LePage aide denies conveying funding threat in Good Will-Hinckley probe
Source: Kennebec Journal
AUGUSTA –– A senior policy adviser to Gov. Paul LePage told lawmakers Thursday that he never conveyed a threat to officials at Good Will-Hinckley that the organization’s state funding was in jeopardy because it hired House Speaker Mark Eves.
Aaron Chadbourne acknowledged that the governor was dismayed at the organization’s decision to hire the Democratic leader, but testified under oath that he never mentioned the state’s $530,000 in annual funding to Good Will-Hinckley during his attempts to persuade school officials to rescind its offer to make Eves its next president.
Chadbourne’s testimony is at odds with statements by two officials from the organization, both of whom told a legislative watchdog agency that they left those meetings with the impression that the school’s funding was in jeopardy.
Chadbourne is one of nine witnesses scheduled to testify Thursday as the Government Oversight Committee continues its probe into allegations that the governor overstepped his authority when he threatened to yank Good Will-Hinckley’s funding. A report by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, which is directed by the oversight panel, found that the funding threat directly led to the school’s decision to withdraw its job offer to Eves.
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Read more: http://www.centralmaine.com/2015/11/12/lepage-aide-denies-conveying-funding-threat-in-good-will-hinckley-probe/
pants on fire!!!!111
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