Protesters take over Maine State House on Day 1 of shutdown
Source: Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA, Maine — On Day 1 of Maine’s government shutdown, an estimated 200 demonstrators led by the state employees union on Saturday jeered Republican lawmakers who killed a two-year deal opposed by Gov. Paul LePage overnight.
The engineers of that deal, Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, and House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, are holding short legislative sessions during the weekend, keeping weary members in the building and vowing to continue work until a deal is reached.
[Live blog: Follow Maine’s government shutdown]
On Saturday, a group of 200 or so protesters affiliated with the Maine State Employees Union circled the governor’s residence and moved into the State House, where they heard rah-rah messages from top Democrats and chanted at House Republicans who opposed the budget as they walked through the third-floor hallway between the chambers.
Senate Minority Leader Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, called the shutdown “bullshit” in a short speech, blaming “hostage-takers that have shut the state down because they don’t know what it’s like to be a working-class person who needs these paychecks.”
<more>
Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/07/01/politics/protesters-take-over-maine-state-house-on-day-1-of-shutdown/
= new reply since forum marked as read
