In a surprise move on Feb. 18, Gov. Paul LePage chose Lincoln County’s chief deputy, Major Ken Mason, to be Kennebec County’s next sheriff.  But Mason is unlikely to be seated any time soon, if ever, Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said Saturday.

The position was left vacant when Sheriff Randall Liberty was appointed to the position of Warden for the Maine State Prison in Warren. The sheriff’s term runs through the end of 2016.

Mason had submitted his name to the Kennebec County Democratic Committee, whose job it was to submit names to LePage to choose an appointee. The Committee, however,  submitted only one name to the governor, that of Interim Sheriff Ryan Reardon, according to a memo released by the LePage office.

State statute requires that the outgoing sheriff’s political party submits choices to the governor. The wording of the statute seems to suggest that more than one name should be submitted and that the governor should choose from among them. Mason’s name was not sent to the governor in October, when Reardon’s was, and the Committee met and affirmed that decision last week, Rita Moran, chairman of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee.

Because LePage did not select the person the committee recommended, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Friday that Dunlap was taking legal advice to see if the appointment of Mason is lawful.

“There are questions about the legality of the appointment,” Krystin Muszynski, Communication Director for the Secretary of State said. “Secretary Dunlap has a responsibility to certify any appointment under his responsibility for elections.”

In a telephone interview Saturday, Dunlap said that the Kennebec County Democratic Committee has the law on its side, and that LePage is obligated to choose the candidate that the committee recommended in October, Interim Sheriff Ryan Reardon.

LePage’s office said that because the committee did not provide more than one candidate, the governor felt that he was within his rights to go outside the recommendation and choose another candidate.

Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett said that he had not received notice that Mason intended to resign. Mason was traveling to the State Police headquarters on Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Reardon, who was chief deputy under Liberty, will continue his duties as interim sheriff while the legal question is resolved. Dunlap said that he would hope the two parties would speak to one another and resolve the issue; otherwise it would need to be resolved in court, he said. Because of the proximity to the primary and election, it is within the realm of possibility that no new appointment will take place before the election at all. 

As of Friday afternoon, Reardon had not filed paperwork to run for sheriff in November, when the next Kennebec County Sheriff will be elected, but Muszynski pointed out that it is very early for primary or general election paperwork to be filed.

Mason has been in law enforcement since 1987, when he began as a patrol officer for the Augusta Police Department.