AUGUSTA – The LePage administration asked legislative staff Friday to halt the process of writing dozens of recently passed bills into law – and accused the nonpartisan office of “overly partisan conduct” – while he seeks guidance on whether he can legally hold up roughly 70 bills.

“Regardless of whether we agree on which legal theory is more persuasive, surely we can agree that there is a need for a reasoned and legal resolution,” Gov. Paul LePage’s chief legal counsel, Cynthia Montgomery, wrote in a letter to Grant Pennoyer, executive director of the Legislative Council. “Accordingly, I am requesting that the Revisor’s Office pause in its zeal to effectuate these laws, allowing time for a dispute to be addressed.”

Montgomery’s letter is the latest development in an ongoing constitutional dispute between the Republican governor and lawmakers.

The dispute revolves around whether the Legislature “adjourned” last week or “recessed.”

Legislative leaders insist that they did not adjourn June 30, but “recessed” until July 16 in order to take up more vetoes expected to come from the governor. However, LePage maintains that the Legislature adjourned on June 30 and, therefore, he can hold onto those bills – as well as 51 more currently sitting on his desk – until lawmakers come back into session.

Meanwhile, the Revisor of Statutes Office has already written into law – a process known as “chaptering” – the 19 bills that LePage did not veto or sign and then deliver to the Legislature.

In her letter to Pennoyer, Montgomery “disputes the validity of these laws” and accused lawmakers of wishing to “rush through the procedural hurdles associated with implementation of these laws.”

“Having the Revisor’s Office completely ignore the governor’s position is not only overly partisan conduct on the part of the Revisor’s Office, it is also unnecessary as the governor intends to seek a legal solution to this matter,” Montgomery wrote. “There is nothing in (Maine law) that demands such immediate action on the part of the Revisor.”

LePage’s office has said the governor plans to follow the same strategy with another 51 bills now on his desk.

“In accordance with the Constitution, the governor will deliver any bills he has vetoed to the Legislature the next time it is in session for three days,” administration spokesman Peter Steele said in an email Thursday.

Democratic leaders are holding firm in their stance that the 19 bills have become law, as will the 51 others if LePage does not act.

“The governor has already allowed a number of bills to become law without his signature, whether it was inadvertently or through a serious misunderstanding of the Maine Constitution. We’re looking forward to seeing even more of the good policy passed by the Legislature become law this weekend,” House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, said in a statement Friday. “The governor has been twisting himself into knots trying to push an argument that doesn’t pass the straight-face test. The Constitution is clear: these bills will be law if the governor fails to act.”

This story will be updated.

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