ALFRED — Rep. Matthew Harrington of Sanford is among six Republican lawmakers facing a civil complaint filed by two plaintiffs who allege the Maine House members failed to produce records they had requested under the state’s Freedom of Access Act.

The complaint, filed as an appeal of governmental action, also alleges that several bills before the Legislature in June — including L.D. 1448, that the six Legislators had cosponsored — supports “segregation of marijuana sales by protecting from competition retail sales of registered marijuana dispensaries,” contrary to due process and equal protection rights, according to the filing at York County Superior Court. L.D. 1448 has been carried over to the next special or regular Legisaltive session.

Josh Tardy, attorney for Harrington, and Reps. Bruce Bickford, Michael Perkins, Richard Cebra, Jeffrey Pierce and Paul Chace said the plaintiffs, Tyler Martel and Sol Fedder, appear to be alleging a conspiratorial relationship between the state representatives  and marijuana dispensaries — a notion that he called a “ridiculous and frivolous” allegation.

In a telephone interview Friday, Tardy said the documents requested in a Freedom of Access Act request by the plaintiffs were provided through the House Republican Office.

“We think the House Republican Office has fully complied, that each and every document has been provided to those people,” said Tardy. He said he believed the documents had been supplied  to the prior to the  filing of the appeal.“This about producing documents that don’t exist,” he said.

The appeal was filed at York County Superior Court  Aug. 3 by Fedder, of Arundel, and Martel, whose place of residence was not provided. In the filing,  the plaintiffs said they had not received any documents. 

In the filing, Martel and Fedder referred to a clause in the Maine Freedom of Access Act which requires an estimate of time required to complete the request and a cost estimate to do so. They noted that failure to comply is considered failure to allow inspection or copying of the documents requested.

Fedder and Martel are acting as their own attorneys in the filing. In court documents, they said they were members of the Anje Yowem Society, “in which the members, including plaintiffs, are concerned that the Maine Legislature, including and particularly (the representatives named) are intending to support and enact discriminatory legislation that could offend the Constitution of the United States of America,” they wrote in the court filing.

Martel and Fedder wrote that on and before June, they became aware that several proposed bills, including L.D. 1448, “sought to secure for Maine registered dispensaries, licenses to sell marijuana  products, to the absolute exclusion of all others.”

They are seeking the records they requested, attorney’s fees should they hire one to complete the appeal, and court costs.

A telephone message to Fedder Friday morning was not returned by the news deadline. 

Martel’s phone number was not provided in the filing.

“I’m fairly confident this will be resolved for the Republicans,” said Tardy.  

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.