Bull crap! If we need cuts so bad, then why aren't the commissioner jobs, the governor, and other state leaders taking pay cuts? Why put good people out of jobs? Why not eliminate some of the non-essential jobs in state government instead? Wait, if we did that then the governor would be the first to go.... Maine is sooooooo messed up. Perhaps a revolution is in order to clear out the liberals and start fresh with a common sense government.

Think people... what about the practice of everyone giving up three days out of the year and a hiring freeze? The people griped of course, but at least they had jobs.

When you look at the clowns that are elected, it is obvious people are not capable of rational thinking!

I got and idea why not give all the government workers that speed on the 95 a speeding ticket.I put my cruise on 65 and they fly by me like I,m sitting there.That would be a good way to raise a little extra cash.

It's amazing, the people that complain the most about government spending are the ones that complain when cuts come.

I got an Idea...NO MORE RAISES FOR HIGH LEVEL STATE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES. They are like leeches on the veins of Maine citizens. I see people on here all the time complaining about people receiving foodstamps and state aid. What about the people in office who are appointed by the Governor and most of them are making more than the average citizen in Maine. Yet they want a raise??? Baldacci wants to give them a 4% raise. This doesn't sound like much unless you know percentages. Admittedly 4 cents on a dollar doesn't sound too high...but when you add up all those employees it adds up to whole bunch! Think people.....Let me break it down for you.

IF an Employee makes $40,000 a year

thats .04 X 40,000 = 1800

Again that doesn't sound like much for ONE employee

Now we know that Baldacci has approximately 180 special assistants.

180 X 1800 = 255,000

and that's not ALL the employees. That JUST THE SPECIAL ASSISTANTS.

Don't let political charm and a magnificent way of belittling the subject fool you.

If you were going to get a 4% raise for the year you'd be ecstatic!

I would like to see Him and his Cronies take a voluntary paycut and give that money to the people who have lost jobs through no fault of their own. Most of the businesses that have closed over the past 3 yrs have done so because of the expense of operating in Maine.

oops I made a mistake.

180 X 1800 = 324,000

Starts to sound like a pretty big salary increase when you think of it this way doesn't it?

Save money, shut the whole facility down. Plenty of empty beds in the county jails.

Candy of Brewer does make a valid point - we should be eliminating annual increases for State employees - no one else is getting them. I do feel bad for the people impacted by this closing, but I have a feeling that we're just beginning to see the effects of the financial crisis. Hopefully, they won't decide to close the entire Charleston facility next January, when the big cuts come.

How bout giving some early retirement incentives? Get rid of some of the highest paid deadbeats at the top of the ladder too.

I am amazed at the truly ignorant cooments people come up with. For example: "Why not eliminate some of the non-essential jobs in state government instead?"

Please name these 'non-essential' jobs! it's easy to spout off this kind of BS, but with no knowledge it really is pretty stupid. What you consider non-essential, someone else considers important. I don't think gaurds from scumbag prisoners is essential. Ship the losers all off to a big central jaiol and let the losers rot.

"When you look at the clowns that are elected, it is obvious people are not capable of rational thinking!"

Not capable of rational thinking or not capable of thinking the way you do? I assume you're one of those stupid GOPers who considered the election of GWB rational? Please explain why the people who were rational in 2004 are no longer. Was it something in ithe water?

"I put my cruise on 65 and they fly by me like I,m sitting there"

Let me guess, you're on of those old people who drive in the left lane at 65 with your blinker on? Just cuz you have no where to go doesn;t mean the rest of us don't. And how do you know it's govt workers? From the comments it seems they're all lazy and not in a rush?

Unfortunately, no one is going to be happy about budget cuts. They are also looking at closing 4 county jails. Face it, times are tough and we are in it waist deep. I am not sure why so many special assistants are necessary. Should be setting the example by cutting the fat at top level first.

As for chemaine, where is this big jail you want to send these prisoners to, who is going to pay for it? If you don't think the officers are important, are you going to watch the inmates? Not everyone in jail is a scumbag. Some of these are people who made mistakes.

" where is this big jail you want to send these prisoners to, who is going to pay for it?"

Cram the losers into the MCC, 2 or 3 to a cell if required. The doubling and tripling up will save $$$$. That's what you wnt, right? " I am not sure why so many special assistants are necessary."

"Not everyone in jail is a scumbag"

Yes, they are (note, I mean prisnoers, not guards). Everone makes mistakes, not everyone who does so commits a crime. There are no good prisoners and that I have to pay to keep these low lifes alive is an affront.

As a retired state prison guard , I can see some serious flaws in the governors plan. First, back in the eighties, positions were eliminated. In the ninties again positions were eliminated. All of the eliminated positions are filled with overtime. Where are the savings? The people at the top who thinktank this crap have no fear of ever losing theirs jobs. They take a pencil eraser and make random cuts. I can't believe Marty is going for this. I would think this would be a public satety issue. As to the 4% raise the state employees might get, historically, at least when I was employed by the state, health insurance always went up when we got raises, usually the same amount as the raise.

Chemaine, what is the sky's color in your bitter little world. Doesn't matter what the issue, you have something nasty to say to a commenter. It seems that you use it as a stress reliever. Also your whole quotation mark cut and paste thing is really getting tired. Try a little variety in your posts. It is becoming so easy to anticipate you that it is boring.

A non-essential job would be like if you could clean your own office and dump your own trash instead of a state worker doing it and then being done for the day around 9:00. It must be hard to .'look' busy all the time. It may even get more difficult in the future.

Don't you think it is wrong that Americans rely so much on putting people in prison for jobs. Maybe you should go hang Quimby and let some industry in the state. With the Fed(private bank) making money out of thin air, you should have no problem having baldy ask for more bailout money!

"A non-essential job would be like if you could clean your own office and dump your own trash instead of a state worker doing it and then being done for the day around 9:00. "

see, that's just stupid. Try THINKING for a moment. Is it cheaper for, say, a government lawyer being paid $45/hr to spend 30 minutes cleaning her office ($22.50) or a janitor being paid $20/hr ($10). Mutliply this by 20/day, and you see there is a big difference.

Oh, just so it's clear to you, 22.5 > 10.

wow, chemaine, you're an idiot. Bitter and alone, I'd bet.

"wow, chemaine, you're an idiot. Bitter and alone, I'd bet."

ya, but I can do simple math.

Why not back off on hireing state troopers, especially with the instance of the altercation that took 4 hours for a trooper to respond to in Tremont.Thats why so many murders occurr.

Why hire more trooper and give them more budgets just to set up what they call check points to see if you are wearing your seat belts. Have school busses gotten seatbelts yet? I thought that the state was gun hoe on protecting our children? I dont see any seatbelts yet, as a matter of fact I follow a school bus home from work and the kids are bounceing from one side to the other and running up and down the isle while the bus is in motion.

Duckwa, you crack me up! You're not going to be able to get people to behave. Part of the reason people post here is so they can act out!

impeach BALDacci and elect Jon Coburn

chemaine:

It,s not that hard to tell the government worker,s with the special license plate they have .But our government workers should show how to obey the law by driving the speed posted.There are a lot of very nice young people in this jail , it is needed.So to call someone a scumbag is also wrong .It may be your kid that ends up here.

"There are a lot of very nice young people in this jail , it is needed."

yes jail is needed. people who commit criems are not nice and are worthless scumbages. They should sned those little losers to Corcoran in California and have Tray and his buddies show them a "good time".

"So to call someone a scumbag is also wrong .It may be your kid that ends up here"

No, they are well raised.

My opinion on this is this subject is that Charleston is a well a run facility and if it ain't broke don't fix it leave this facility alone.

chemaine:

You sound so bitter. You never got in any trouble when you were young?You must have been the apple of your mom,s eye!Yes it is wrong to call someones son a scumbag. Maybe you should write a book on how to raise perfect children.

Do your children call people names like you? I hope not.That,s just not right.

It looks as though I am a day late, but the first thing I have noticed in this blog is that we have lost sight of the subject. The attempts to rationalize with individuals such as "chemaine" are in vain and attention only prolongs lack of progression. I would like to address a couple of items in the discussion as this matter has / will directly affect my family extended.

There are beds in County jails at the moment that are empty, but they are not "free" to occupy. The additional expenses of labor (guards / support staff), medical, food, clothing, transportation and last (not leastly) overhead (benefits, insurances, utilities) will come to fruition by opening up these closed areas. If this sounds familiar it should as just the opposite (closing / saving on the above expenses) is the Governor's / DOC (Denise Lord) game plan. As stated in the Governor's supplemental budget plan, they intend to relocate State prisoners into County facilities with the Counties bearing the expense while keeping within the LD2080 CAP guidelines. Oh, by the way, after we (State of Maine) do this cost shifting; our plan to save money is to then freeze your budgets with zero based growth for the next two and 1/2 years.

Another correct point, things are tough all over and are going to get worse in the immediate future before they get better. However, we should concentrate on things that don't work and stop trying to fix items that "ain't" broken.

I would also like to say that the Charleston facility is a correctional institution. It's not like a regular county jail. Most of the inmates have committed very low level crimes and are of a much younger age. I wouldn't call them all scumbags. They are younger and this place is helping to make it so they don't commit much worse crimes in the future, with rehabilitation and counseling, and also the sense that they work in their community paying off the restitution owed. There are not enough beds in county jails. Have you not heard about how all our jails are overcrowded? The people that are being laid off are gonna be hit hard with this economical burden, so let's just hope that they can find jobs as soon as possible.

Peace