Maine Democrats confirmed their nominees for Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Auditor on Wednesday, with Republican only nominating alternative candidates for AG and Secretary of State.
Following the votes taken by a unicameral body State Senators and State Representatives, Attorney General Aaron Frey, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and State Auditor Matt Dunlap will continue on in their posts.
State Rep. Joe Perry of Bangor will assume the role of State Treasurer after beating out former Gorham representative Maureen Terry to replace Henry Beck.
Republican lawmakers offered no alternative candidates for State Auditor or State Treasurer and put forward two familiar names for Attorney General and Secretary of State.
On Attorney General, the Republicans selected William Schneider, a former state lawmaker who also served as former Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2013.
Schneider surprised some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers on Tuesday when he won the caucus’s nomination over Republican Robert Charles, who had days earlier received the endorsement of the Maine Republican Party.
Joel Stetkis, the chairman of the Maine GOP, however, doesn’t get to vote in the constitutional officer races, and the Republican state committee doesn’t necessarily speak for the caucuses. Several Republican lawmakers were rankled by the Maine GOP’s decision to publicly voice support for Charles.
Charles was not, it turned out, the preferred candidate of Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) and House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), who instead urged members to back Schneider.
Schneider, a retired U.S. Army officer, served in the Maine State Legislature from 1998 to 2002, including as Assistant Republican Leader from 2000 to 2002. After serving two years as Attorney General for LePage, Schneider was tapped to run the Office of Policy and Management and eventually confirmed by the Maine Senate in 2014 for a District Court judgeship.
[RELATED: Rep. John Andrews Calls Out Maine AG Frey’s Sexual Affair in Blunt Testimony…]
Charles has recently retired to Wayne after a career serving under the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush presidencies, including as Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
Attorney General Aaron Frey, on the other hand, enters his third term as Attorney General of Maine after a brief stint as a state lawmaker and a smalltime lawyer out of Bangor.
From the Attorney General’s Office, Frey has filed largely symbolic lawsuits that appease far-left activists, such as a recent attempt to sue large fossil fuel companies, or an amicus brief Frey filed in West Virginia in support of taxpayer-funded sex changes for children.
[RELATED: Mills, Bellows Cozy with Progressive Group ‘Studying’ Noncitizen Voting in Maine…]
More recently, Frey’s tenure was marred by a scandal involving an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee.
The ethical breach seemed not to faze Democratic lawmakers, who nonetheless backed his reappointment on Wednesday.
Frey secured the Democratic nomination over challenger Maeghan Maloney, the far left District Attorney of Kennebec County.
Maloney was facing her own scandal stemming from a complaint filed against her for her handling of a case in which an Oakland woman alleges she was drugged and raped at a bar in Waterville.
The Republican decision to nominate competing candidates for at least two of the constitutional officer gigs stands in contrast to their decision in 2022 to nominate no one.
“We chose not to nominate anyone this year because, for some time now, Republicans have felt these choices should be made by the people,” said Senate Leader Stewart said at the time.
What I’m hoping is that there giving bellows enough rope that she’ll do something stupid (more than normal) so when it’s time to elect a new governor even the democrats will be able to see how corrupt she is, like they did for biden. What do you call a closet with bellows and mills inside? Liquor cabinet.
Well, at least the picture has a rag over Bellow’s face.
If Frey was in sexual relationship with a married subordinate employee, is that not grounds for termination? It sure would be in the US military services.
The Democrats are not hearing us.
True Democrat, thinks a mask is gonna protect her
#Shenna5wallows
These officers should be elect by the people not the majority party.
It must’ve been a Freudian slip on my part: I thought the headline read ‘ Democrats SICK of Shenna Bellows and Frey’ – only to be disappointed for the millionth time with Maine gov’t.
What a bunch of Losers! Did they miss how maine voted in the election!?
If it were left to the public,Bellows would not stand a chance to remain in Maine government.
Will my corner store have to pay a wrapper fee for the fome dish the put my egg sandwich in each morning?
As for Bellows she’ll do something stupid . She has all ready done some thing– Stopped $ from Trump.
wishing. hoping