Jack Moore, the chairman of the Good Will-Hinckley board of directors which oversees a public charter school system called the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, testified before the state Government Oversight Committee yesterday that Governor Paul LePage's threats to withhold funding forced the school board of directors to fire their Democratic president.
And this wasn't just any Democratic president; it was the speaker of the House of Representatives of Maine, Mark Eves.
Good Will-Hinckley Chairman Jack Moore, in lengthy questioning by the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee on Thursday morning, said LePage’s threat to withhold $530,000 in state funding under the governor’s discretion likely would have caused Good Will-Hinckley to lose millions in grant funding from the Harold Alfond Foundation. [...]
Moore’s testimony confirmed much of what has been uncovered by the media and the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability: That by threatening the funding, LePage, his staff and acting Education Commissioner Tom Desjardin were directly responsible for Good Will-Hinckley’s board canceling a $120,000 per year employment contract with Eves.
According to Moore's testimony, Governor LePage addressed a hand-written letter to him calling Eves a "hack."
Moore told the Oversight Committee that the board of directors was unanimous in its decision to hire Eves as the school president according to the Bangor Daily News, but the governor's threats forced their hand because the system may be forced to close without state funding.
If you're familiar with Paul LePage it was already clear that the only "hack" in this situation is the governor himself, but this is further evidence that he is unfit for office.