AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers frustrated over Gov. Janet Mills not appointing legislators to the panel reviewing the Lewiston mass shooting are mulling whether to conduct their own review of last month’s carnage that left 18 people dead and 13 injured.
The seven-member commission, which met for the first time Monday, includes current and former attorneys, judges, prosecutors and medical leaders whom Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey appointed to the panel tasked with reviewing the lead-up and response to the Oct. 25 shooting at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar.
Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed frustration they are not represented on the commission. It is a sign of tension around a high-interest investigation into Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record and the 10th deadliest in U.S. history, although top Democrats are backing up the governor’s position for now.
“Leaving out legislators is unacceptable,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, said.
Keim, who sits on the Legislature’s watchdog committee, said she and other lawmakers in both parties are discussing whether a legislative commission or the oversight committee could launch a separate review of the Lewiston shooting.
Rep. Adam Lee, a Democrat, and Sen. Eric Brakey, a Republican, who are both from Lewiston’s twin city of Auburn, agreed that Mills, a Democrat, should have included legislators.
“From my perspective, any discussion of subpoena power must also include a legislative discussion of the composition, scope and public nature of the commission,” said Lee, who also wanted Lewiston community members on the panel.
There could be obstacles for another review, Keim acknowledged. It could be seen as duplicative, and both entities would want to speak to the same people. Any new investigation would require a two-thirds vote, just as the emergency legislation granting subpoena power to the existing commission would.
As a result, Keim and her colleagues are also discussing whether Mills could add members to the commission. Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman did not respond to a question about whether the governor would consider adding legislators to the existing commission,
In response to legislators suggesting not enough members may support granting Mills’ panel subpoena power, Goodman said the governor and attorney general “hope that lawmakers will aid the commission, not impede it, as it seeks answers for Maine people.”
The Bangor Daily News reached out to Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, and Rep. Jessica Fay, D-Raymond, the chairs of the Government Oversight Committee, but Democratic caucus spokespeople referred questions to legislative leaders who support the existing probe.
Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, believes lawmakers should let the commission begin its work “before assessing whether or not the Legislature should open up a separate investigation,” spokesperson Christine Kirby said. House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, “fully supports” the independent commission, her spokesperson said.
The Lewiston shooting panel, whose members are not paid, selected four staff members Monday to assist its investigation, and Daniel Wathen, a former Maine Supreme Judicial Court chief justice who chairs the commission, said the panel could add more staff if needed. Details on staff compensation are not yet available.
The panel aims to produce a public report on its findings within six months and asked Monday for the Legislature to grant it subpoena power when the new session begins in January. The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Mills and Frey tasked the commission with uncovering the “full and unvarnished facts” of the mass shooting, the months preceding it and the police response that included a 48-hour manhunt for the gunman, Robert R. Card II, before the 40-year-old Army reservist from Bowdoin was found dead in Lisbon of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Part of the commission’s work may focus on Card’s peers and family on multiple occasions sharing concerns with police about his declining mental health and access to firearms in the months before his rampage. The Army Reserve also has launched internal investigations into the lead-up to the shooting.
When they reconvene in January, Maine lawmakers may also consider several bills responding to the mass shooting that deal with guns and mental health.