Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), whose disdain for working people is no secret, last month told state Labor Department hearing officers, who decide unemployment benefit appeals, that they better start deciding more of those cases in favor of employers who want those benefits denied, the Maine Sun Journal reports.  

At that gathering, LePage scolded about eight administrative hearing officers and their supervisors, complaining that too many cases on appeal from the Bureau of Unemployment were being decided in favor of employees. He said the officers were doing their jobs poorly, sources said.

The Maine labor history mural that finally was returned to public display this month after Gov. Paul LePage (R) ordered it removed from the state Department of Labor in 2011 is attracting a steady stream of visitors at its new home. Go to the full story to see all 11 panels.

Not quite two years ago, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) ordered the removal of an 11-panel, 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history from the Department of Labor. LePage, who supports “right to work” for less laws and has pushed to weaken child labor laws, claimed the mural was anti-business and akin to North Korean propaganda. But it is back on public display after the state Department of Labor and Maine State Museum reached an agreement to display the mural for three years at the Augusta Museum.

A federal appeals court ruled that Maine Gov. Paul LePage was within his rights when he took down a mural depicting labor history in a building that housed the state's Department of Labor. 

Jeffrey Neil Young, an attorney representing (pro bono) the artists suing Maine to reinstall the mural to the state’s Department of Labor, writes today in the Portland [Maine] Press Herald that the now-removed panels depicted are vital reminders of what unions have achieved. Below is an excerpt from his op-ed. If you’re in Washington, D.C., stop by the AFL-CIO where reproductions of the mural are now on display.

Six months ago, Gov. [Paul] LePage ordered the removal of a labor history mural from the lobby of the Department of Labor. Until then, the mural was largely unknown to most Mainers, including LePage himself.

Looks like Maine taxpayers will foot a hefty bill for Gov. Paul LePage’s blatant partisanship. Last month in a stealth move, LePage unilaterally removed an 11-panel mural from the state’s Department of Labor, saying its depictions of Maine working people was “anti-business.”

“Government by disrespect” is how six Maine Republican lawmakers are describing the actions of their fellow Republican, Gov. Paul LePage. In recent days, LePage unilaterally removed an 11-panel mural from the state’s Department of Labor that depicts the history of working people in Maine. In an op-ed in the Portland [Maine] Press Herald, the lawmakers write:

We should be focused like a laser on the agenda the governor laid out—reducing our tax burden, getting rid of unnecessary government regulation that stifles innovation and entrepreneurship, and putting into place thoughtful welfare reform.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s unilateral decision to remove an 11-panel mural depicting the state’s working families raises “grave concerns,”  wrote Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquarella in a letter to LePage. The mural, which LePage removed from the Department of Labor over the weekend, includes a depiction of 1902 Mount Holyoke graduate and former U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins. (Kudos  the Maine Democratic Party for posting the mural on its website.) As Pasquarella told LePage:

I was particularly surprised to read that you were influenced by an anonymous fax comparing the 11-panel mural to North Korean political propaganda, because the act of removing images commemorating Maine’s history itself conjures thoughts of rewriting history prevalent in totalitarian regimes.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has appointed new department heads and given them $20,000- a-year raises over their predecessors. BTW, Florida public employees haven’t had a raise in four years.

Over the weekend, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) secretly removed from a state building an 11-panel mural depicting working families’ history. Like Republican state legislators in Wisconsin who passed a bill killing collective bargaining through a series of dirty tricks, Maine’s Republican governor operates away from the public eye—despite being an elected official accountable to taxpayers.