Rep. Ann-Marie Mastraccio
Photo: Maine Legislature
Police Chief Eric Small
Photo: City of Sanford
By Lee Burnett
Democratic State Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio is calling for Police Chief Eric Small to resign for speaking out against Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care in his campaign for Republican nomination to Congress in the 1st District. Small says Mastraccio is trying to silence him for exercising his First Amendment rights and says he is careful to maintain separation between his law enforcement and political roles.
The two have attacked each other on the “Eric Small for Congress” Facebook page. Partisan attacks are rare in Sanford politics, where consensus and relationship-building have been the norm.
Small commented on the issue on Aug. 8, writing that gender-affirming care, “while an important issue for some, should not be funded by taxpayers. I am committed to ensuring that Federal resources are used to strengthen our communities, not to fund controversial medical procedures that don’t align with the values of hardworking Mainers.”
Mastraccio said she believes these comments in effect violate Small’s law enforcement pledge to protect all. Her posts have been cut and pasted in his response to her, although the original posts appear to have been deleted.
In a telephone interview, Mastraccio amplified her concerns. “If you were trans[gender], would you feel protected?” she asked. “As a public servant you [Small] represent everybody. You are the police chief; you have to represent everybody.”
Her posts are explicit in calling for Small to resign.
“I think I know who you are and do not believe you should be our police chief,” she wrote in one post. “I won’t visit or comment on this page again, as you suggest, but you should choose to step down before you ruin a good department.”
In another post, she said, “I have lost all respect for you and your ability to do the job you were hired to do in Sanford. Run for Congress, run for anything you want, exercise your First Amendment, but you are not the right man for this job any longer.”
Small packaged these posts and reposted them twice in his responses. He says Mastraccio owes him an apology and should be held accountable for trying to silence him.
“… because I expressed my opinion, Maine State Representative Anne-Marie Mastraccio decided to personally attack me,” he posted Aug. 11. “Not for anything I’ve done in my role, but simply because I disagree with her … Instead, Mastraccio has implied I’m unfit for my current office and, in my view, is working with others to have me fired. This is exactly the kind of political censorship the Democrats claim they oppose.”
On Aug. 14, Small reposted and responded again, “I remain concerned that Representative Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D) is working to limit my political speech and First Amendment rights … This is political warfare from the left and I do not agree with it. I am calling on her to give a public apology.”
Small became police chief last October, capping a 25-year career in law enforcement, most of it in Sanford. Small has been closely associated with the department’s widely praised approach to homelessness and substance abuse disorder. Mastraccio, a former Sanford mayor, was among those praising Small’s outreach approach.
Small said that in contemplating a run for Congress, he sought counsel from City Manager Steven Buck to verify that his appointed governmental position did not preclude entering politics as a candidate for federal office. Small told the Seacoast Online newspaper that Buck consulted the city’s attorney, who confirmed that the federal Hatch Act, while it prohibits government employees, including local ones, from engaging in political activity while on the job, does not prohibit political activity on their own time. Small says he is careful to maintain separation between his roles. “I am a police officer – but nowhere on my personal political page do I use my title or leverage my position. I keep the two completely separate. I am following all city policies,” he wrote on his page.
Small is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge US Rep Chellie Pingree, D-Maine. Other candidates include Ron Russell, a retired Army Green Beret and former defense contractor, Andrew Piantidosi, a technology professional from Cape Elizabeth, and Joshua James Duprey of Waterville.
The post Police Chief, State Rep Spar on Social Media appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
