting services on behalf of members, according to its website. The summer event is one of the group’s two major annual meetings. Mills said she has been thinking about securing the summer conference in Maine since last winter.
“I think I just had to show them where Maine is on the map,” Mills said.
The meeting will be held from Aug. 5-7. It will be the first time the association has met in Maine since 1983. Maine governors have chaired the group three times in its 111-year history. The last one was Gov. John Reed, who chaired the association from 1966 to 1967.