Head on over to Waterville, Maine’s government website when you get a chance.  When you get there, stop on by the Mayor’s page.  You might find something interesting.

Turns out that above the biography of Mayor LePage, and next to his picture, there is a text box with some curious language.  It reads:

To learn more about Paul LePage for Governor, please visit his campaign website:  www.lepage2010.com

Just in case it gets scrubbed, here’s a screenshot:

Essentially what has happened here is that the Mayor of Waterville has posted campaign material on the official government webpage of the city he oversees.

I’m not an election lawyer, I don’t have time to look through the relevant laws right now, and the governmental ethics folks I would call about this issue are already gone for the (long) weekend, so I can’t actually verify the legality of doing something like this – but I happen to have a rather strong hunch it isn’t kosher.

Using government property to promote a political campaign is wrong, and based on my experiences in other states, probably against the rules as well.  It is not appropriate for something used in an official, governmental capacity to be turned into campaign material.  I will be calling the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices on Tuesday to confirm.

I asked Paul LePage if he would like to comment, and as of the writing of this piece, he had not yet responded to me.  If he sends me any information later on, I will of course add it to this article.

UPDATE:  The link is now pulled down off the Mayor’s page.  He contacted me last night and informed me he would be looking into the situation and resolving it soon – which it seems that he has.  I will still be following up to see what the relevant law is about situations such as this.