Politics
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Gov.-elect Hannah Pingree on Thursday named a former Republican state senator who once co-hosted a TV talk show with her and a Penobscot Nation leader to co-chair the committee that will help pick her Cabinet.
Roger Katz, a lawyer who served four terms as a state senator and was Augusta’s mayor, and Maulian Bryant, the executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance and former ambassador for the Penobscot Nation, will lead a volunteer Transition Committee whose full membership will be announced in the coming days, Pingree’s team said.
The picks pair a Republican with long ties to the Democrat and a tribal leader at the center of a policy fight Pingree has promised to take on early. She pledged during the campaign to pass a tribal sovereignty bill within her first 100 days, an issue that divided Gov. Janet Mills and Wabanaki leaders through both of Mills’ terms.
Katz, a centrist lawmaker who has often criticized President Donald Trump and former Gov. Paul LePage, now chairs the University of Maine System’s board of trustees. He and Pingree, a former House speaker and top aide to Mills, co-hosted “The Maine Event,” a public affairs talk show that began on public access in 2014 and later aired on Maine Public.
“Roger Katz and Maulian Bryant bring the experience and judgment I want at the table as we build this administration,” Pingree said in a statement.
Scott Ogden, a former deputy chief of staff to Mills who also worked for U.S. Sens. Angus King and Olympia Snowe and for Pingree’s mother, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, will co-direct the paid transition staff. Former Portland Mayor Karen Geraghty will plan the Jan. 6 inauguration.
The state gives a governor-elect $5,000 for the transition and inauguration. State law requires separate transition and inaugural committees to raise the rest.