AUGUSTA — In its first roll call vote of the legislative session, the Maine House rejected a bid to review the residency of a newly elected state representative from Old Orchard Beach.
A request by state Rep. Larry Lockman, R-Amherst, to convene the House committee on elections to review the election of George Hogan, D-Old Orchard Beach, was rejected, with 121 lawmakers voting against the review and 17 voting for it.
Lockman said he had testimony and evidence to suggest that Hogan was not living at his Old Orchard Beach home in House District 13 when he was elected and was instead living in Saco. But House Majority Leader Erin Herbig, D-Belfast, said that Hogan, who has lived in Old Orchard Beach for 74 years, was living in Saco only temporarily as his home was being remodeled. Herbig said Hogan’s family has lived in Old Orchard Beach for several generations.
Hogan was elected to the seat with 61 percent of the vote over Republican Michael Coleman.
Also speaking against Lockman’s request was House Minority Leader Ken Fredette, R-Newport, who said it is unreasonable to suggest that a person who moves temporarily for specific reasons would be relinquishing their residency in a town, state or country. Fredette, an officer in the Maine Air National Guard, used the example of military members who are deployed to other countries.
He also said he had spent two years attending graduate school in Boston, returning to Maine on weekends, but that didn’t make him a resident of Massachusetts.
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