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Showing posts with the label profiting from public office

Maine State Legislature- An Openly Lawless Body

In an article in todays PPH,  Republicans charge House Speaker with conflict of interest.   , there is a discussion of legislative conflicts of interests.  The article is centered around House Speaker, Mark Eves allegated conflict of interest in the expansion of Medicaid (Maine Care) Last week, 26 House Republicans signed a letter requesting that House Speaker Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, recuse himself from voting on a bill that would expand Medicaid, the publicly funded health insurance program for the poor. The freedom to legislate in areas in which conflicts of interests exists is openly defended by Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington, who said he refused to sign the letter.  "If we start down that road, there isn’t going to be anybody in this damn place who can vote,” The article then cites various instance of conflict of interest covering a range of situations. But if the legislature itself abides by the laws written by that body - it should be standard protoc