Taxpayer cost of LePage’s stay at Trump hotel to finally be released?
Throughout its final 22 months in office, the governor’s office failed to comply with a public records request from the Portland Press Herald for receipts and other documentation connected with LePage’s taxpayer-funded stay at the Trump International Hotel. It's one of several public records requests that the former governor failed to fulfill before leaving office. His successor is expected to address them promptly.
An Excerpt
“Right now the FOAA is a toothless thing that doesn’t impose any significant penalties,” says media law attorney Sigmund Schutz, who sits on the board of the New England First Amendment Coalition and represents the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in public records issues. “It was designed for a more innocent time perhaps when you had state agencies responding to and prioritizing public records requests.”