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There is some ambiguity in Maine law as to whether someone can serve as a city councilor and county commissioner at the same time. Legal opinions vary.
What was less ambiguous, however, was the message that current Bangor City Councilor and future Penobscot County Commissioner Dan Tremble sent to voters ahead of both the primary and general elections. After saying last spring that he would serve in both roles, Tremble updated that stance before the June primary and last week’s general election to say that he would give up his seat on the City Council if elected to the commission.
Last week, he was in fact elected to serve as a Penobscot County commissioner. But he seems to have again shifted his thinking on leaving the City Council. Citing updated legal guidance, Tremble, a Democrat, indicated in comments after his recent county win that he is reconsidering his plan to resign the city seat.
“I wasn’t being deceptive saying I would resign,” Tremble said last week. “That’s what I planned to do after that was kind of the advice I got, but now I’m getting conflicting advice. I’m going to weigh both sides and see what seems to make sense.”
Tremble told the Bangor Daily News editorial board Wednesday that he hasn’t made a final decision, and is still considering that more recent legal advice. He said that when he previously indicated he would resign the council seat, he didn’t think he would be able to get legal clarification on holding both offices before the end of the year. But that input has materialized quicker than he expected.
“I thought I needed to have clarification by the end of the year, and there wouldn’t be time to get that done. I’ve since been advised by an attorney who has formerly been on the law court, and other attorneys, that it’s not my obligation to prove that I can, but it would be up to someone else to prove that I can’t, that they are incompatible,” Tremble said Wednesday, pointing to the fact that the role of city councilor is not listed in the specific state statute.
Other elements he is considering include a feeling of obligation to fill out the remainder of his council term which ends next year, and the challenges involved in getting more people to run for local office, Tremble told the editorial board.
We understand these considerations, but believe the consideration that matters most is what Tremble told voters ahead of the election, rather than what lawyers are telling him now.
At this stage in Tremble’s decision making, the legal advice should be moot. He already signaled to voters that he would not serve in both roles. We are quite confident that at least some voters paid attention to and appreciated his previous stance. To reverse course now would be more evidence to an already skeptical public that elected officials say one thing and do another.
Yes, the legal questions are murky. Unlike other states, Maine does not have a blanket prohibition on elected officials serving in multiple offices at the same time. The Maine Legislature should change that.
Maine has a partial ban on “incompatible” offices that prevents people from serving in certain roles at the same time, like select board members and county commissioners, but not others. Decades ago, staff in the state attorney general’s office argued that this incompatibility extends to serving on a city council and county commission at the same time, though the limits of state statute have left it an open question.
In the upcoming legislative session, Maine lawmakers should remove any uncertainty here by prohibiting dual office holding — in these and all other elected offices in Maine. The conflicts and perceived conflicts of interest that accompany this practice further erode public trust in government. It is more important for the general public to trust our institutions than it is for individual politicians to be able to hold multiple offices at the same time.
Until lawmakers pass a stronger and more universal law regarding dual office holding, situations like this one will continue to be muddled. We hope Tremble will recognize that even though the law might not be clear, his message to voters was. And he can honor that message by serving Penobscot County and resigning from the Bangor City Council so someone else can give it their sole focus and attention.