title:  Maine GOP Governor Holds State Senate Hostage Over Personal Grudge
text: Paul Lepage, the Tea Party disaster that happens to technically be the governor of Maine, just keeps finding bold new ways to prove he isn t qualified to hold his job. I say he is technically the governor of Maine because the word itself implies governing   as in working and doing a job. LePage does virtually none of that.The latest crusade of stupidity he has embarked upon is the outright refusal to perform his constitutional duty and swear in a new state senator, who recently won a special election. This leaves people of his state without representation in their capitol and shows yet again why the phrase  tea party  automatically disqualifies from any position of authority in any job.Susan Deschambault, a Biddeford Democrat, won a special election for the Senate District 32 seat on Tuesday. She traveled to the capitol with her family to be sworn in, only to be told the governor refused to do it. His reason is even worse than his behavior. LePage won t swear her in because of a totally unrelated issue where the senate has rejected the confirmation of the governor s nominee to the state s unemployment insurance commission.Deschambault literally has NOTHING to do with any of this, but he is denying her the ability to do her job, denying her constituents representation, denying Maine a fully-functional state house and violating his oath of office as governor just because he is an overgrown child who wants to have a tantrum.Tea Partiers are not the brightest bulb in the room normally. However, this move really is beyond reason even for them. We have a sitting U.S. governor who is literally holding his own state s ability to govern itself hostage until he gets his way. Mario Moretto, the spokesman for state senate Democrats, has said that the senate is looking for alternative methods of installing Deschambault into her office. The state attorney general also gave a statement that she is aware of the situation and that alternative methods are being sought, but she declined to comment further on the matter.Featured image via YouTube screen capture