Democratic lawmakers on Thursday killed a bill from Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) that would have banned former state lawmakers from taking jobs with state agencies or government-funded nonprofits for at least four years after leaving office.
The bill, “An Act to Prevent Political Patronage with Regard to State Legislators” (LD 521), would only have taken effect in the next legislature.
Its goal was to close the revolving door between government agencies and nonprofits and the very lawmakers who make decisions — including funding decisions — that affect those agencies and nonprofits.
Augusta is notoriously incestuous — professionally and politically speaking — and everyone involved in state government knows that state lawmakers are often at the front of the line for high-paying jobs in state government or at politically connected nonprofits.
“When a legislator leaves office they are not allowed to be a lobbyist for at least a one-year period,” Andrews said on the House floor.
“I think it is equally important they not be allowed to take a position within a state government agency or tax funded non-profit for a four-year period,” Andrews said.
The bill would have allowed a citizen to file a complaint concerning a violation of this provision to the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, a provision Andrews said was necessary because the legislature doesn’t police itself on “pay-for-play” conflicts with state agencies and government-funded nonprofits.
In Thursday’s vote of the House of Representatives, every Democrat present voted to kill the bill, while every Republican voted in support.
In recent years, several lawmakers have accepted positions working in state government.
Erik Jorgensen was a state lawmaker voting on housing policies before he became Senior Director of Government Relations and Communications for the Maine Housing Authority, a quasi-governmental nonprofit.
Ryan Fecteau was the Speaker of the House and a close legislative ally of Gov. Janet Mills before he landed a job in the Mills Administration as the Senior Advisor for Community Development & Strategic Initiatives in the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.
Barbara Cardone served multiple terms in the state legislature before parlaying that public service into a gig as the director of legal affairs and public policy for the Maine Judicial Branch.
Without LD 521’s prohibition in place, a lawmaker could conceivably vote in favor of allocating money to a nonprofit and subsequently accept a high paying job with that nonprofit. Similarly, a lawmaker could vote for policies preferred by the commissioner of a state agency and immediately accept a job in that agency after leaving the legislature.
The revolving door has been even more egregious when it comes to constitutional officers, such as Maine’s Attorney General, State Auditor, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer.
Andrews said he has introduced a separate bill (LD 1307) which he believes would reduce political patronage by allowing for the direct election of those offices.
Currently, Maine lawmakers vote to determine who holds those offices. But if LD 1307 were to pass, Mainers would vote to fill those positions like any other elected position.
Andrews said allowing the direct election of constitutional officers would allow for those agencies to be run by someone who is accountable to the people rather than lawmakers.
Every single current occupant of Maine’s constitutional offices is a former Democratic state lawmaker.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows took that position after serving in the State Senate; Attorney General Aaron Frey ascended to that office after representing Bangor in the House; State Treasurer Henry Beck represented Waterville before landing a gig at the State Treasurer’s office; and Matt Dunlap, a former state lawmaker, has served as both Secretary of State and State Auditor since leaving the legislature.
For Andrews, the importance of LD 1307 was underscored last week when Attorney General Frey confessed to having an eight-month long affair with a married subordinate despite being in a 12-year long relationship with another woman.
“I think now more than ever it shows that the people in these offices are human and make mistakes,” Andrews told the Maine Wire.
“That’s why we need to make our Constitutional Officers accountable to all the people in the state every two years,” he said. “Having these important positions only answer to their insider friends of the majority party clearly isn’t working.”