EAST MILLINOCKET (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s administration isn’t blaming a New Hampshirebased investment firm that manages the paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket for the bankruptcy filing by Great Northern Paper Co.

George Gervais, LePage’s commissioner of economic development, says criticism of Cate Street Capital by LePage’s two opponents in the gubernatorial race doesn’t change the administration’s view. He told the Portland Press Herald that the administration still hopes to find someone to invest in the mills, and that we “can’t just walk away.”

The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.

Efforts by Cate Street to create an industrial energy pellet operation at the Millinocket site have stalled. And more than 200 workers were laid off in January when Cate Street closed Great Northern’s East Millinocket mill.