Abuse of power & retaliationOversight & ethics enforcement

Maine's legislative oversight committee voted 7-5 to endorse a report that found events 'strongly suggest' a threat to Good Will-Hinckley's state funding was linked to its hiring of House Speaker Mark Eves; a federal appeals court later granted Gov. Paul LePage qualified immunity on Eves's lawsuit, 2015-2019

Confidence: Confirmed · 4 sourcesMaine · Oct 12, 2026

Subject of this story

Paul R. LePage, Candidate for U.S. House, ME-2

Also named

Oversight

Maine Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA)

Maine Legislature Government Oversight Committee

Affected

Mark Eves, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives

Good Will-Hinckley

What happened

The Legislature's Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) reported on Sept 8, 2015 that after Gov. Paul LePage learned on June 5, 2015 that Good Will-Hinckley had hired House Speaker Mark Eves as president, the governor, the acting education commissioner and a senior policy advisor told school representatives the governor would have trouble supporting the school, which recipients understood to mean $530,000 in state funding, and a first-quarter payment was held on June 9. OPEGA said events "strongly suggest" the funding threat and held payment were directly linked to the hiring, and said it remained unclear whether the governor personally told anyone the funding would be cut or directed the held payment. OPEGA recorded that the governor and the acting commissioner objected because Eves had been a vocal opponent of charter schools and, in their view, was not qualified to lead the school. The school later ended Eves's employment agreement; the state then re-committed the $530,000 and the first quarterly payment was submitted in July 2015. The Government Oversight Committee voted 7-5 on Dec 3, 2015 to fully endorse the report; the five members who voted no then moved to endorse it except for a section on the fairness of the school's hiring process. The meeting summary records the committee chair saying LePage stated on television that he had threatened the funding withdrawal, and that whether any law was broken was outside the committee's scope. LePage and his staff declined to speak with OPEGA, citing pending litigation. Governor's spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett told the Portland Press Herald the review "was little more than a political witch hunt triggered by overreaching politicians" and that "there's nothing there." In Eves v. LePage (No. 16-1492, June 19, 2019) the First Circuit, sitting en banc, held LePage entitled to qualified immunity on Eves's political-affiliation claim because a reasonable governor could have viewed the job as a policymaking position, and did not decide whether he violated the Constitution; three concurring judges wrote that, absent the policymaker exception, Eves had adequately pleaded a constitutional violation. No sanction against LePage is recorded in these sources.

Sources (4)

Maine Legislature OPEGA, Information Brief: State Funding for Good Will-Hinckley (Sept 8, 2015)Events described in this Information Brief strongly suggest that the threat of GWH losing State COE funding, and the subsequent holding of a payment already in process for GWH's first quarter of FY2016, are directly linked to the Governor learning that GWH had decided to hire the Speaker as President.

Maine Legislature Government Oversight Committee, Meeting Summary (Dec 3, 2015)Vote on endorsement of the Brief: Motion passed 7-5.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Eves v. LePage, No. 16-1492 (en banc, June 19, 2019)The en banc court holds that LePage, on these unique facts, is entitled to qualified immunity because a reasonable governor in LePage's situation could have believed Eves's position as the new President of GWH to be a policymaking position for which political affiliation was relevant.

Portland Press Herald, "LePage may face reprimand after oversight panel accepts report in Eves case" (Dec 3, 2015)Governor's spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said the OPEGA review was little more than a political witch hunt triggered by overreaching politicians.

Response

Paul R. LePage

Statement given

Contacted and responded — exact wording not on record.

What happened next (0)

No outcome recorded yet.

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