AUGUSTA, Maine — A top legislative Republican facing a fine for violating Maine’s child labor laws accused Gov. Janet Mills’ administration of singling him out for political reasons.
The case against House Minority Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, dates back nearly two years. It follows a complaint to the Maine Department of Labor from independent journalist Crash Barry, who said he made it in a post that broke the news of nearly $3,500 in fines against Faulkingham for employing a 14-year-old on a lobster boat for four days in 2024.
Faulkingham has quietly been fighting the allegations for more than a year and challenged them in an Augusta court earlier this month. Child labor violations are relatively rare in Maine. The lawmaker’s allegation against the administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills echoes the way President Donald Trump talked about criminal charges he once faced.
“This is 100% political weaponization of the government against a political opponent,” Faulkingham wrote in a text message.
He said he was unavailable to discuss the case at length this weekend due to prior commitments. Spokespeople for the labor department and the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon.
The episode goes back nearly two years, when Faulkingham put the boy to work hauling and baiting lobster traps and binding claws. He paid the family friend between $80 and $140 for roughly five hours of work each day. Barry complained to the labor department that August and wrote in his post that he never heard back from regulators.
Faulkingham was interviewed in February 2025. In May, he was notified of violations for employing a child in a hazardous occupation and record-keeping problems that were kept confidential during an appeal process. The department reduced the penalties and made them public in February.
They went unnoticed until Barry’s post overnight Saturday. But Faulkingham challenged the ruling in an Augusta court earlier this month, saying the department erred in deciding several aspects of the case. He is being represented by former Maine House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, a Republican lawyer and lobbyist who sits on a panel helping Mills select judges.
Faulkingham is running for an open Maine Senate seat this year in an already-testy Republican primary with former Rep. Bucket Davis of East Machias, who has united many Down East politicians who want the seat represented by someone from Washington County.
The libertarian-leaning lawmaker has led House Republicans since 2022 after rising in state politics by opposing fishing regulations aimed at reducing whale entanglements. He has been a top Mills critic but has also worked with Democrats on issues from heating aid to tribal rights.
Barry, the journalist who made the complaint, has questioned Faulkingham’s account of a 2023 incident in which he and a sternman had to be rescued from his lobster boat on the day that a major storm rushed into the Gulf of Maine. The second man posted a picture of his bloodied face afterward but has not spoken publicly about the crash.
“They’re very lucky to be alive,” Winter Harbor Police Chief Danny Mitchell Jr. told the Associated Press at the time.
