Governor Paul LePage picked wrong battle over the swearing in of Susan Deschambault

It’s certainly been a controversial time in office for Governor Paul LePage. It seems like every time you turn around, he’s said something that makes someone angry or offends some random group. In the age of being easily offended, Governor LePage doesn’t even have to try to rattle people’s cages. Some things are legitimate concerns about the Governor, while other issues are exaggerated political plays by partisan Democrats and journalists eager to back the shallow narrative.

Now once again, the Governor is making waves. This time it was in his refusal to swear in a Democrat who won a special election for State Senate. His reason? Because of what the Democratic Party did to his nominee for the Unemployment Insurance Committee, Steven Webster.

Specifically, Governor LePage’s spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett was quoted regarding the topic:

“Democrats treated Steve Webster despicably and it’s unfortunate that good people get caught up in political games,” said Bennett. “Gov. LePage has not sworn her in yet. The governor has five days to do so.”

Governor LePage, once again, has committed a tactical blunder in his endless war with partisan Democrats.

What was gained by refusing to swear in Susan Deschambault? Nothing. Literally nothing.

Instead of turning the focus on the Democrats over Webster, all of the focus is on Governor LePage for a tantrum. Now the media has a convenient distraction and all focus is again on the Governor for his actions.

Now the story is about how a woman who won an election had her family travel to the capital to celebrate her accomplishment, only to have made the trip for nothing because of a partisan disagreement.

How is this a win?

Governor LePage needs to learn to pick his battles. There was no gain in refusing to swear in Deschambault. He should have sworn her in and gotten that out of the way, and then turned full focus on the Democrats over Webster. We would all be talking about Webster, instead of a State Senator not getting sworn in due to a partisan disagreement.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.