State lawmakers have more or less told Maine Governor Paul LePage that he can shove his vetoes where the sun don't shine.
LePage withheld a package of 71 bills which he forgot to veto within a 10-day window; declaring that he has the power make up his own rules as he sees fit.
The governor returned 65 of those bills to the state legislature today with a veto, but the legislature promptly ignored it.
From the Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House and Senate both have rejected vetoes delivered Thursday by Gov. Paul LePage, all but ensuring that a weeklong dispute over those vetoes will be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court. [...]
“You cannot veto a law,” [House Speaker Mark Eves] said in a statement. “This legislation is already law, in accordance with the Constitution, history and precedent. The governor’s veto attempts are out of order and in error. He missed the deadline to veto the bills.”
The state legislature has forwarded all 71 bills to the state revisor's office where they will be coded into law.
It remains to be seen if the governor's office will actually follow through on their threat to file a lawsuit against the legislature but, if I were betting, I'd say LePage is arrogant enough to do it.