KITTERY — When I was 5 years old, I asked my father, “What does the word ‘government’ mean?” He told me, “The people, working together.” I still cherish that definition.

During the three years I have been a member of the people’s House in Maine, I have come to see that Gov. Paul LePage does not share that view of government. His goal is to make sure that government does not work for the people.

These three years have been a very disturbing time. I ran for office to represent my constituents and to improve the state of Maine to the best of my ability. What I have found in Augusta is a climate of anger, discord and fear. It has led me to support impeachment of the governor.

I have been elected twice to represent the people of Kittery. Each time, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state of Maine.

When I read the Maine Criminal Code’s “Theft by Extortion” chapter, I see that “Extortion occurs when a person threatens to: … Do any other act that would … harm substantially any other person with respect to that person’s health, safety, business, calling, career … .”

I am not a lawyer, only a citizen-legislator who’s made a living at various times as a taxi driver, carpenter, boatbuilder and now as an architect. But it seems clear that our governor admitted to this criminal action last June when he told a journalist that he did, in fact, pull state funding from a nonprofit organization that serves at-risk youths because the organization hired Speaker Mark Eves as its president. As we know, the governor got his way, and his political rival was quickly out of a job.

My sworn oath of office requires me to take action.

Article I of the Maine Constitution states: “Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish sentiments on any subject.” When our governor threatens a legislator’s livelihood because of his political beliefs, the core of our democracy is threatened.

Public officials would live in fear of retribution for their political beliefs and statements. In fact, I have found this is the growing political climate in Augusta.

Longstanding government officials have resigned under duress. In the past three years, I have requested meetings with various departments and commissions during the process of crafting bills. The response is usually something like, “I will check with the authorities.” State employees from various departments and members of state commissions have been forbidden by the governor to testify before our legislative committees where we do the hard work of refining the bills that become law.

This is not the way our government should function. Hope and communication are so much more effective than fear and censorship.

Not only are individuals threatened, this governor threatens our whole system of government. His tactic last spring of vetoing every legislative bill until we agreed to his one issue of unsustainable timber-cutting on public lands was just another form of blackmail.

The thousands of hours and thousands of dollars – $18,000 for each additional day – we spent extending our legislative session to accomplish the necessary tasks to run the state were solely attributable to the governor’s failed strategy to take complete control.

If this abuse of executive power is allowed to continue unchecked, it bodes very badly for the future of Maine. Our work in Augusta has, to date, resisted the ways of Washington, D.C., where dogma and intransigence have broken effective and representative government.

We can become “the people, working together” again in a civil and cooperative atmosphere. But there is one very necessary change that has to happen.

Our Maine Constitution is modeled after an incredibly enduring document, the Constitution of the United States of America. This document establishes three branches of government with checks and balances. When the Executive Branch oversteps its power, there is a remedy in our Constitution: impeachment.

I believe there is a preponderance of evidence to bring our governor to trial in the Maine Senate. I am not interested in fall guys, excuses, transference of blame, avoidance of facts or questions submitted in writing.

I would like to see our governor, in person, under oath, testify to the truth of his actions before the Maine Senate. That is why I will vote in favor of the first impeachment of a governor in the state of Maine’s 195-year history.

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