LEWISTON – A local woman went before the City Council on Tuesday night and accused Mayor Shane Bouchard of improprieties and a crime, and called for the council to vacate his seat.
Among her allegations, Heather Berube Everly said emails were stolen from Ben Chin’s 2017 mayoral campaign. The Sun Journal could not confirm her allegations and no charges have been filed against Bouchard. Bouchard denied Berube Everly’s claims.
Berube Everly of Howe Street told the council, “I did work with Ben Chin as a recruiter with Maine People’s Alliance and around the time of the residency restrictions, I connected with Mayor Bouchard, where I had an affair with him.”
Berube Everly said she gave Bouchard emails from the Maine People’s Alliance and Ben Chin’s campaign.
“I gave the emails to Shane Bouchard … and he then gave those emails to the Republican Party, to Jason Savage, who wrote articles for the Maine Examiner that twisted Ben’s words and made him out to be a racist or to be pointing fingers at other people as racist,” Berube Everly said.
Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, admitted to a state ethics panel last year he is the owner and operator of the secretive Maine Examiner website, which published leaked emails from Chin’s campaign.
Berube Everly, who lists her occupation as a computer lab technician and teacher’s assistant, made her remarks during a sparsely attended City Council meeting. Bouchard did not attend the meeting. Only a handful of councilors were in the room and fewer than a dozen residents were in the audience.
Bouchard was in Florida this week after the death of a relative. Reached late Tuesday, he said he had only just heard about the accusations. He denied all of Berube Everly’s allegations and said he would wait until he had discussed the matter with Lewiston Police Chief Brian O’Malley before saying more.
O’Malley could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.
Berube Everly did not say why she chose Tuesday night’s meeting to come forward.
“I’m not completely innocent in this,” she said, “and it’s taken a lot of time and finding people to support me through this. But again, I would really like for the council to considering forfeiting our mayor’s position.”
After speaking for about five minutes at the podium, Berube Everly thanked the council and walked out.
Chin, who lost the Lewiston mayoral race to Bouchard in 2017, could not be reached for comment.
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