Windol Weaver, (R) York County on Peaks Island Secession Bill; To Be Public March 14th

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Peaks Island, in the background, on a clear day from the Eastern Promenade. Ft. Gorges is in the forefront.

By Carol McCracken  (Post # 728)

Yesterday afternoon Rep. Windol Weaver told MHN.com over the telephone that the bill he is introducing to the Maine State Legislature on behalf of residents who want to secede from the City of Portland is expected to become public the week of Monday, March 14th.  The bill was recently returned to the revisor’s office in Augusta because of an incorrect date in it.

Weaver said that when the secession bill appeared before the Joint Standing Committee on State & Local Government about 5 years ago, it was defeated largely, but not exclusively,  along party lines – the Democrats were in power then – by a vote of 7 to 5 opposed to its passage. Consequently, the voters of Peaks Island were never allowed an opportunity to vote on the bill.  Weaver approached the secessionist group on Peaks and told them that they “got the short end of the stick” and offered to introduce the bill on their behalf this session, he said.

He denied that the process as approved by the State’s attorney general in any way “truncated” or “bypassed” the public process, although non-secessionist disagree with him.   “Peaks Islanders will have an opportunity to vote on the bill at the end of the process,” he said.  After the vote, then life will go back to normal on the Island, he predicted.

Weaver was unable to say how many times in the past bills have “truncated” or “bypassed” the public process.

Please visit peaksisland.org for the latest.

One thought on “Windol Weaver, (R) York County on Peaks Island Secession Bill; To Be Public March 14th

  1. A clarification and correction needs to be made here. In an effort to secure Republican support for this secession bill which is impacting a community well outside his own constituency, Rep Weaver has been repeatedly asserting that the previous secession bid failed “along party lines,” but this was not the case. The bill was killed in committee, but the vote was NOT a straight party-line vote: in the 7 to 5 vote, Paula Benoit, a Republican, voted “ought not to pass” and a Democrat, Representative Sirois, voted “ought to pass.” These votes are a matter of public record.

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