Maine House votes to investigate lawmaker facing domestic violence charge

The Maine House of Representatives approved an ethics probe Wednesday into domestic violence allegations against Rep. Lucas Lanigan, R-Sanford, who was removed from a committee in what he called “punishment” amid his pending criminal case.

House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, notified the chamber’s clerk in December that he was removing Lanigan from the Labor Committee and replacing him with Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips. The quiet move from the speaker surfaced this week on the House calendar as lawmakers returned to Augusta to begin their work for the new session.

Members also voted 74-69 on Wednesday to direct the House Ethics Committee to investigate the allegations against Lanigan and report back findings within a month of convening.

Rep. Matt Moonen, D-Portland, said the probe is needed amid “grievously serious allegations” against Lanigan, while Assistant House Minority Leader Katrina Smith, R-Palermo, said Republicans opposed the order because they believe the case is best left to the judicial system to handle.

Lanigan was arrested in October and charged with aggravated assault in connection with allegedly strangling his romantic partner after police said she confronted him over an affair. The woman later told a judge the case should be dropped. Lanigan has insisted that the allegations are false.

He was released on bail, and a judge ordered him to appear back in court in March.

“I have been removed from the Labor Committee as punishment for the false accusations made against me back in October,” Lanigan said in a text message Wednesday. “Ironically, members of the 132nd Legislature swore to uphold and enforce the constitution of the US and Maine.”

Lanigan, a 45-year-old former Sanford city councilor, also texted a reporter he is “being charged, convicted, and executed without the due process rights afforded to me by the Constitution.”

Fecteau did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson for legislative Democrats cited a rule that says every member “is entitled to at least one initial committee assignment.” That hints at how Fecteau is allowed to remove Lanigan from the Labor Committee after Lanigan was initially assigned to it.

Lanigan barely won reelection to a second term in November following his arrest, beating Democrat Patricia Kidder by one vote in a recount that was required after initial results showed the two were tied before Sanford corrected a flawed absentee ballot count.

While Democratic leaders called on Lanigan to resign in October due to the nature of the allegations in the criminal case, top Republicans said they were waiting for the case to resolve itself in court.

Domestic violence survivors with the nonprofit Finding Our Voices said they will protest Thursday in downtown Sanford to highlight Lanigan’s criminal case and “plea deals and bail for dangerous domestic abusers” in Maine.