On July 3, 2013, after a prolonged period of not responding to emails or phone calls from the majority of the Maine State Republican Committee who had tried to contact him, GOP Chair Rich Cebra resigned.
The first report was posted by former state Senator Ethan Strimling on his blog, "Agree to Disagree," and was headlined "LePage asks Poliquin to take over as Republican party chair."
Other news articles around the state repeated Strimling's assertion about the Governor working the back room deal, but those mentions were scrubbed in short order.
There was, as expected, a hubbub in some quarters about the lack of checks and balances as well as no dearth of people pointing out that the last time Governor LePage got "his guy" -- Rich Cebra -- into that position, things went downhill fast.
Strimling asserted that Cebra had been promised that Governor LePage would raise the money to pay Cebra's hefty salary, but that never materialized. The exact quote from Agree to Disagree was:
According to those I spoke with, Rich Cebra originally agreed to take the chair position under the pretense that it would be paid. Gov. LePage assured him that he would raise the money needed. Apparently, that has not occurred, the party is struggling to raise money, and Cebra is stepping down.
In his very short resignation letter, Cebra indicated that he was quitting "for personal reasons."
Poliquin, as it turned out, declined to take the Governor up on his offer/request, and LePage has just spoken with Rick Bennett about running for state chair. Bennett announced on July 15 that he will be running.
That same evening, Sam Canders announced that he would be running, making him the only declared candidate to run without the Governor request.
His letter of intent is posted on a "Draft Sam Canders" page.