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Monday, April 11, 2016

Maine Governor LePage calls bill "pandering to grieving families"

Maine Governor LePage received a decisive veto override of a bill he found to be wasteful because it pandered to grieving families of children who were victims of homocide.

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Maine Senator Linda Valentino- D of Saco
Sadly, I could blog everyday about the cruel, unsubstantiatiated and convuluted reasoning claimed by Governor LePage, in his inability to provide compassionate leadership for Maine citizens. 

Thank God, the Maine legislature and the state's judiciary are able to challenge the Governor when he executes his wrong minded authority. 


Nevertheless, in the process of screwing things up, the Governor creates enormous angst, ill will and obstructionism within his administration and in his own Republican party, before the legislative branch can fix or mitigate his brash actions.

Today is another page in an "as LePage turns" day, but accompanied by a startling outcome  

WCSH6 in Portland Maine reports:

AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — The Maine Senate on Monday voted unanimously to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of LD 1605, “An Act to Extend the Time for Commencing an Action Relating to Death Caused by Homicide.”

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, on behalf of the families of cold case victims, who were present in the Senate Gallery to witness the veto override.

Governor LePage called the bill nothing more than pandering to grieved families.

“I want to thank these families,” Sen. Valentino said. “This is their bill, not mine. They have advocated strongly for this its passage even though it won’t help any of them. This bill isn’t for their benefit — it’s for the benefit of future victim’s families, who should never be denied justice because of an arbitrary statute of limitations.”

The bill would will give families of homicide victims up to six years to file civil actions related to their loved one’s deaths. The current statute of limitations is just two years. Advocates have argued that two years is not enough time for the families of victims of cold-case homicides to assemble a wrongful death case in civil court.

The bill had earned the unanimous support of the Judiciary Committee, and has the support of Attorney General Janet Mills.

The House also voted to override LePage's veto of the cold case bill. 



“I want to thank these families,” Sen. Valentino said. “This is their bill, not mine. They have advocated strongly for this its passage even though it won’t help any of them. This bill isn’t for their benefit — it’s for the benefit of future victim’s families, who should never be denied justice because of an arbitrary statute of limitations.”

The bill would will give families of homicide victims up to six years to file civil actions related to their loved one’s deaths. The current statute of limitations is just two years. Advocates have argued that two years is not enough time for the families of victims of cold-case homicides to assemble a wrongful death case in civil court.

The bill had earned the unanimous support of the Judiciary Committee, and has the support of Attorney General Janet Mills. It now goes to the House of Representatives for a final veto override vote.


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