Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) administration will no longer comment on stories reported by newspapers that officials believe “oppose” the governor’s work, the Portland Press Herald reported Tuesday.
When a Press Herald reporter requested the governor’s public events calendar, a spokesperson, Adrienne Bennett, declined, and said the administration would not participate in further stories reported by the Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal, or the Morning Sentinel. Bennet said that the newspapers’ parent company, MaineToday Media, “had made it clear that it opposed this administration.”
The no-comment policy comes in the wake of an investigation the Press Herald published this week that found the state’s Environmental Protection Commissioner Patricia Aho, a former corporate lobbyist, thwarted programs that clashed with the interests of her former clients. Bennett did provide comment for that article — she accused the newspaper of having a political agenda.
