Government Oversight Committee Subpoenas CDC Officials, Documents

Officials to testify about shredding scandal

AUGUSTA — The Maine Legislature’s bipartisan Government Oversight Committee on Friday voted unanimously to subpoena notes and testimony from individuals involved in the Center for Disease Control document shredding scandal.

The oversight committee had voted 9-2 to invite Governor Paul LePage’s political appointees and employees from the CDC to testify, but they refused to meet with the committee. Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services warned employees not testify on behalf of the administration and said they would need to take a vacation day to do so if they chose to appear before the committee.

“We have a responsibility and an obligation to find out the truth,” said Senator Emily Cain of Orono, the Senate Chair of the committee. “Using subpoena power to get to the truth became our only option when the administration discouraged CDC officials from voluntarily meeting with us.”

For nine months, the Government Oversight Committee has been investigating the deepening whistle-blower probe involving CDC officials instructing employees to shred documents. Governor Paul LePage has refused to comment on the matter.

“Above all it is the job of the Government Oversight Committee to hold government accountable,” said Rep. Chuck Kruger of Thomaston, the House Chair of the bipartisan committee, during the committee’s discussion. “ A civil suit should not stand in the way of getting the facts. We are not a court; we simply want transparency and the truth from the administration.”

The Legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) confirmed that public records relating to the funding formula used to distribute public tobacco settlement money to communities around the state was likely destroyed inappropriately, by agency workers, in 2012.  In a complaint before the Maine Human Rights Commission, whistleblower Sharon Leahy-Lind, who refused to destroy her documents, has detailed the harassment and discrimination that occurred while she was on the job.

During the hearing, OPEGA Director Beth Ashcroft, told the committee that many of the facts it sought were outside of the scope of a civil lawsuit and could be pursued.

The committee subpoenaed associated documents and six current and former employees: Dr. Sheila Pinette, Director of the CDC; Chrisine Zukas, a CDC deputy director;  Deborah Wigand, a division director; Andrew Finch, the senior program manager for the Healthy Maine Partnerships program; Lisa Sockabasin, the director of the CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity; and Sharon Leahy-Lind, the former director of the Division of Public Health.

The staff have been subpoenaed for the Government Oversight Committee meeting on Friday March 14 at 9:00 a.m. in room 220 of the Cross Office Building.