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. 

In Maine, state employees are being forced to pay more in contributions for their pensions, but one isn’t: Gov. Paul LePage. He exempted himself from the new pension formula, reports Mike Tipping in the Kennebec Journal.

The candidates in the Republican race to the presidential nomination may still be criss-crossing the country slamming each other for not being extreme enough, but there is certainly one thing they all agree on writes John Nichols—they hate unions!

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.

Check out the a reproduction of the 11-panel mural depicting Maine’s labor history that the state’s governor has banned. It’s on display now through Oct. 11 at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.

While Maine Gov. Paul LePage continues to hold hostage a mural depicting the state’s labor history that he ordered removed from state property in March, the Maine AFL-CIO and artist Judy Taylor arranged for a reproduction of the mural to be displayed at Rockville, Md.’s nonprofit arts center, VisArts.

We haven’t checked the national polls lately to see how Texas Gov. Rick Perry is doing in his I’m-more-right-wing-conservative-than-thou race to capture the Republican presidential nomination. But it looks like he’s closing in on the lead in another important election—the Transport Workers’ (TWU‘s) Worst Governor Ever summer special election.