Governor's legal costs to rise as Medicaid suit continues
PORTLAND -- Maine could pay up to $200,000 for a Boston-based lawyer to defend the LePage administration in a lawsuit over voter-approved Medicaid expansion.
The Department of Health and Human Services in a state form dated Monday proposed increasing the cost of a no-bid contract with law firm Consovoy McCarthy Park from $100,000 to $200,000 through December. The Associated Press’ review of a state database shows Maine has paid out nearly half a million dollars to two laws firms that have represented the administration as outside counsel since 2014.
Advocates for Medicaid expansion are suing to force Maine to follow a voter-approved law expanding Medicaid to as many as 80,000 low-income residents. Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration is fighting a state court order requiring Maine to seek federal funding for Medicaid expansion.
Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills, a gubernatorial candidate, has allowed the governor to hire lawyer Patrick Strawbridge as outside counsel. Her office refused to defend LePage’s administration against the lawsuit, and Chief Deputy Attorney General Linda Pistner said at the time that the office could take “whatever position the public interest requires in the pending litigation.”
Read more: https://www.timesrecord.com/articles/maine-1/governors-legal-costs-to-rise-as-medicaid-suit-continues/