AUGUSTA — In the latest in a series of handwritten messages, Republican Gov. Paul LePage denied he’s among a group of plaintiffs suing President Barack Obama.
“I believe you mistake me for someone else,” LePage wrote in his note to Murshed Zaheed, an activist with the national group CREDO Action. “I do not have a lawsuit against President Obama. I did file a lawsuit against illegal immigrants taking state money against state and federal laws.”
The latest note from LePage surfaced after Murshed posted it along with a copy of Murshed’s handwritten note back to LePage pointing out that the suit in question doesn’t name illegal immigrants as defendants.
“Though I realize you’ve been very busy with a lawsuit by House Speaker Mark Eves, legislative investigations, and possible impeachment, I was still surprised to learn that you are unaware of the lawsuit you filed on Dec. 9, 2014,” Murshed wrote.
In that suit, LePage is a named plaintiff — along with the governors of Mississippi, North Carolina and Idaho — and while the complaint does not name Obama as a defendant, it does name officials in the Obama administration as well as the U.S. government.
Another 19 states, as well as the attorney general for the state of Michigan, are also named as plaintiffs in the complaint which takes Obama to task for an executive order that grants amnesty to some 9 million immigrants who are living in the United States with a U.S. citizen spouse or parent.
The narrative of the complaint repeatedly speaks of the president’s actions but never names Obama individually, although it clearly indicates the suit is about his executive order granting amnesty and the subsequent actions by various members of the administration that allowed the order to stand.
The handwritten note from LePage follows one released earlier in July when the governor wrote back to a resident who asked him to resign. In that message, LePage penned the postscript, “Not going to happen,” after he wrote, “You live in the south who exploit those who are not so fortunate, or understand the level of corruption that southern Mainers ignore and welcome!”
In a news release Tuesday, CREDO’s Murshed said he was urging the group’s 18,000 members in Maine to all write LePage a handwritten note.
“Since it has now come to our attention that Gov. LePage enjoys corresponding through handwritten letters delivered by snail mail, CREDO is sending an email today to its 18,000 progressive activists in Maine urging them to write handwritten notes explaining to Gov. LePage why his anti-immigrant lawsuit runs counter to Maine values,” according to the release.
An email message to LePage’s communications staff Tuesday was not immediately returned.
LePage lawsuit regarding President’s execituve order on immigrants by thisdog
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