Maine governor sues state's attorney general in Trump policy tussle

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

POLITICS | Mon May 1, 2017 | 6:48pm EDT

Maine governor sues state's attorney general in Trump policy tussle

Republican Maine Governor Paul LePage on Monday sued the state's Democratic attorney general, contending she had abused her power by joining legal opposition to early moves by President Donald Trump that LePage's office supported.

LePage, a fiery conservative now in his second term, challenged Attorney General Janet Mills for joining a legal brief opposing Trump's executive order banning immigration from a half-dozen majority Muslim countries.

The governor said he supported Trump's order, which has been blocked by courts and which the White House says is necessary to protect national security.

"It is no secret that Attorney General Mills and I have differing political views, but that is not the issue," LePage said in a statement. "The problem is she has publicly denounced court cases which the executive branch has requested to join and subsequently refuses to provide legal representation for the state."

He said Mills had refused to represent the state in other cases where she disagreed with LePage's political position and prevented his office from filing its own brief in support of Trump, a charge that Mills denied.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-maine-politics-idUSKBN17X2FV

[Equinox Moon]

1. This is curious.

I would assume the attorney general can act independently of the Gov. Clearly the governor is going to challenge this.

I don't like all this authoritative approach we are seeing from the repukes.

[bluedigger]

2. LePage is in over his head going after Janet.

Not only is Janet a leading Democrat in the State, but her brother Paul is a leading Republican and former gubernatorial candidate himself. The Mills family knows everything and everybody in Maine politics, and are well respected on all sides, I think.