Maine House rejects lawmaker’s call to impeach secretary of state

AUGUSTA — The Maine House of Representatives has rejected a Republican lawmaker’s formal request to launch an impeachment investigation of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

House members voted 80-60 against the resolution after a brief debate Tuesday morning. All Democrats opposed the resolution while all but one Republican, Rep. David Woodsome, R-Waterboro, voted in favor.

“I was heartened that a majority of the Legislature recognized that this order was not the appropriate process and one should not remove an elected official for doing their job and following the constitution,” Bellows said after the vote. “That being said, this matter is one for the courts and the work of the people is something we must do together, regardless of how people voted today, and I’m committed to doing that.”

Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, filed a resolution to impeach Bellows this month after Bellows decided to bar former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol – a decision that has been appealed in court.

Andrews’ impeachment resolution called for the establishment of a House Special Investigative Committee to “investigate allegations of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and other misconduct.” The 13-member committee would have been charged with issuing a report by Jan. 31 to the full House, which would vote on whether or not to impeach. It would have taken a two-thirds vote of the Senate to convict.

The resolution was a long shot, at best.

Maine law only allows impeachment for “a misdemeanor in office.” And Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature. Bellows is a Democrat and was appointed by the Democratically controlled Legislature.

Rep. Katrina Smith, R-Palmero, said Trump met all of the qualifications for office and should appear on the ballot. She said Trump committed no crimes and has been neither tried nor convicted of an insurrection.

“(Bellows) overstepped her bounds by listening to testimony that was so obscenely biased that it brought people to tears,” Smith said. “She is not a judge. She is not a jury.”

Rep. James Thorne, R-Carmel, supported the impeachment effort, even though he conceded it would not likely advance. He also criticized Bellows for responding to the Republican impeachment resolution by calling it “political theater.”

“I would strongly urge the secretary of state to use more caution going forward in her words, her tone and her actions while claiming to represent the entire citizens of Maine.”

Democrats argue Bellows was doing her job because state law requires her to make the decision on ballot eligibility.

Rep. Adam Lee, D-Auburn, said Bellows simply followed the process outlined in state law for challenging a candidate’s eligibility to appear on the ballot. That law required Bellows to make a ruling and affords an aggrieved party the opportunity to appeal in court.

“If we’re displeased that the first stop in the process is the secretary of state, it’s this body that can change that – not through impeachment but through law,” said Lee, an attorney. “Those are the remedies – lawmaking and judicial adjudication.”

Rep. Laura Supica, D-Bangor, suggested that sexism was playing a role in the impeachment effort and relentless criticism of Bellows, the first female secretary of state.

“It is not lost on me that the scrutiny she receives is different than what her male predecessors were subjected to,” Supica said. “And in this hyper-political environment that scrutiny has a powerful effect. Now we find ourselves dealing with the orders before us, challenging the secretary’s integrity and initiating her impeachment.”

After filing his impeachment resolution, Andrews argued last week that Bellows should have recused herself from considering Trump’s eligibility because she is biased. Bellows served as an elector for President Biden, which means she could not have been impartial, Andrews said.

“She needs to be impeached or resign. One of her qualified deputies should be running the 2024 presidential election in Maine,” Andrews said when he introduced the resolution earlier this month.

Bellows said she didn’t want to sidestep her constitutional obligation to rule on the petition by recusing herself.

“I had a job to do,” Bellows said after the vote. “There are no exceptions in the constitution or the law for not doing one’s job because it is difficult, complex or unprecedented.”

In addition to Republicans calling for her removal or resignation, Bellows has been targeted by threats and a swatting incident in which someone made a false report to police about an emergency at her home.

When asked about experiencing sexism as the first female secretary of state, Bellows said research suggests that female office holders are subjected to threats of violence and character attacks.

“I certainly have experienced threatening communications targeting not only me but members of my family and the people around me,” Bellows said. “It is not easy to be the first female secretary of state but the process worked today and all of us have an obligation in setting aside who we are, where we come from, what we believe.

“What unites us is the constitution,” she continued. “What unites us here in Maine is the rule of law and that is what I will follow.”

Staff writer Rachel Ohm contributed to this report.