Legislator in tiff with 2 senators Michael accused of ‘verbal assault’

AUGUSTA – An independent state representative from Auburn was barred from the Maine Senate on Thursday after he was accused of “verbally assaulting” two members of that chamber.

Although the Maine Attorney General’s Office refused to release any information regarding the incident, Senate President Michael Michaud, D-East Millinocket, said Rep. John Michael of Auburn had become embroiled in a verbal dispute with Sen. Peggy Pendleton, D-Scarborough. Michael sits on the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee, which is co-chaired by Pendleton.

Michaud said he understood that Michael had become enraged when he learned that Pendleton was going to allow some bills regulating the circulating of citizens’ initiatives to be referred to the Legislature’s Committee on Legal and Veterans Affairs instead of the State and Local Government Committee, where Michael could presumably have more influence over the legislation. Michael denied any wrongdoing in a telephone interview Thursday night.

Michaud said Michael, a former Democrat who stands well over 6 feet 2 inches, was following Pendleton from the hall of the House to the hall of the Senate, “screaming obscenities” all along the way. When the pair entered the Senate Democratic offices, Sen. Neria Douglass, D-Auburn, intervened in Pendleton’s behalf and also became the target of Michael’s anger.

Legislators said that while officers of Capitol Security, the division of the Department of Public Safety that protects the State House, were nearby when the verbal assault took place at 10:02 a.m. Thursday, they did not intervene in the incident. Michael left the area on his own, Michaud said, and a tearful Sen. Pendleton told the president she was upset and afraid during the confrontation with Michael.

Michaud immediately barred Michael from the vicinity of the Senate and fired off a letter to House Speaker Michael V. Saxl requesting that the House initiate “immediate action to discipline [Michael] and to assure the incident will not be repeated.” In his letter, Michaud said Michael “verbally assaulted” Pendleton, positioned himself to be “physically right in her face and yelled obscenities at her.

“One thing I will not tolerate is any member of the Legislature feeling threatened by another member,” Michaud said.

Saxl said he has convened a meeting of the House Ethics Committee, a panel that has not met for 15 years, to deal with the incident. The eight-member committee will allow all parties involved to state their versions of the incident. After deliberating, the panel could dismiss the matter, give Michael a formal reprimand or expel him from the House. Saxl plans to schedule the hearing next week.

“I want this to be a place of productive debate where people of differing viewpoints get a chance to challenge each other’s ideas to provide productive answers for the people of Maine,” Saxl said.

Michael said the entire incident was “much ado about nothing,” and politically motivated because he had defeated a Democrat candidate to win his seat. He added that Democrats in the Legislature wanted to see the bills in question referenced to Legal and Veterans Affairs so that they could dispose of them as they please. He said Pendleton actually assailed him, accusing him of actions in the House he had never taken.

“Pendleton just went mental real quick,” he said. “We got in an argument and we were in the hall and she asked me to come into the Senate Democratic office, which I did. Then Douglass stuck her nose into it and I told her it was not her business. She kept yakking and psycho-babbling, so I told her to shut up and then I left. Ever since I beat the incumbent Democrat down here by 800 votes, they’ve all been scared of me. Douglass is afraid I’m going to run for her Senate seat.”

In aftermath of the fracas, former House speaker and current Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe impounded all documents and reports of the incident investigated by Capitol Security. Assistant Attorney General Bill Stokes refused to release any information to members of the State House press corps until his department could review the case. Citing Title 16, Section 614, Stokes said the reports and affidavits taken from the senators and those who witnessed the incident were “intelligence and investigative information” even though the entire exchange took place in full view of the public.

“We’re reviewing this to see if further law enforcement proceedings are going to be necessary or appropriate,” Stokes said. “At this time, it’s really not appropriate for us to release this until a conclusion is made that there will be no further law enforcement proceedings.”