Legislative discipline can take many forms — and the way it’s been handled during Maine’s current session isn’t working. To understand why, one must return to the LePage administration, where a state governor broke the mold for uncivil behavior.

Whatever his other achievements, Paul LePage was an equal opportunity insulter of legislators. He insulted Democrats and Republicans, senators and representatives, committee chairs and rank-and-file members. I didn’t realize the full extent until conversations had long after he left office.

He may not have been, as he called himself, “Trump before Trump,” but knowing these impacts it’s easier to understand — though not to justify — our complaisant Congress and a Supreme Court gone wobbly in refusing to allow decisions against President Trump’s lawlessness by federal judges to take effect.

When LePage exited in 2019, Democrats returned to full executive and legislative control with the opportunity to — one can dream — restore civility at the State House. It hasn’t gone well.

Republican resistance began with disruptive tactics during House debates. Speaker Sara Gideon, who served one term with LePage and another with Gov. Janet Mills, responded by taking offenders to the woodshed.

Gideon halted action, sequestered the member in her office and required them to apologize to the House. It consumed precious floor time and wasn’t terribly effective in curbing disruptions. Then came the pandemic.

Like most, though not all legislative chambers nationwide, Democratic leaders shut down the 2020 session, then took an unconscionably long time to return. Even in 2022, when vaccines proved effective and fatal infections plummeted, Democrats kept committee sessions online, where most decisions are made and almost all the bargaining occurs.

Still, actions by some Republican legislators cannot be excused. Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross brought censure motions against Rep. Shelly Rudnicki, R-Fairfield, and Rep. Michael Lemelin, R-Chelsea, for statements made on the floor despite repeated warnings. Both censures were approved unanimously.

Rudnicki’s misconduct went further. When the State House was closed, she gained entry and could be seen — more often heard — pounding on locked doors where masked staff members were working.

Democrats may have waited too long to reopen, but Republicans were wrong to oppose all restrictions. One cautionary tale: the newly elected GOP speaker of the New Hampshire House died of COVID late in 2020 after attending an unmasked campaign rally.

That brings us to this year, and the case of Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, whose censure prompted a battle more consequential than anyone, including former and current Speaker Ryan Fecteau, could have imagined.

A registered nurse, Libby joined the unsuccessful 2020 attempt to repeal vaccination requirements for school entry. The law has been so effective that five years later more than 97% of Maine’s public and private school students are vaccinated, a record, and outbreaks of childhood diseases have been minimal.

Nevertheless, Libby ousted an incumbent House Democrat, then joined attempts to enter the State House without masks.

Libby was censured not for any conduct in the House, but for posting photos online of a transgender athlete who won a girls’ track championship after competing the previous year as a boy.

Her actions were clearly improper, but the penalty — denial of floor voting and speaking — amounted to overkill. It wasn’t as if Libby was saying anything not generally known, and lesser sanctions were available.

As Libby’s defiance continued, she became a beneficiary of Republican fundraising, then an emergency order by the U.S. Supreme Court restoring her voting rights; she didn’t appeal the speaking provision.

Disruptions persist. After the Appropriations Committee produced a unanimous supplemental budget in February, usually the prelude to tackling the big two-year biennial budget, the lone member not to attend, Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, blew things up by convincing Republicans to reject the compromise.

There followed fruitless attempts to approve the budget, eventually leading to a “current services” vote by Democrats, leaving all major questions unresolved.

Both sides blame the other, but consider: In the 204-year history of the Legislature, only four representatives have been censured. Rep. John Michael, Democrat-turned-independent from Auburn, was the first following a bipartisan recommendation in 2001 from the Ethics Commission.

Rudnicki, Lemelin and Libby are the other three, with sanctions proposed by House Democratic speakers; all were reprimanded earlier for violating mask mandates.

This leaves us without a budget, no end of the session in sight and little chance for de-escalation; Libby is reportedly considering a run for governor.

One might hope cooler heads would prevail, but it’s more a Ulysses S. Grant moment. The great Union general vowed near the end of the Civil War in 1864 to “fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” And then some.

Correction (June 16, 2025): A previous version of this column misstated the voting results on the censures of two Republican representatives. Both censures were approved unanimously.