Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks to reporters at Lewiston City Hall in Lewiston, Maine, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
"My decision here should not be viewed as a vindication of Sheriff Wainwright," she wrote. "The hearing record shows that he has made mistakes and acted intemperately on occasion."
Oxford County commissioners in February asked Mills to remove Wainwright. Under the Maine Constitution, the governor is the only person who can remove sheriffs, who are elected.
In her decision, Mills concluded the school resource officer paperwork issue dated back to the previous sheriff and that there was no evidence that Wainwright benefited personally from the gun transaction.
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She also concluded that his underlying request for a deputy to go easy on an acquaintance whose sister was suffering from cancer was not unlawful or unethical. She said the sheriff's reaction to a deputy questioning his intervention — cursing and chastising the deputy — was wrong but didn't constitute a pattern of conduct.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maine-gov-mills-declines-remove-embattled-sheriff-office