Maine Governor Sends ‘Threatening’ Letter To Environmental Donors
Gov. Paul LePage this week wote a letter to donors to the Natural Resources Council of Maine, suggesting they were complicit in ruining the state's economy.
Gov. Paul LePage (R) stepped up his attacks on the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) in dramatic fashion this week by sending personal letters to the environmental group’s donors.
“I would request that you carefully review NRCM’s policy positions before donating to them in the future,” the governor
wrote, after directing members of his staff to find addresses of donors posted in the environmental organization’s public documents. “It is an activist group that says ‘no’ to every opportunity to allow Mainers to prosper.”
Unsurprisingly, the group and its donors were outraged.
“[Our members] have been furious with this governor for five years and this makes them particularly mad,” Pete Didisheim, NRCM’s advocacy director, told ThinkProgress.
“Is this really how the governor is spending his time and the taxpayers’ money? Is this now OK that our governor can direct public employees to look up the mailing addresses for people who belong to any organization that disagrees with him?” Didisheim asked, calling the letter “threatening” and an “over-the top McCarthyist strategy.”
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