Paul LePage pardoned late mentor's grandson, over 100 others

AUGUSTA — Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage pardoned his late mentor’s grandson in the final days of his second four-year term, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press that detail pardons for crimes including drug trafficking, tax evasion and embezzlement of public funds.

The secretary of state recently released a list of 112 people who were pardoned by the Republican former governor in response to a Freedom of Access Act request by the AP seeking pardons covering LePage’s eight-year tenure as governor. Previously, the state had confirmed the name of only one individual on the list.

Jim Campbell, director of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, said he was pleased the pardons were released. He didn’t see any justification for withholding them in the first place.

“We don’t believe that withholding information, absent an extremely strong justification for doing so, is the right way to conduct government business,” Campbell said Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.sunjournal.com/2019/03/27/apnewsbreak-ex-governor-pardoned-late-mentors-grandson/