AUGUSTA, Maine — As Republicans and their advocates ratchet up the pressure on MaineHousing Director Dale McCormick, two Democrats have withdrawn their support for a bill that would allow the quasi-governmental agency’s board of directors to fire her.
Reps. Jay Gilbert, D-Jay, and John Tuttle, D-Sanford, on Thursday removed their co-sponsorship of a bill that would align the accountability of MaineHousing executive director with that of similarly structured agencies.
The proposal is sponsored by Sen. Jon Courtney, R-Springvale, who has issued a statement saying that he was disappointed that Gilbert and Tuttle didn’t “have the courtesy” to explain their decision.
Neither Gilbert nor Tuttle could be reached Friday afternoon.
The bill, LD 1778, would not grandfather McCormick, who was appointed by Gov. John Baldacci before he left office. McCormick, a Democrat, has been the subject of criticism by state Treasurer Bruce Poliquin and Gov. Paul LePage’s newly appointed MaineHousing board members.
While the governor’s appointees now control the agenda of the board, they do not have the authority to remove her — a point frequently noted by Poliquin, McCormick’s most vociferous critic.
Democrats have described the scrutiny of McCormick and MaineHousing as a political witch hunt.
Nonetheless, it has been a tumultuous week for McCormick and her agency. Both have been under scrutiny by the conservative advocacy group the Maine Heritage Policy Center. MHPC this week released a report highlighting “disturbing” spending practices at MaineHousing, based on information the group obtained from the agency.
The agency has said the spending, which included conferences at high-end hotels and resorts, was designed for staff training. However, the report has mobilized some Republican lawmakers, who this week called on the Attorney General’s Office to investigate.
Democrats, meanwhile, have hit back against Poliquin. This week Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, requested an opinion from Attorney General William Schneider about whether Poliquin’s involvement with the Popham Beach Club violates a provision in the Maine Constitution designed to limit the state treasurer’s business dealings while he or she is responsible for the state’s treasury.
Poliquin owns Dirigo Holdings LLC and Popham Beach Club. Poliquin recently made headlines over his request to expand the activities at the club. The Phippsburg Board of Selectmen recently approved the request. Dirigo Holdings also owns Popham Woods, a housing development in Phippsburg.
Dion says Poliquin’s business dealings may fall outside the bounds of Article V, Pt. 3, which states that “the treasurer shall not, during the treasurer’s continuance in office, engage in any business of trade or commerce, or as a broker, nor as an agent or factor for any merchant or trader.”
The constitutional provision allows Poliquin to receive income from stocks and real estate investments. However, Dion believes Poliquin’s involvement with the Popham Beach Club and Dirigo Holdings warrants an official opinion from Schneider.
Poliquin has declined to comment on the matter. However, he has not relented his attacks on MaineHousing and McCormick. During LePage’s Capitol for a Day event in Lewiston this week, Poliquin told the audience that he was attempting to “expose” the agency’s wasteful spending at taxpayers’ expense.
In addition to the constitutional matter, Poliquin is also the subject of a complaint by the Maine Democratic Party. The party this week filed a complain with the Maine Ethics Commission alleging that Poliquin failed to disclose his earnings from Dirigo Holdings as required by law.
No date has been set for consideration of the complaint. The commission staff will seek a written response from Poliquin, and commissioners will need time to consider the complaint, the response and the applicable law. The commission’s next meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 25.
Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the Ethics Commission, said Poliquin has asked that the matter be considered by the commission soon.
To see more from the Sun Journal, visit sunjournal.com.
Why wouldn’t Poliquin report his business dealings on the mandatory financial reporting forms?
That makes it look like not only is he operating in violation of the Maine Constitution but he knew he was.
I do believe that could be a criminal violation.
Not nice Bruce. Not nice.
Once a crook, always a crook
Why is Poliquin still in office and operating his various businesses??? It’s against the state constitution. All the MSHA stink is baloney and the right-winger agenda is right out of Heritage Foundation which despises public housing programs. Out with Poliquin.
I beg to differ with you. You are baseing your comment on hear say.
Show us where it is against the state constitution.
You LIBS are all alike..;…peas in a pod. One lies and the rest attest to it.
Constitution says Treasurer can do business while in office. Even MHPC can’t parse this
Article V, Part Third, Section 3 of the State of Maine Constitution:
“Not to engage in trade. The Treasurer shall not, during the treasurer’s continuance in office, engage in any business of trade or commerce, or as a broker, nor as an agent or factor for any merchant or trader.”
Are you saying the treasurer should be allowed to “engage in trade” while remaining in office?
MSHA has been poorly run for a long time. Poorly run in that the programs mostly benefit well-connected developers. Remember the last election ? A developer ran for governor on the democratic ticket; she and her family has lots of section 8 housing units.
This souldn’t even be a political issue. Isn’t it just common sense that the Executive Director should be accountable to the board?
Yes, however…
Boards typically set policy, and Directors execute such policy.
Boards should not be involved in day to day activities, that would be the Director’s responsibility.
Typically, the Director serves at the pleasure of the Board, and is reviewed, annually.
Displeasure can result in a non-renewel of appointment.
Having said that, I am unfamiliar with the Charter for MSHA, so I cannot form an opinion.
For example, who appoints MSHA Board members? I don’t know.
I apologize for this long non-answer to your question.
The sitting governor, whoever it happens to be at the time, appoints members to the MSHA board.
In this instance, Dale McCormack was appointed by John Baldacci and still holds her position.
“In this instance, Dale McCormack was appointed by John Baldacci and still holds her position.”
For now.
Um–that’s the law…
Thank you for the clarification.
Then it would seem that MSHA’s most recent Board would appoint their own selected Director.
What am I missing here?
That is what I am saying. It seems so clear cut when you strip away the political nonsense.
Unless I miss my guess, they don’t have that power.
Should she decide to voluntarily vacate her position, LePage would then be free to fill the empty spot with whomever he chooses.
WOW, I thought that this was a story about the MSHA and Director Dale McCormick, how quickly it turned into a story about Palanquin’s business dealings.
As far as EddyL saying that all this MSHA stuff is baloney, that is an effort to deflect the fact that McCormick has mismanaged the agency from the day she arrived. The vendor list sounds like a who’s who of resort locations of the very wealthy. Go to themainewire.com and read the article and see where some of the “trainings” took place. Other expenditures include message therapists, Fun Town Splash Town, donations to liberal organizations and political donations, as well as a college in Iowa that she happened to attend and the theater inMonmouth that she performs at. Tell me what any of those things have to do with housing in the State of Maine, but what should we expect from an agency that thinks $264,000 per unit for low income apartments is well within reason. Let’s hope the Attorney General has the courage to start an investigation into the practices at MSHA and Dale McCormick.
Oh Boy, do you really think that all those expenditures took place under McCormick’s watch? I mean, really, she has only been the Executive Director since when 2008? If the Maine Heritage Policy Center was so HONEST it would have let you lemmings know that there is 10 years of expenditures before McCormick’s tenure. I mean, really, what a disservice this “think tank” is doing by providing you inaccurate information. It’s almost like there insulting your intelligence because, really, do you think they know those individuals who read the mainewire.com are going to get a second source to collaborate their story. Of course not.
You’re 100% correct on the MHC providing insulting data. The sad thing is that there’s a surprising number of folks out here who really aren’t “wise” enough to know when they’re being lied to. If there were more folks like you, used car salesmen and insultingly stupid politicians would have a hard time keeping their jobs.
So the partial vendor list that was provided by MSHA and made public by MHC and The Maine Wire are lies. I guess if that information is not accurate it would be the fault of MSHA, as they provided the information. Why has it taken six months at this point for MSHA to provide only a partial list of vendors? Why is it that the information did not include amounts paid to these vendors as was requested under the FOIA? Maybe MSHA needs a little more time to tidy up their book keeping. Maybe you are so wise that you can answer those questions for all us dumb folks.
I like to see you go through 800,000 business transactions and 88,000 emails, redacting the names of private individuals who are protected by federal privacy policy. Not exactly a push of the button process. Oh, yeah, while the Maine Heritage Policy Center continues to burdent Maine State Housing with frivilous demands, they still are working on getting people off their waiting lists.
What a pathetic attempt at an excuse. If the book keeping at
MSHA is on the straight and narrow, payments to vendors would be broken down by
category as to what type of goods or services were provided to the agency. I
would not think these types of expenditures would be mixed into the categories
for “clients” who may have been receiving monies in the form of some
type of assistance from the agency. I would assume that is what you meant by
private individuals protected by federal privacy laws.
No, I do not think that all those expenditures happened under the watch of Dale McCormick. I do think that the payments to the theater in Monmouth (that she performs at) the political donations to the liberal causes, the expenditure to the college in Iowa (that she attended) the fact that her significant other was a paid contractor to MSHA and the extravagant trips for “training” were more than likely a result of her personal agenda and ideology. What a service that the Maine Heritage Policy Center is doing to bring to the forefront the fact that there are issues with expenditures at MSHA or any other State agency. Let’s see what the outcome is from the investigation and see who is closer to the truth, the lemmings or the liberal trolls with their heads in the sand that think everything at MSHA is just rosy.
Poliquin is the crook here
The headline should read….
”Maine State Housing Director Dale McCormick Found To Be Misusing Taxpayer Money”
How so, she gets audited by the feds every quarter. Don’t you think the feds would have said anything if she was misusing THEIR money?
Yeah, I would put my full faith in a audit by one government agency of another governmant agency. Considering how efficent the Federal Government is I guess there is nothing to worry about here.
no white supremacists or Koch brothers on the list anyway
I suppose that if you did actually look at the list, you probably would find nothing wrong with where and how monies are spent at MSHA. You would prefer to move forward with your liberal dribble and ignore that something is not right within one of our quasi government agencies. You probably figured that everything was alright at the Maine Turnpike Authority as well.
Today’s BDN is a cartoonist delight. In one story we have the Penguin (LePage) continuing his year long war against Maine’s poor. In another story we have Lockstep Charlie (Summers) starting up his attack on Maine’s voting system once again. In this story we have the Pelican (Poliquin) and his battle with not only Maine State Housing but also the Maine Constitution. Some say that all three of the aforementioned are under the control of The Grand Wizard and his clan of highly paid political operatives at Maine Heritage Policy Center. In yet another story we have Sheriff “Dirty” Glenn Ross who leaks information to pedophiles, but can’t seem to get his story straight. The common thread for all of the above listed seems to be a problem with telling the truth. The hard working Citizens of the State of Maine deserve better then these characters. But I bet George Danby is one of the happiest people in Maine.
What characters do we deserve, Dale McCormick and her cohorts at MSHA? They are p#s#ing away the tax dollars of the hard working people of the State of Maine. I would think a good liberal such as yourself would be outraged that McCormick was wasting money that could be put to good use, helping the disadvantaged citizens in our state. But I guess, as long as that money is being misused by another fine liberal, it is acceptable.
Oh where to start. First off I have been a registered republican since 1967. While I do not remember ever voting a straight ticket I would hazard a guess that I have voted for republicans more often then not, including the current resident of the Blaine House. I will admit the vote for LePage back in 2010 was a big mistake. I took him at his word and now find out that his word really isn’t worth that much. As far as McCormick is concerned it is my understanding that there is currently an investigation underway by the same people who uncovered the problems with the Maine Turnpike Authority. They seemed to have done a good job on that one so I will wait for their report before I make up my mind if there is wrong doing going on in that agency or not. Apparently you must have insider information as far as how the investigation into Maine Housing is going if you are able to state that they are p#w#ing (whatever that means) away the tax dollars of hard working people of the State of Maine. I really hate to break this to you but I am one of those hard working Maine taxpayers. So to recap, you are wrong about my being a liberal, I just don’t care for liars. I prefer to have facts , unlike you, before I make a decision and I tend not to label people without knowing something about them as you seem to do. Apparently you , unlike me, like people that do not tell the truth, and that is your right. I see in another comment you have made you cite “themainewire.com” as your source. Isn’t that the fictional news service that was started by the Grand Wizard and his clan or highly paid political operatives at Maine Heritage Policy Center? I seem to remember reading something that they had to fire their first reporter recently. Oh yes I believe it was something about his being a bigot or racist of some kind wasn’t it?
I insinuated that you were a liberal, not a Democrat. I guess just because you registered as a Republican in 1967 there is no way that you could be liberal. I stated that they were p#s#ing( as in pissing) money away. Maybe I did jump quickly and was harsh, but if it stinks like something is rotten and looks like something is rotten, it probably is. I think that you yourself are jumping, to quickly claim that someone is not telling the truth (I assume you are referring to Maine Heritage or The Maine Wire). Just because a news agency/ outlet lean to the conservative side does not negate the fact that they are providing news. As far as the fact that they had to fire someone for their racial beliefs, I personally commend them for acting so quickly to rid themselves of such an individual. Maybe in the future I will hold my thoughts so as not to offend such a staunch Republican as you.
Oh no please don’t hold your thoughts. We all enjoy reading them. Well I most certainly do.
Someone taught me a valuable lesson: TRUST, but VERIFY! Where are your verifiable facts?
Yes, by all means, everyone here uses dozens of sources before they post about articles on tha BDN. I will trust that the vendor list provided by themainewire.com is accurate.
Looks like the democrats are the ones on a witch hunt….
Wow, the democrats are on a witch hunt? A democratic representative with 32 years of law enforcement decides to get a verification on a constitutional issue from the Republican Attorney General. Yep, looks like a battle royale for control for the state treasury.
Time for poor Dale to go. Put her along side Paul Violet picking road side this summer on the Pike.
This was reported by The Maine Wire on January 12, 2012. All employees at MSHA received a $1000.00 bonus. To qualify one only had to be on the payroll as of December 31, 2009 (which amounts to between 144 and 147 employees). Wow they sure earned that one didn’t they. This from The Maine Wire story:
“These payments cast a different light on recent claims by MSHA Director Dale McCormick that a shortfall in heating assistance funding distributed through the agency will mean ‘people will die’. The average heating assistance payment is $811 per household, which means these non-performance-based bonuses could have funded heating assistance for more than 180 families.”
Can anyone answer this for me, what else is lurking in the books of MSHA? These bonuses were the idea of the Board of Commissioners of MSHA. I guess the heating assistance for 180 or so households in the State of Maine were not as important as circumventing the pay freeze in effect for Maine State Employees.
What else is lurking in the cesspool of The Maine Wire? More supremacists? Homophobia? Wife beating?
Why not try and answer the questions of what is going on at MSHA and our tax dollars? If you don’t like The Maine Wire you do not have to visit their site, I do not have the option of not supporting MSHA with my tax dollars. All you are trying to do with your comments is ignore the facts that something is not right with the way funds are handled at MSHA.
Got to love that “jounrnalistic integrity” of the mainewire.com. Definitely abiding to the highest ethical standards.
Considering that the information about the bonuses were
obtained from the actual meeting minutes of the MSHA board meeting and Dale
McCormick discussed the bonuses during an interview on WVOM, I suspect your
comments concerning “journalistic integrity” is an attempt to deflect
from the facts. Give an example that themainewire.com has violated journalistic
integrity standards. I would say that because what they report and or comment
on does not agree with your personal taste is not a violation of integrity
standards.
Notice how the article about Maine State Housing Authority morphed into an attack on Poliquin? Next time write two articles you political hack! Since our Governor has been in office, he quickly got rid of a rat at MTA and it appears MSHA should at least be looked at for some perhaps spending problems and arrogant behavior.
The pattern of many Maine Government Agencies sound more & more like Chicago Politics… So sad :(