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February 14

Acting state planning director fired over OUI

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE — Richard Swanson Jr., acting director of the state Planning Office, resigned today in light of his arrest Monday night in Waterville on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

Richard M. Swanson was appointed acting director of the Maine State Planning Office in November.

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Swanson said he was asked to resign by Gov. Paul LePage's director of boards and commissions, Mike Hersey.

LePage’s press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, said the governor did not have a statement to issue regarding Swanson, but she did provide Swanson's resignation letter.

The letter, written on state of Maine stationery, reads:

“Dear Governor LePage, It is with deep regret that I hereby resign my position as acting director of the Maine State Planning Office. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve in your administration. Sincerely, Richard M. Swanson, Jr.”

Swanson, 64, of 182 McGrath Pond Road, Oakland, was arrested on Lincoln Street in Waterville at 11:27 p.m. Monday, after police Officer Matt Libby stopped him for driving his 2008 Saab erratically, according to police Chief Joseph Massey.

Massey said this morning that Swanson's blood alcohol content was over .08, the legal limit.

This morning, Swanson said, “I blew a .11; there was a time when that wasn’t even over the limit.”

Swanson was released on $700 unsecured bail, according to Massey.

It is unclear exactly where Swanson had been prior to his arrest, or where he was going.

“He just said that he had been out earlier in the city and he gave very few details about where he was going and what he was doing prior to the stop,” Massey said.

He said that Libby did not know who Swanson was during the stop, but learned it later, at the police department.

Swanson was named acting director of the state Planning Office in November 2011.

Asked this morning what his plans are, Swanson said, “I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do now.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com

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