The Independent View: Maine Gov. Says Cruz Campaign Stabbed Us in the Back at State Convention

Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump supporter, accused the Cruz Presidential Campaign of reneging on a deal to support a “unity slate” of the State’s Primary Delegates. "We reached a deal with Cruz's national campaign to put up a unity slate that would honor the wishes of the thousands of Mainers who voted at caucus,” LePage said in a statement. “But Cruz's Northeast Political Director David Sawyer lied to us and broke the deal. Sawyer stabbed us in the back, reneged on the unity slate, and betrayed the people of Maine."

The Maine Governor suggested the incident was part of a larger trend of deceit from the Cruz team. "As we have seen throughout the country, Cruz's national campaign is run by greedy political hooligans,” he said. "I can't stand by and watch as Cruz and the Republican Establishment forcibly overrule the votes of Mainers who chose Trump and Kasich. I call on Senator Cruz to condemn Sawyer's disrespectful and dishonest tactics in Maine."

In Maine's GOP Presidential Caucus on March 5, Cruz came out on top with about 46% of the vote. He was allocated 12 delegates, leaving nine for Trump, now the Republican front-runner, and two for rival John Kasich. The State's Convention is underway this weekend to decide which delegates will head to the Republican National Convention in July.

According to a local NBC affiliate, LePage had been jockeying for a Slate of Delegates that would preserve the distribution of the Caucus results.

Maine delegates are bound by the Caucus outcome on the Convention's first ballot but can change their vote if the process moves to a second ballot and further ballots.

Update
Once again, Cruz's Campaign has used the Republican Party delegate selection process to outperform his results on Election Day in hopes of wrangling a nomination during the National Convention in Cleveland this summer.

This time, in Maine, Cruz secured 19 of 20 delegate slots filled at the State Convention over the weekend. The sweep frustrated rivals Trump and Kasich, as well as Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

While the Maine GOP awarded 23 total delegates proportional to the vote in the State's Caucus on March 5, 12 to Cruz, 9 to Trump, and 2 to Kasich, those delegates are bound to a Presidential candidate only on the first nominating ballot at the National Convention.

That makes the individuals selected to fill those Maine delegate slots, 20 in total, since 3 of the spots are automatically filled by State Party Officials, critical in the event of a Contested Convention.

Under the failed "unity slate" plan, which LePage had said each campaign had agreed to, each campaign would have selected the individuals to fill the delegate slots they won at the Caucus. In theory, those delegates would remain loyal to those candidates upon subsequent ballots.

But controversy flared on Friday when LePage accused the Cruz campaign of going back on efforts to agree to the "unity slate." That's because ahead of the State Convention vote, the local Cruz campaign threw its support behind a different slate of delegates comprised entirely of Cruz-approved individuals likely to flip support to the Texas Senator.