Dear Sen. Katz and Rep. Flood: I am impressed and grateful to you for defending our state’s hardworking employees. You have joined all of the Democrats and many other citizens. I am disappointed there are not more Republicans taking this stance with you.
Most everyone in Maine was appalled when they heard the governor’s comments referring to state employees as “corrupt as you can be.” It is embarrassing to have the chief executive of the state of Maine talking about his employees like this. These hardworking people work for him. They implement the programs and rules that our government comes up with. It is not their fault that there are user fees or license fees, or too much bureaucracy. Governor, you would do well to adopt Harry Truman’s motto: “The buck stops here.” You are the boss, start acting like it.
One thing Maine needs right now is for businesses from outside of the state to consider locating here. We are “open for business” and recently were declared the most peaceful state in which to live. Shouldn’t we be stressing this instead of publicly blaming state employees for whatever problems you think we have?
My two business partners and I manage Lee Auto Malls. We are grateful to our 430 employees who work hard every day to make this a great company. If we have a dealership or a department or an employee that is not succeeding, we assume responsibility for the poor results and try to fix it. We do not blame the employees. If I have a manager who is not successful, it is because I did a poor job training him. While not everyone is perfect for the job, I try to resist lashing out and calling them corrupt. I try to figure out what is wrong and what we need to do to fix it. And we only run a bunch of car dealerships; governor, you run our state.
I recently went to a dinner sponsored by a liberal, left-leaning group that I am quite sure the governor is not a member of. We (I am a member) honored an Augusta attorney who has dedicated his life to serving those who are least able to defend themselves. Walt McKee, the attorney honored, is one of those rare individuals that comes off as natural and humble as could be. He has a reputation of needing no sleep, regularly sending emails at 3 a.m. and having documents ready at 4 a.m. He is passionate and determined to help people that need help and are not always at the top of anyone’s list of pet causes. Sen. David Hastings, R-Fryeburg, noted that in championing the rights of the accused, “Walter has always been able to do that in a way the Legislature has been receptive to, understanding of and responsive to.”
As I sat and listened to the first few speakers and then to Walt McKee himself, my mind started to wander. I snapped back to attention when I heard Walt refer to some of his clients as being bullied, and then he reminded us of how nasty bullies are. We seem to have an epidemic of bullying going on in schools and out of schools. We have kids being killed in hazing incidents. We seem to need reminding of how to behave.
I was taught by my father to stand up for what you think is right, regardless of the consequences. Senators, representatives and commissioners, now is the time to come to the defense of the people that work for you. It is the right thing to do. It is better to stand up to a bully than sit quietly and watch him push people around.
Adam D. Lee is the chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Westbrook .
Mr. Lee–Most everyone in Maine was appalled to discover the scandal at the Maine Turnpike Authority. Most everyone in Maine was appalled at the thought of spending over $300,000 per unit for low-income housing.
But I highly doubt “most” anyone was appalled at LePage’s remark concerning a certain segment of Maine State workers. I think most Mainers are wondering how much more corruption and misuse of taxpayer money will be uncovered over the next year. Stop trying to manufacture outrage.
It was a stupid thing for a Governor to say, even if true.
But how long are they going ride this dead horse? You’re a D…the union knows you love them, already. Move on.
The best way to reduce the costs of low income housing is to put that housing in areas of the state that have low housing costs. Aroostook and Washington County come to mind. Currently, most is built in the service center communities where costs are much higher. Do I even have to explain why that is?
Why yes… yes you do need to explain.
Also, just for the record, it’s a pretty well known and agreed-upon fact that segregating the poor to the areas with the least desirable land only serves to create an isolated atmosphere of despair and restlessness. This is not a left wing or right wing opinion about urban planning strategies, it is an historical reality. Just look at are the “projects” built in the 60s and 70s. They took the cheapest tracts of land in a city and built complexes to house poor folks. It was a well-intentioned idea that also happened to be extremely short-sighted.
Typically, in any area where you develop affordable housing it is within easy reach of services. So, most affordable housing is located in Maine’s service center communities. This is where there are the services that many people need, such as hospitals, clinics, shelters, soup kitchens, etc. Service center communities typically have higher property taxes to support these services (after all, many of those services are non-taxable entities as well). Comparing affordable housing costs with a statewide figure when counties such as Arrostook have a average house price of $76,000 and Cumberland’s average is $259,000 is a false comparison if in fact you are not locating affordable housing in Aroostook county. The prices may seem incredible to someone from Aroostook, but not to those people in Cumberland.
The governor is trying to shift costs to the service center communities and off the state. Yest the service centers often end up with the people who left more rural areas for the service center because of the services. But the other part of that is that service center communities also are the jobs communities. If we shift the costs from the state to the communities, why would anyone want to live in a service center community, and how will the companies in those town deal with the higher property taxes? Perhaps they will just leave. I know my wife and I have talked about it!
What we need is to quit pointing fingers, and facts that will back up LePage’s arbitrary comments. I am proud to be from Maine, where our reputation (LePage excluded) is that we are hard working and honest! In fact, I was hired as a business manager in New York a few years back because of our honest reputation. It is sad when the Governor of Maine is bent on slandering Mainers, by accusing us (without any facts) as being dishonest couch potatoes. Shame on the Governor and a big thank you to those who defend our honest reputation. By the way, you may “doubt”, but MOST do NOT agree with LePage.
Katz and Flood seem to be more aligned with the D’s in their loyalty, than to the governor. Anyone with any common sense knew what the governor was saying from reading it. The spin machine is always working–must never need a tuneup.
Katz is and will never be aligned with the D’s, he is only aligned with a direction that will take him to the top and be as great a leader as was his Father.
You are absolutely right, most people knew exactly what the Governor meant by his remarks. He meant that there are a number of people who work in public service jobs who are not “with the program,” because they look at the world in a fundamentally different way than he does. The reason they do is because they went into public sector work instead of the private sector to help people and the government by doing their jobs well. But many of them aren’t fans of the current administration because LePage has shown a frustrating lack of understanding about how and why the public sector works, and they see his policies as lacking in compassion. They also know they don’t want to lose their jobs as the result of arbitrary cuts which have not been subject to rigorous review concerning the necessity of services a given department may provide. So the Governor believes these people are “corrupt” or lazy or poor workers simply because they don’t agree with him. And the people of the state understand this perfectly well.
LePage is making the efforts of educators who are trying to curb bullying more difficult. His bullying style is praised by the extreme right, but it is seen as unsavory by those who have a more evolved sense of right and wrong. As the leader of the state, he should be setting an example particularly for the young people of the right way to do things. He and his Tea Party cronies are are not setting a positive example for our youth with their arrogant bullying of the people of this state. How are our schools going to overcome the bullying that kids do when they have public figures like His Constipatedness modeling such negative behavior?
Uggh. You only need to take a quick look at my previous comments in dozens of BDN articles to know that I am just about as liberal as they come. On most issues, I’m somewhere to the left of Bernie Sanders. So please know that this isn’t the griping retort of someone who disagrees with you on the issues.
In fact, I agree with the vast majority of what you wrote above. My one concern is that you ended an otherwise smart and pointed critique of LePage’s management style (or lack thereof) by resorting to the same crass schoolyard name-calling that you want the Governor to eschew. There are *plenty* of issues you can cite when criticizing LePage, but when you call him names like “His Constipatedness” it only makes you look insincere and childish.
I hope you’ll consider this before you do so again.
In agreementt with Mr. Lees conclusion, I am heartened by the govenors resolve to tackle the difficult issues and weather the firestorm caused by attempting to reduce the state spending. His bombast often gets him more press however if the press was actually looking beyond that, they may very well find a real issue about difficulties in reforming intrenched state institutions, and find his frustration warranted.
And I am sure that Mr. Lee operates his business for a profit. And upon finding a problem with one operation or another, he will address it. His employees will find the answers, uncover the issues, and help move the corperation forward, or find themselves without job. There is a difference in management in business and goverment leadership to be certain, and the resolution to operation problems of many diverdent departments is quite different.
We can hope the govenor can get his message out with the help of a more investigative press concerned with the issues rather than histerical hyperbole, and move the state to a sound financial footing, and allow job creators to flurish and increase the tax base through greater production.
Well said. I would add one thing; he wants Maine to use fiscal restraint, and he is right. He needs to start by being some sort of model of restraint. I have also found that when I demean my employees publicly they seem less inclined to work hard for me. In this case the “me” is the State of Maine. The boss is trying to get a job done, demeaning the people whose help he will need is a bad approach, looks bad and is basically poor manners.
Great theory, but the problem is not in the Governor’s resolve, but in his ability. Why are the Governor’s supporters so proud of a Governor who categorizes all managers in State Government as “corrupt”, and labels all Maine’s unemployed as couch potatoes. I am ashamed of this Governor, who has blamed the very people who support his lavish life style, for the poor economy and bad job opportunities. The only job that this Governor has created is the ones for his daughter, (and other friends and family). And those jobs are funded by the very people that he is slandering.
The misdirection is running wild from the heavy duty Repubs with big pay outs:)