Percentage Perspectives

Congratulations Senator Dill! You have won a special election by a landslide that if it had gone to the GOP would have led their claims of support for Governor Paul LePage and his right wing agenda. I'm sure they had their downplaying the results spin ready just in case you nosed over the line in a photo finish but alas, they'll need to rewrite it to account for a trouncing that dismisses the idea of referendum on Maine’s direction. Speaking of mandates, you enter into office with a majority 68% win unlike Paul LePage who was sworn in after a 38% plurality of votes cast. As for the *GOTP, let the excuses begin!

* Grand Old Tea Party

Dear Senator;

I read the op-ed piece written by Senators Katz and Langley that you co-signed in today’s newspaper. I very much appreciate the sentiment expressed that Governor Paul LePage’s tone, demeanor, and belittling comments have no place in Maine political discourse. Putting people down, dismissing their concerns, and removing expressions of their aspirations absolutely do not serve Maine citizens.

However, the op-ed piece strongly endorses the policies and programs that the Governor is pushing and I find that message disheartening. The deeply concerned reaction by many of your constituents to the Governor’s antics also applies to his anticipated actions. It is not only Paul LePage’s tone that has been offensive but it is also the tone of his agenda that is disturbing.

Should Paul LePage’s agenda as stated by him on the campaign trail and reiterated by him many times as Governor be enacted without significant compromise and moderation, the negative attitude he has exhibited toward many Maine citizens will be translated into an official negative attitude of our State toward your constituents.

Deep cuts in social services set an ill tone toward those who need society’s assistance. Stripping environmental and worker protections from our laws codifies a negative demeanor toward Maine’s most important resources. Unfair payroll taxation of State employees and teachers belittles their important contributions to Maine. Each is just as troublesome as negative public discourse.

Again, thank you for taking a public stand in this letter on Governor LePage’s harmful behavior, I urge you to also step forward to stand up to those aspects of his policy and program proposals that will effectively harm the people of Maine.

Respectfully;
Bruce Bourgoine

Why Business Should Condemn LePage's Hubris

The moral mural position and self interest ought to trump petty triumphalism.

When businesses, large or small, sit down at the table with a union representative or an employee not a member of a labor union to work on some employer/employee impasse or issue, a climate of collaboration is essential to success. Paul LePage's mural madness may seem remote to those discussions in the future but the Governor has with distain added his bit of poison into what ought to be atmosphere of respect for workers, open-minded discussions, and mutual purpose.

Businesses currently in Maine are invested for perhaps reasonable or rueful reasons but understandable ones in the red tape roll back and they are also focused on emergence from recession. Adding a bit of employer versus employee toxicity is hardly in their interest. And having the addition of it made in a heavy handed "I'm the boss" approach, based on a feeble flippant fax, for an in-your-face symbolic sophomoric stunt, is counterproductive to a relationship that needs some attention already.

Workers should not only feel respected for their work contribution but should also feel they hold personal worth and dignity as more than mere cogs in the wheels of commerce. Removing artwork on labor history from the Maine Department of Labor is very much the wrong message delivered in a brusque, bossy, and bullying matter. It says, "Your history is unimportant, your heroes are rubbish, and your connection here is severed."

I contend that it truly does not represent what reasonable employers, business leaders, industry groups, entrepreneurs, and even businesses that might be looking at the state for possible investment and expansion want. Why would the clumsy slap down by a third party of people one needs to partner with be welcome? Why would the intrusion into existing balanced relationships be helpful? Why would one invest to relocate a business to Maine in an atmosphere with unpredictable elements?

In closing, businesses in this state have a lot of priorities, and one is not symbolically beating down workers. In fact some of their priorities are the opposite, to increase employer/employee collaboration for best results, to uplift and improve workforce quality built on good relations, and to build a great reputation for attracting topnotch employees, consumer marketing purposes, and being pillars of our communities. "Made in Maine" means, "Made by Mainers."
Business leaders should openly condemn Governor Paul LePage's unproductive attack on their employees. I urge them to speak out clearly rather than faxing.

Not addressed in this piece is the role many companies and business leaders in this state take in promoting the arts. I never fail to appreciate and often patronize the sponsors noted for exhibitions at museums and the underwriting of play productions and concerts in Maine. To these sponsors of the arts, this is also an affront of petty censorship and artistic expression that they wisely support.

Hear No Labor

Governor-elect LePage is setting the tone-deafness for his future administration as reported in the December 1st Kennebec Journal:

Gov.-elect Paul LePage is asking businesses and industry groups to help him reduce the regulations they believe hinder economic development.

He launched this effort Tuesday at an unprecedented meeting at the Augusta Civic Center. LePage asked about 100 gathered business people for their ideas -- and political support -- when he presents a package of regulatory reform bills to the Legislature.

"What can we do to assist you to provide better jobs in Maine?" LePage asked the crowd.

Absent from those invited to the forum were environmental groups, public health advocates and consumer advocates. LePage said those groups will have an opportunity to weigh in on his proposals as part of the legislative process.

Governor-elect LePage is starting out by choosing selective listening, to those who mirror his views and already support him, as his standard operating procedure. This narrow outlook along with clumsy actions by GOP members of the legislature to eliminate the labor committee as reported in the following Sun Journal piece signal how one-sided this administration and its legislative allies intend to be:

Established in 1887, the Joint Standing Committee on Labor is responsible for overseeing changes in wage and workplace safety laws, union negotiations and the Maine State Retirement System.

Republican leaders acknowledged Tuesday that they were seeking to shift that oversight to other committees, or to potentially dissolve the Labor Committee and create another panel on which such duties would be combined with business development tasks.

The presumptive House Speaker, Rep. Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, said the plan was to put business development and labor matters before one panel, and to potentially save money, although those savings were not disclosed Tuesday.

The greatest "savings" potentially would be the first time the minimum wage comes in front of a committee dedicated to business development.

LePage Business 101

Expansion of the working poor appears to be the heart of the LePage business plan.

The actual quality of jobs, living wages, high pay, and substantive benefits are not now and were never on his agenda. It always has been all about bootstraps fantasies, ceding (our) state power to (their) market power, and setting us up to say, "I'm just so gosh darn thankful I have a job".

But there won't be much to be thankful for as families require perhaps up to three jobs per household to survive, place more cheap calories on their tables out of desperate necessity, lay awake at night (if that isn't today's shift) worrying about their health, and play out their role of economic serfdom by buying junk from far away at Marden's so that company and others like it can go "green" and recycle a few cheap labor dollars.

Movement of individuals off welfare to expand the workforce and ripping up regulations to enable the creation of low end employment will apparently be the GOP method of job delivery. The path not taken requires good education and winds through a good environment. But we can't have that!

Wondering

I wonder how Paul LePage would see the world if his childhood family had gotten the intervention services it desperately needed.

Does Paul LePage believe that the welfare that he claims he was on was justified or not? And since LePage says he got himself off welfare (* just like 96% of those in Maine) why does he denigrate its temporary use?

Or does Paul LePage believe that today a family of 18 within an immigrant community with an abusive parent does not warrant intervention and that a young child should seek his own solutions by his own means on the street and just hope that fortune might take him in?

* Kennebec Journal:

Four percent of TANF cases exceed five years, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Most of Maine's long-term cases involve disabilities, according to the state.

The average time spent on TANF is 21 months, and 85 percent of families leave the program within two years, according to the agency.

Just wondering.

LePage Lies - One Last Time

One last time addressed by this writer before the election that is. Paul LePage is surely going to go on and on and on making up false statistics, perpetuating myths, and engaging in outright lies. In last night's gubernatorial forum sponsored by Prepare Maine, created by The Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education he told another deceptive whooper:

"50% or better of our families have one parent"

Number of families in Maine 351,646
Number of single-parent headed families in Maine 74,903
Using a calculator vs. pulling a number out of thin air yields 21.3%.
Source (PDF):
National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies

Nitpicking and carping is the countercharge by LePage supporters anytime this stuff comes up. His supporters call him refreshing and say they like it that he is off the cuff, blunt, unpolished, and will "tell it like it is". But he doesn't actually "tell it like it is"; he's perpetually caught using bogus numbers to back up his assertions and claims.

We need to confront reality. How will Paul LePage serve us as Governor if he believes only what he wants to believe? Will false assumptions and presumed numbers become the basis for budgets and laws in Maine? Can a liar be trusted with your future, your children's future, and the state's future?

The core supporters of Paul LePage have given him a pass on every lie he has uttered. His tea party backers accept lies that fit a world view that gives them the pretext to reshape social policy and slash taxes by heaping derision, based on made up facts, upon everyday workers, the poor, state employees, teachers, and public servants in the state of Maine.

Somehow I still want to believe that moderate Republicans, who seek conservative fiscal prudence, will not accept purposeful gross inaccuracy as a basis for setting priorities and making policy. Somehow I want to believe that a vast majority of independents will not accept a leader who seeks scapegoats and freely uses false assertions as Governor.

The LePage tea party core not only accepts Paul LePage's lies but promotes, perpetuates, and exaggerates these deceptions. This election is not just about defeating a liar, it is also about defeating a very far fringe right wing movement based on dishonesty. Our vote for Governor in 2010 is our moment of truth.

LePage: Lie + Lie = Truth

Today in the Kennebec Journal:

Paul LePage, in a statement released by his campaign, said Florida officials were now backing up what his family claimed in the first place.
"Tax officials in Florida have verified what we have said all along," he said. "They have closed their investigation. The homestead exemption on the Florida property that Ann bought to care for her mother during the winter remains in effect."

Yesterday (9/10/10) in the Kennebec Journal:

Ann LePage, the wife of the Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage of Waterville, received permanent resident tax exemptions in 2009 on homes in both Maine and Florida, a violation of statutes in each state.
The LePage campaign admitted the violation on Thursday, calling it a paperwork error. A spokesman said Ann LePage had been unaware of the discrepancy and would remedy it.

So essentially, they did or did not know what they did or did not qualify for but it was a "paperwork error" that did or did not occur. Glad that cleared up Paul LePage's approach to honesty and transparency.

LePage Lie Enabling

I have not been shy about saying that Paul LePage engages in deceptions, is a myth spinner, and lies. The capacity for his followers to ignore gross mistruths as some sort of badge of the kind of non-intellectual, gritty streets, common man-common sense they think is needed in Augusta is amazing. Having fanatic followers that will swallow many mistruths and forgive outright dishonesty in hopes of getting their taxes slashed seems a bit like shoplifting at Marden’s – there is a guilt free self-justifying need in one’s mind that motivates the act but you still end up with junk.

However, even more disturbing is the ongoing enablers of the lies and myths perpetuated by Paul LePage. Today’s following excerpt from LePage’s hometown newspaper, the Morning Sentinel, is a good example of lying to support the liar telling further lies:

Mary-Anne Beal, a Waterville City Council member, said per-pupil spending has increased in Waterville under LePage.

"He's increased spending per student by 30 percent since he's been mayor," said Beal, who added she was a Democrat who recently enrolled as an independent because of false attacks made on LePage. "Under Mayor LePage's leadership, we've provided strong support for academic programs and extracurricular activities. Not a single program has been cut."

How can this City Council member walk the streets of Waterville without embarrassment? She is saying that education support has increased under the leadership of a weak part-time ceremonial mayor without any budget creation or management authority whatsoever, who threatens vetoes of any increase in property taxes, who along with all Waterville residents relies on the school funding variables of state educational subsidies to determine largely the direction of the school budget and taxation, and who has been directly contradicted by individuals within the school system itself.

Masking lies with more lies is a disservice of the highest order by any public official. Conservative, moderate, or liberal, we all need a Governor who will not lie and surround himself with those who will be enablers of dishonest government.

Paul LePage is not fit to be our Governor due to his background…as a liar.

And now for a commercial break:

"Bull Rider" now on DVD !

LePage - Pants on Fire #3

Please consider the number "3" used in the above title merely a posting count of this latest series and no where near the expansive number of deceptions, exaggerations, tall tales, fibs, myth makings, and outright lies by Paul LePage. Taking him to task on the ongoing duplicity that he engages in is extremely important because it gives us an advance look at both the personal character and the character of an administration led by him potentially as Governor. And no matter how one cuts it, Paul LePage being “truth challenged” is a compelling and imperative reason to use in asking fellow citizens not to elect him. He cannot be trusted to tell the truth by unenrolled voters, Republicans, Democrats, or even tea party adherents.

Paul LePage is either a pathological or professional liar. Which is unimportant at this time; just protecting Maine from fraudulent leadership is a vital concern of the moment. His personal downfall can simply take its course after an election defeat if he is a deliberate liar or those who care about him can help him seek treatment at that time if he suffers from some delusional disturbance.

Most astounding is that for the many claims that Paul LePage makes from buffalo count fantasies to what actually appears as words on a page to his own taped appearances is how completely the actual evidence debunks whatever he says. The counts were not required, printed facts absolutely dispute his claims, and, most glaringly of all, his own recorded words counter his false assertions. Paul LePage has been doing this for a long time and to a degree that it casts a shadow on his alleged on-the-streets upbringing, his educational struggle claims, his time living abroad, his personal ethics, and his hazy professional resume.

While he puts himself at the center of many of his wild leaps of his imagination, he is prone to drag in others through smear to boost claims of his being victimized and standing up to his enemies. He did that this summer by asserting that Arden Manning called him unfit to serve as Governor because of his ethnic background. This was simply unfair, untrue, and strategically stupid because of its utter disrespect of the intelligence of Maine voters. All the instances documented in these posts and the numerous ones recorded elsewhere strongly indicate a pattern that says buyer beware.

Any review of his video taped remarks generally uncovers some unsubstantiated remark that his most adamant adherents take as fact. This goes back to his tea party courting roots. Like accusing a reporter of dropping the “F bomb” or Arden Manning saying that he is unfit for office because he is Franco American, in this pre-primary video Paul LePage insinuates that Governor Baldacci swore at him.



This is a smear of John Baldacci’s character by Paul LePage to further his own personal political ambitions, enlarge his mythical fight against those he opposes on behalf of the tea party, and to elevate his own sense of self-righteous victimhood. Both those who know Governor Baldacci as a decent human being who would not call Paul LePage “some very choice words” and even those who know him as an opponent certainly understand the political instincts of the Governor would be to not foolishly commit such “choice words” to the emails Paul LePage claims he can show us.

Paul LePage cannot show us those emails based on the fact that the emails never existed at all. He lied. He lied to perpetuate his myth. He lied to gain false credibility. He lied because he is an impulsive liar.

I took the trouble to make the following Freedom of Access request of the Governor:

Please consider this my formal Freedom of Access (FOA) request for any emails sent from the office of the Governor or the Governor addressed specifically to Paul LePage as Mayor of Waterville or as an individual as the email's primary recipient during Governor John Baldacci's two terms in office.

The purpose of my request is to prove or disprove a claim by Mr. LePage that he can show the public emails from the Governor in which the Governor (or his official representative) called Mr. LePage "some very choice words" because Mr. LePage [allegedly] refused to spend some state provided money and "got under his [the Governor's] skin so bad".

The Governor’s office complied, searched their records, and provided four documents. Three are constituent emails on various topics on which the Governor and Mayor LePage were both included and in no way, shape, or form can be construed as a communication between the two nor do these emails contain any choice words directed at LePage. The fourth correspondence consists of an email from Paul LePage on June 5th, 2009 at 12:24 PM urging the Governor to veto the tax reform bill and stating that he [LePage]:

“…would rather see a temporary increase in income tax on those of us who are higher wage earners rather than expand the sales and use taxes on the less unfortunate [sic] in our state.”

To this email, the Governor’s office responded on the very same day at 3:18 PM. This is the sole email from both terms of the Governor between the John Baldacci’s office sent directly to Paul LePage. Now we come to the “choice words” and I quote the Governor’s email in its entirety:

Dear Paul;

Thank you for contacting Governor Baldacci. I am certain he will appreciate hearing from you. I have printed out your message and placed it in the Governor’s in-box.

With best wishes.

Sincerely,

Tammy Quimby
Deputy Director
Constituent Services
Office of the Governor

There you have it. The awful language of “thank you”, “appreciate”, “best wishes”, and “sincerely” were used. The emails Paul LePage refers to are completely made up. He wants to give an impression of an inflated prosecution of himself by those he opposes. The problem is that he attacks those he disagrees with lies that go infinitely further beyond stating his opposing views, he places fictional disreputable words in the mouths of his opponents to demonize them and booster his own reputation as a combative hero.

Would the dishonesty and lying abruptly discontinue if Paul LePage was elected Governor? Could we trust the state’s new chief executive to tell us the truth? Could we count on him to work honestly on our behalf rather than invent excuses for his failings by blaming others falsely? A single “no” means that a no to Paul LePage is absolutely vital to good, fair, and honest governing in the next four years. Spread the word. Buyer beware. We cannot afford a liar in the Blaine House.

LePage - Pants on Fire #2

It is time to say to Paul LePage: “Prove it!”

One feature of this campaign has been Paul LePage’s constant falsehoods that he seems to hope his closest followers will believe because the comments sound so darn good that they must be true. Furthermore LePage must also hope that these fabricated statements will attract others to his candidacy. It doesn’t seem to be working according to the latest poll that follows a couple of week of sharper focus on LePage’s problems with truth, angry rhetoric, and honesty.

From buffalo, black fly, salmon, and fee word counts that might just be over active imaginary exaggerations to “ I never had [name on Waterville home] it on”, they [tea party] sought me out, and “That’s what [Franco American slur] I’m saying” that qualify as outright lies, the examples that litter his campaign trail are really beginning to pile up. Yet even more outrageously Paul LePage even says things on tape, like his WRKO fabrication (at 7 minutes) of a reporter dropping the F-bomb and himself not swearing when actually caught on camera doing so is utterly incredulous:

Even beyond the material that can be debunked by mere follow up inquiry or any citizen’s ears and eyes, lays another concern: the unsubstantiated charge. I content that this activity is another deliberate attempt by Paul LePage to deceptively manipulate his angry message. Listen closely to LePage’s response when asked to talk about his contention about business interests and Maine government being an adversarial relationship in this interview from mebizsunday on September 11, 2010:



In one swoop, Paul LePage makes a wild claim that the host does not even pretend to follow up on by asking for the facts. Instead of laying out his contention in a manner to argue policy like a serious candidate, LePage makes a totally unsubstantiated charge of how he personally was unfairly persecuted by some unnamed shadowy members of the majority party. While it is indeed pitiful to see LePage play the self-pity card again, the real question ought to be - is this another legendary LePage lie? I contend that it is and that there are many other examples to be exposed as well.

If members of the controlling party [Democrats] actually called the Marden’s board of directors and told them to fire Paul LePage or there would be a boycott their stores; that would be a serious attempted abuse of power. A bully saying he was bullied is the oldest game on the playground. So Paul LePage, prove it. If the inevitable “no tracks were left” counter comes from LePage, then he ought to get individual board members to swear out legal affidavits backing him up. Until then, his unsubstantiated charge and smearing insinuation stands as another Paul LePage example of making things up and lying.

The Rage of LePage

MPBN: LePage's Temperament Becomes Campaign Issue

LePage - Pants on Fire #1

Paul LePage’s propensity for making up things that have no basis in reality is becoming ever more astounding whenever he is interviewed, questioned, or just talks off the cuff. From his lashing out at reporters and playing hide and seek from the press to his tea party jawboning that he never expects voters to see, he seems to suffer from a bad case of candor challenge.

It is ironic that one of the emerging main difficulties facing Paul LePage’s quest for the Blaine House is his problem with telling the truth. One of supposed valued hallmarks of tea party candidacies like that of Paul LePage is the average persons’ love for blunt, no bull, tell-it-like-it-is, strait-talking facts. He is supposed to be the guy to give you the straight dope without the clever deceptions of those regular politicians who are always playing duck and cover.

But it turns out that it is Paul LePage who continually and apparently without any qualms whatsoever just makes up things to support whatever argument he happens to be making at any time. LePage has determined that anything he says, no matter how farfetched will be believed by his base and apparently the rest of us just because he sounds sincere or that it appears that he believes whatever fiction he is fabricating.

Take this three minute outtake from a very friendly interview done by MaineWebNews for example:



There’s a lot to argue with Paul LePage on with his stance on guns with his wild west implication that you and I should own a gun in order to act responsibly to protect our families and property for starters. However, this column is about making up facts and telling lies such as:

“In Switzerland, [wording pause] the head of household is required to own a gun.”

This is simply an outright falsehood; there absolutely is no such law and never has been. Some pro-gun sites have implied that the every able bodied man being in the Swiss military means that guns are more present in that society and therefore the reason for low gun violence. I’ve traveled in Switzerland on a number of occasions and young soldiers do get on trains with military weapons but the actual number of those in training (not usually heads of households) and reservists issued weapons (perhaps heads of households) may total about 400,000 at any one time which would not place a gun in every one of the 3.4 million households in the country as a way of backing in to LePage’s “fact”. Furthermore they are not required to store weapons at home if they do not wish to and a system of armories exists for that purpose. Many Swiss will tell you that their low gun violence is due to being an affluent, educated and homogeneous society with social safety nets and prohibitions against concealed handguns. Swiss society is very different than that of the United States and Paul LePage’s imaginary “head of household gun owner requirement” being the reason for its low crime rate is totally misleading.

“When 9/11 occurred, looting became a major problem.” [siren noise]

This is a second outright falsehood, looting was not in any significant way a problem on September 11th, 2001 in New York City (nor DC, nor any other US city). A total of 6 arrests for looting were made on that day and more were made later but the overriding reality is that out of control rioting or looting did not take place at all. In fact, the evacuation of lower Manhattan in an orderly fashion in one of the most terror provoking events in American history was extraordinary. The many images of those in New York of all races and creeds consoling each other in the midst of this horrible the attack and assisting each other unselfishly with civic conscientiousness has emerged as an important positive example for our country. Shopkeepers with guns simply were not necessary; grabbing someone’s hand and running were far more essential. “9/11 looting as a major problem”, is another example of Paul LePage making extremely exaggerated things up.

Should Maine citizens be happy to obtain some blunt, no bull, tell-it-like-it-is, strait-talking facts? Perhaps, but they seem to only get bull, fabrications, misleading insinuations, and unfortunately even outright lies from Paul LePage.

Paul LePage - Ditheringly Delusional or Deliberately Deceptive?

Is it possible that in the dark recesses of Paul LePage’s mind that the new Democratic Governors Association ad regarding equal rights for all and women in particular is his convoluted misinterpretation of being called a "sexual harassment person" by the DGA?



Paul LePage foreshadowed that such a charge would be forthcoming this week in an interview with Howie Carr on WRKO on September 17.

No charge has surfaced of sexual harassment against Paul LePage this week thus far. And the DGA ad is the only known participation by that organization in the Maine race this week thus far. So is this fantastical leap the sexual harassment charge LePage felt was going to be leveled against him by the DGA? Sadly, I strongly suspect that is the essence of the matter.

It now becomes more apparent that Paul LePage might very well possess a confusing reactionary mindset about both the position of women in our society and what equal rights are all about. A suspicion that advocating equal rights for women (or others) in addressing a candidate’s positions constitutes a veiled charge of sexual harassment against that candidate is a preposterous stretch and absolutely ludicrous! Yet this leap to a completely unconnected contorted conclusion is 100% in keeping Paul LePage’s ongoing bouts of imagination.

Paul LePage has jumped from the mention of his position that creationism should be taught in schools to the conclusion that a Democratic Party official was saying that he is unfit for office because he is a Franco American. Huh? He makes up imaginary buffalo, mosquito, and salmon counts along with suggesting that dumping a bottle of Poland Spring water into our rivers is illegal when environmental protections are discussed. Huh? He reads words such as ‘fee’ or ‘fees’ sixty times in a document that the rest of us only see appearing three times all in reference to one fee. Huh? He says you can’t harvest timber in places that you explicitly can. Huh? He basically launched his campaign using the tea party and shamelessly raises money from them but continues to say it is they who “sought me out”. Huh? He has recast his role of ceremonial Mayor into that of being a strong chief executive of a Maine government. Huh?

Voters need to face reality. Paul LePage is either a ditheringly delusional or deliberately deceptive person running for Governor. Deciding which is correct may be too difficult. But denying him the Blaine House is a decision that needs to be made to protect Maine citizens from LePage’s dreaming and/or scheming.

Can Paul LePage read?

The five candidates for Governor spoke about agriculture on Tuesday and Paul LePage had an opportunity to address dairy farmers in attendance on how he would make life better for them according to this WABI report:

Candidates told the crowd, that included many dairy farmers, how they would make things a little easier for them. Paul LePage, the Republican nominee for Governor, says the State is taking too much money from local farmers. "I read the report from the Department of Agriculture to the Governor and every page had at least 3 fees. License fees, registration fees every page. It's a 20 page report. No wonder they're going broke, we're feeing them and licensing, and permitting them to death," says LePage.

A detailed search for this fee laden report did not turn up any sort of overall Department of Agriculture report to the Governor and I believe it is very safe to assume that Paul LePage is referring to this 20 page report: Governor’s Task Force on the Sustainability of the Dairy Industry in Maine (PDF) based on the fact that he was speaking specifically to dairy farmers.

However, the report does not contain “…at least 3 fees. License fees, registration fees every page”, and therefore a minimum total of 60 fees in the 20 page report. The word license does not appear at all within the covers of this document. The word registration comes up once in relation to farm vehicle registration in the context of a recommendation to exempt these vehicles from municipal property and excise taxes which would be the opposite of “permitting them to death”. And the word fee comes up 3 times in reference to the “handling fee schedule” and even then it appears once in the Executive Summary, once in the Findings, and once in the Recommendations. So that is 3 appearances of the word fee in the entire 20 pages, not 3 per page and most importantly these 3 mere words are all in reference to the same fee not 3 separate ones! So instead of 60 fees in the 20 page document, we really have mention of 1. Now, just be fair the word feed appears 5 times but even that possible comprehension problem is far below any reasonable counting error!

The report may not be a perfect solution to the difficulties facing Maine dairy farming. But a simple read of it demonstrates that it is from people who care about the industry, are concerned with its survival, are seeking to support it, and grappling with getting the right solutions in place for dairy farmers in a rapidly changing market. It is precisely the kind of report that one hopes to see government undertaking in an effort to support Maine farming.

There is little doubt that this is the report Paul LePage is referencing but please do challenge him to produce the 20 page report he referenced with the 60 fees highlighted. If he cannot, we need to know before voting if Paul LePage lied to us on camera and lied to dairy farmers or simply cannot read. In either case, he is therefore not fit to be Governor and should go back to his imaginary world of counting fees and buffalo.

LePage - Bad Signs

Paul LePage has made it very strikingly clear that one of Maine’s finest assets, our environment, is not a priority for him by telling us that on his first day in office, "day one, I come down to Kittery and take down the sign, Maine, the way life should be and put up one that says, Maine, open for business”. In fact LePage’s website does not even bother to address as an issue, environment, conservation, or any significant concern for Maine’s vital outdoors except for a rant under “Government Regulation” that includes now debunked LePage folksy fabricated studies:

…eliminate bizarre and unreasonable studies resulting in needless delays (i.e. buffalo and black fly census studies in Maine), and eliminate regulations that are incompatible with other regulations, whereby when one regulation is followed, another is violated. In that same vein, I propose that all duplicate and replicated regulations from DEP and LURC be repealed.

From way back in the primary campaign, LePage has expressed concern that the Department of Environmental Protection, charged on behalf of the people of Maine to protect the environment is…well, pro-environment:

He said "day two" of his administration, he tackles those DEP regulations, that he said often "serve no purpose except to cost businesses money. The regulatory system has been very adversarial to business and very pro-environment.

"Look at Land for Maine's Future. You can't harvest timber, you can't do any cutting. No one is going to have the benefit of creating wealth and prosperity from it," he said.

The preceding is also a prime example of LePage’s willingness to either stoop to outright falsehoods or just make up stuff to fit his own off-the-cuff flawed and false assumptions. That may work in his mind and as a bit of red meat for his followers but for the rest of us in the real world what Land for Maine's Future actual guidelines say will suffice:

Many LMF projects involve easements that permit continued sustainable forestry alongside recreational uses of the land. In these areas, you may encounter active logging operations.

Finally and less known is that Paul LePage’s desire to symbolically take down “Maine, the way life should be” is his personal sign off with a group called Americans for Prosperity using his tired anti-tax language to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.” It is one more example of the LePage ignore reality and forget any long-term true costs to society attitude.

But despite the pleasant sounding name, what is this group, Americans for Prosperity that Paul LePage has pledged to support and govern us by if elected with his present non-gubernatorial signature? Well it turns out to be, as well documented and exposed in the New Yorker, basically one of many pretend grassroots organizations and tea party operations heavily bankrolled by two billion brothers, Charles and David Koch who own Koch Industries that in turn owns several forest product industries such as Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, and Georgia-Pacific lumber.

The Kochs are also longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation.

It is a long and twisted Maine logging road one has to travel to find where Paul LePage’s loyalties lie. And at the end of that road is a fork.

On one, the sign, Maine, the way life should be still stands. That path is protected for sustainable use and travels through many places protected for our children that include good productive timber harvesting in Land for Maine’s Future, green energy jobs, and great outdoor recreational resources along with development sensitive to Maine’s quality of life that attracts tourists and new residents. Libby Mitchell is hiking far ahead on that trail already.

The other direction will have Paul LePage’s sign, Maine, open for business, on it. That road will be clear-cut of our livelihood aspirations, eroded by long term environmental damage, foolishly unregulated - damaging outdoor regulation and traditional Maine forestland pursuits, primarily set aside for out-of-state interests who will export our children’s future for unsustainable immediate corporate income without regard to climate damage or consequences. That is what Paul LePage is symbolically signing us up for with Americans for Prosperity and for what his imaginary sign in Kittery represents.

Shtick or Stick

Another example of Paul LePage's Mr. Business-friendly shtick for those gullible enough to believe him is this gem also from an excellent MPBN report by Susan Sharon:

At a recent gathering of Republicans in Yarmouth, this is how LePage described his vision of how state agencies should work: "Instead of having people going around enforcing the regulations, I would rather have customer-friendly state employees going out and helping you abide by the regulations. I don't mind tough regulations. I just dislike an adversarial attitude by our state," he said.

The full radio report follows:



Contrast that with this shameless adversarial attitude in his address to the Waterville Rotary as reported by the Morning Sentinel on who he is callously willing to stick it to:

"At the end of five years, if you still need welfare, I will personally buy a ticket to Massachusetts so they can start over."[sic]

and

"A lot of people in the public education system say, 'Oh, charter schools are just going to leave us the worst students.' That might be true. But at the same token, you know what you are dealing with, so fix it."

"If you are going be two-faced, at least make sure one of your faces is pretty." - Anonymous

LePage’s Shove Off Style

Paul LePage gave us a snapshot of how he would govern and what Maine could look like under his watch at the Waterville Rotary yesterday afternoon.

According to a Morning Sentinel report LePage told his fellow Rotarians that Maine taxpayer has been "ignored and vilified" for years. Check off the “angry and divisive” box.

On welfare he touted his own experience to press for a tiered program with one happy ending being: "At the end of five years, if you still need welfare, I will personally buy a ticket to Massachusetts so they can start over." There were no shreds of understanding of the circumstances of who uses the system, what exceptions are compassionately appropriate, nor where the tier of jobs needed on the other end of his plan will come from in this extremely challenging economy. Check off the “ignore and vilify the welfare bums" box.

Regarding education LePage reiterated his support of charter schools and vouchers while recognizing that, "A lot of people in the public education system say, 'Oh, charter schools are just going to leave us the worst students.' That might be true. But at the same token, you know what you are dealing with, so fix it.” Check off the “starve and kick public schools” box.

Perhaps the most eye opening real fact to come from LePage involved his own company’s employee health care insurance participation rates:

"In 1996, 71 percent of Marden's employees took health insurance. Today, we're down to 29 percent. Why? Because the other 25 percent that the employee is responsible for is unaffordable."

This is revealing because Paul LePage became general manager of Marden's precisely in 1996. Under his leadership, company health care insurance coverage of employees fell by a whooping 42%! This smacks of a total failure to address a significant problem and at the very worst a possible purposeful plan to cut business costs on the back of employees. Marden’s obviously benefited tremendously by not needing to pay the 75% to cover the hundreds of employees that could not afford the plan according to LePage. If anything this prompts more questions about Paul LePage’s style of fiscal management. Why didn’t he create a tiered system like his welfare plan to address the problem of the 25% burden? Does Marden’s pay a living wage to begin with that allows individuals to afford health insurance? Did Paul LePage engage in the same type of shenanigans as Wal-Mart when it came to employees and health care?

Paul LePage would be the worst possible kind of governor. He believes that his own mythical story can be simply replicated by anyone regardless of circumstances and economic realities. He offers no real solutions to systemic problems or addressing long term economic concerns. He seems to view Maine as primarily a few salvage boxcars of welfare fraud and education waste that he can mark down and shove out the door to save a few bucks without consequences. For Paul LePage, it will be business as usual.

LePage Puts His Worst Foot Forward

Paul LePage spoke to the Waterville Rotary Club today continuing his press avoidance and staying on the grip and grin circuit that shuns substantive debate and exposure on issues. This appearance, on home turf (he is a member of this particular club, 1979 to present) gave him another non-threatening setting to play candidate within.

However, another LePage shoot from the hip remark should once again cause Maine citizens to be concerned about whether he is a serious Republican Party nominated candidate that can lead our state or just a tea party mascot for an anti-tax, toss-the-bums out, get rid of the welfare cheats, angry referendum that cannot control himself.

According to the Morning Sentinel, at one point Mr. LePage quipped:

"You want a governor that's not always politically correct and puts his foot in it, you've got me," he said.

Is this what Maine voters really want? Do we really want to trust someone who dismissively makes light of his own lack of sensitivity and forethought? Is this the type of leadership that will help him work with the legislature, state employees, and citizens to meet Maine's challenges? Does this attitude show a genuine appreciation and appropriate degree of respect for everyone in Maine for whom he wishes to serve as Governor?

One of the things heard from time to time is how refreshing Paul LePage's everyman, no frills, says-what's-on-his-mind, plain spoken approach is to some individuals. There is absolutely nothing wrong with direct, unadorned communication if it carries a message of substance. But now, after many blurted out remarks, it is clear that Paul LePage is just hammering away on a limited number of tea party anger points to hold on to a whipped up angry base while crossing his fingers that the three independents take enough votes away from Libby Mitchell to allow him to sneak through the back door of the Blaine House.

It is time for Republican voters with genuine concerns about Maine's future who care about civic responsibility to openly distance themselves from Paul LePage. Their party has been hijacked and it is their party that he has put his foot in.

The Sentinel piece is a PM website news update and hopefully a more substantial report will follow in tomorrow's paper.