Gov. Paul LePage has appointed Jonathan Liberman to succeed Geoff Rushlau as district attorney for Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and Waldo counties. (Abigail Adams photo, LCN file)
The Maine Senate has confirmed longtime District Attorney Geoff Rushlau as a District Court judge, and Gov. Paul R. LePage has appointed Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Liberman to succeed Rushlau as DA.
Liberman, R-West Bath, is the first new DA in Maine Prosecutorial District 6 since Gov. John McKernan appointed Rushlau in 1993. Rushlau went on to win six consecutive four-year terms. The district consists of Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and Waldo counties.
LePage appointed Rushlau to become a judge March 29. When a vacancy occurs for a district attorney, the political party of which the prosecutor is a member must submit replacement candidates to the governor. The governor then makes the appointment.
The four county Republican committees in the district submitted Liberman and Paul Cavanaugh, R-Woolwich, the deputy district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties, as replacement candidates.
Liberman has been deputy district attorney since July 2016. From May 2011 until his appointment as deputy district attorney, he served as assistant district attorney for District 6.
Liberman is a graduate of Cheverus High School in Portland. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Syracuse University and a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law.
