AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine State House was chaotic last week on the first day of the 2024 legislative session.
The parking garage serving state employees and visitors was closed for construction, jamming lots and forcing drivers to get creative with finding spots. Hundreds lined up outside on a chilly morning to go through security ahead of a gun control rally.
Just when things quieted down on Jan. 3 following the rally and legislative floor sessions, an emailed bomb threat to the State House forced Capitol Police to clear and search the building around 2:30 p.m. before determining it was a hoax similar to others across the country that day.
Though there was no emergency, lawmakers and others in the State House last Wednesday said the evacuation process was unclear, causing concern over what would happen if an actual attack hit the State House. It also highlighted the light security in the adjacent Burton M. Cross Office Building, which houses hundreds of workers and numerous legislative committees.
Assistant Senate Minority Leader Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, told the State House Facilities Committee during a Friday meeting the bomb threat evacuation was “very confusing” and “unacceptable.” Keim described walking back inside the State House that afternoon and how a Capitol Police officer whispered to her that there “might be a bomb threat.”
After receiving permission to grab her bag and keys from her third-floor office, Keim said another officer asked her to “please run” before she found colleagues and staff unaware of the threat. She texted fellow Judiciary Committee members who also were unaware before they eventually paused their meeting around 2:30 p.m. to leave the building.
“It was so bizarre,” Keim said.
Capitol Police Chief Matthew Clancy said Wednesday that he plans to report back this month to a subcommittee that oversees capitol complex security on ongoing and new security projects, adding he had to remain vague to protect sensitive information. Construction may also start within the next few months on updates to the Cross Building, which could include screening equipment at entrances, said Clancy, who became chief in 2021.
Capitol security in Maine and other states had already gained more attention in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, said Clancy, who also mentioned mass shootings and a man who attacked a guard at the nearby Augusta federal Building in 2022.
“We have a ways to go, but we’re pushing that rock every day,” he said.
Lobbyist Jared Bornstein was on the fourth floor of the State House last week when a friend overheard someone mention an evacuation. A nearby security officer told Bornstein he had “no idea” what was occurring.
They were told to evacuate and followed people downstairs before walking to the first floor of the Cross Building, where a large crowd of lawmakers, lobbyists, staffers and others mingled before being told to go home if they wished.
“If it had been a legitimate threat or active shooter, we wouldn’t have fared well,” Bornstein said, adding that he has faith legislative leaders and police will solve the problems.
Clancy told the facilities committee the emailed State House bomb threat was “identified” around 1:45 p.m. Jan. 3 after Capitol Police had been in touch that morning with federal partners about the threats to other state capitols.
He said it took about 45 minutes to clear and sweep the State House, though Suzanne Gresser, the Legislature’s executive director, added the all-clear to return to the building came closer to 4 p.m. Clancy said the “vast majority” of the roughly 2,300 people inside the State House that morning had left before the threat was identified.
Additional specifics were kept private, as the committee overseeing the subject concluded its Jan. 5 meeting in executive session. But House Majority Leader Maureen Terry, D-Gorham, told the Legislative Council on Tuesday that Clancy will return before February with plans for improved communication, which could include a public address system in the State House.
It is not the first time capitol complex security has faced scrutiny. For example, the lack of Cross Building metal detectors and screenings arose in February 2021 after Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, reported unnerving past encounters with a man who later became the first Mainer charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riots a month earlier in Washington.
The increasing number of threats against public officials, schools and other critical infrastructure such as hospitals is a “major problem,” said Rep. Marc Malon, D-Biddeford, who was among those gathered in the office building last week.
“Everyone needs to be better aware at all levels, regardless of position or party,” he said.
