AUGUSTA
Gov. Paul LePage announced that his administration is suspending payment to the Alexander Group after it came to light that several pieces of the report, issued late last week, had been lifted from an economic nonprofit organization’s report.
Two full pages of the Alexander Report were taken word for word from the work of the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington D.C.
New evidence of more plagiarism arose on Friday, this time from one of prinicpal author Gary Alexander’s earlier reports, done for the state of Arkansas.
Late on Friday afternoon, the governor released this statement:
“I am gravely concerned about these accusations and we will get to the bottom of it. Upon learning of this information today, we have taken immediate action and suspended all payments to the Alexander Group. We will continue to look into these accusations and will take further action, including termination of the contract, if warranted.”
The Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald discovered the two instances of plagiarism separately.
The Alexander Group contract would have cost the state $975,000, some of which would have come from a federal fund to aid needy families. The Democratic Legislative majority tried and failed to cancel the contract in the last session.
The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less