AUGUSTA — A key Democratic lawmaker threatened to walk out of a meeting on the state budget Wednesday after Gov. Paul LePage issued a statement saying Democrats were delaying action on the budget and blaming them for a $221 million shortfall.

“The administration’s proposal has been public since the beginning of December, and while Democrats have criticized the plan from the start, they have failed to work on any solutions to the problem,” LePage said in the news release. “Republicans have been ready and willing to solve this and it’s time Democrats stop delaying this important issue.”

The Legislature’s Appropriations Committee had been at work for about 30 minutes when copies of the news release were distributed to members by Rep. David Webster, D-Freeport. After reading the release, Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, closed his budget book and said he was leaving.

“OK, I’m done working for the day,” he said. “I’m done working. The governor wants to issue this press release and do the budget himself. Have a good day. I’m going home.”

That prompted Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, to ask for a corner caucus, which allows Democrats and Republicans to meet in separate corners of the room. After a few minutes, Rotundo asked if the lead committee members from both parties could meet privately in the back.

More than an hour later, all members, including Martin, returned to their seats to continue work.

Martin, a former House speaker and a legislator for more than 40 years, then said that governors don’t normally get involved in committee work.

“Sometimes it’s difficult for a chief executive to not get into the middle of the process,” he said. “Chief executives normally get involved when we get in a crisis.”

LePage’s spokeswoman, Adrienne Bennett, who stood in the committee room during the delay, said the news release wasn’t intended to impede progress.

“If anything, the governor is encouraging that the process move on,” she said.

Before it got back to work, the committee’s Senate chairman, Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, urged members to stay focused.

“There are opportunities for distractions coming from a number of directions,” he said. “It’s important for us to stay focused on our work. Keep your heads down.”

The committee then got back to the painstaking, line-by-line examination of the budget proposal to close an estimated $221 million shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services over the next 18 months.

The budget proposed by LePage in December would eliminate benefits through MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, for 65,000 Mainers.

In Wednesday’s release, the Republican governor said the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review has verified the size of the shortfall — which has been disputed by Democrats — and he took a jab at the role Democrats have played over the years.

“Democrats can no longer ignore this fiscal mess that they have created through the years,” LePage’s release said. “Taxpayer-funded, government-run health care is not universal nor is it free — it is paid for by hardworking taxpayers — and it must be saved for Maine’s most vulnerable.”

Last month, the DHHS reported that the shortfall was caused largely by faulty budgeting assumptions and a transition to a new computer billing system. It said increased enrollment represents a small portion of the higher-than-expected costs.

LePage’s statement came one day after legislators spent hours reviewing the causes of the shortfall, the assumptions it’s based on, and whether the Office of Fiscal and Program Review agrees that the numbers are accurate.

An official from that office, Grant Pennoyer, said it would likely take two or three more weeks for the office to be able to confirm the numbers.

“We are still not quite there in terms of coming up with an independent confirmation of the shortfall,” he told the committee Tuesday.

DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew said she’s concerned that questions about the numbers will delay needed action. Lawmakers must pass a budget by the end of this month to keep the department from running out of money in early April, she said.

“What is troubling to me is we believe you have the information to assess the shortfall,” she told committee members Tuesday. “I am concerned about a perception that we must continue an analysis for you to arrive at a shortfall number.”

After Tuesday’s meeting, House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, prodded committee members to work together to find a solution.

“Today, I am calling on members of both parties to put partisanship aside, roll up their sleeves and work toward a solution that will put the DHHS budget on a path to future solvency and protect the system for those who need it most,” Nutting said.

While pressure builds inside state government for a resolution, a social worker from Portland presented more than 8,700 signatures in opposition to LePage’s proposal to Appropriations Committee House Chairman Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop, on Wednesday.

Jennifer Lunden, executive director of The Center for Creative Healing, said she took it upon herself to launch an online petition drive in December, when she heard about the proposed cuts. Many of her clients are on MaineCare, she said.

“Some don’t have money for the $2 copay,” she said. “They don’t have cars. Without MaineCare, they wouldn’t be able to access counseling.”

Flood said it’s unlikely that all of the cuts will be stripped out of the budget proposal.

MaineToday Media State House Susan M. Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:

scover@mainetoday.com