PORTLAND, Maine — A loss of state research and training contracts will trigger at least 11 layoffs at the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, school officials confirmed this week.
Another nine Muskie School employees will see their roles reduced and potentially eliminated entirely as state projects being performed by the school are completed.
“Extraordinarily good people are losing their jobs,” said Mark Lapping, Muskie School executive director. “The upshot is a number of people will lose their positions and a number of these people will leave Maine. These are precisely the sort of jobs we think should be retained in Maine, what we call ‘brain jobs.’”
Lapping said the Muskie School has performed research and training work for the state under a two-decade-old cooperative agreement between the University of Maine System and state government.
However, with the Department of Health and Human Resources looking for budget cuts — taking some work in-house and paring other projects outright — the school and its Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy stands to lose staff.
“These positions are affected because of state budget cuts and fewer contracts, known as cooperative agreements, with the state,” said USM spokesman Bob Caswell in a statement. “Nevertheless, they are regrettable because these are people who for many years have provided important services to state government such as training for child welfare staff. The Muskie School’s Cutler Institute is committed to finding ways to continue its work with state government on the improvement of services for Maine people.”
Lawmakers during the recent legislative session closed a DHHS budget gap of more than $200 million with a series of program cuts and restructuring.
“The recently passed budget includes many structural changes to address a budget shortfall and to put Maine on a pathway toward financial sustainability,” DHHS spokesman John Martins told the BDN in a statement.
Martins provided the Bangor Daily News with a list of 29 contracts worth at least $16.9 million combined the department has with USM’s Muskie School. Projects range in cost from less than $5,000 to more than $3 million.
Dollar values for another 12 contracts with the school were not available by press time.
Projects included training for state child welfare workers, vector-borne disease epidemiology research, and public health management analysis.
Of the 41 contracts between DHHS and the Muskie School, 10 are projects that will be eliminated, two will be brought in-house at the department, and seven are under review.
Additionally, Lapping said, Gov. Paul LePage’s November executive order calling for all state contracts to be put out to competitive bid — instead of automatically renewed under the cooperative agreement — places other Muskie School projects in uncertain territory.
Of the school’s 41 DHHS projects, the department is seeking requests for proposals for another 13 of them under the competitive bidding process.
Lapping said he hopes the Muskie School’s history working on the projects, and the fact that as state university employees the school’s payroll can be used to represent state matching funds and qualify for federal grants, will help give the institution the upper hand in the bidding process.
“We welcome the notion of open bidding,” he said. “We believe we can compete in terms of quality and cost with anybody, and what we bring to the table is this long history of doing extraordinary work with extraordinary people for the extraordinary people of Maine.”
But, he said, in the cases of the projects being eliminated or brought in-house by DHHS, the resultant job losses at the Muskie School will damage the institution and the larger university as it competes for top students nationwide.
“It impacts us academically,” Lapping said. “By having those experts in the Cutler Institute doing this work, it provides wonderful learning opportunities for our students, because they can work with people who are at the top of their field, and that I can’t replace at this school.”
This is horrible. That school plays a key role in the training and oversight of the way that DHHS people work with clients, supervise their staff and solve problems. This is bad news.
Yes, because things have gone so well at DHHS.
I’m talking about the training that DHHS staff get around how to treat abused kids in foster care, mentally ill people who can’t stick up for themselves, seniors who are neglected or abused. This isn’t about people who abuse welfare payments, this is about the quality of the help that the truly needy actually get from DHHS staff. Nobody can deny the importance of that, regardless of their feelings about welfare programs.
That school provides training and oversight for DHHS? Then they should close it altogether. Theyre failing miserably if thats their purpose.
Obviously, they haven’t done so well given the unapparent success of DHHS. Time to get a real job.
New DHHS Worker, “Here’s a bowl. Go get some rice.”
Get a hair cut and get a real job
I can almost guarantee that he is better respected in his field and makes more money than you. What is YOUR defenition of a good job?
one that doesn’t take money from the taxpayers
Honestly? So you are opposed to teachers, firefighters, policemen, plumbing and building inspectors, judges, surgeon generals… ?
If so, for the record, that doesn’t make you a “patriot”, that makes you an anarchist.
You say that like it would be a bad thing.
Well, as long as we’re clear that your preferred reality is one where everyone runs around clubbing and gathering their food and dwelling in the huts they make themselves…
That hurts i have feelings
Looks like Ole’ Mark Lapping must be doing some Medicinal Marijuana research.
so who are these 11 “layoffs” as you have so benevolently identified them?
what are their salaries?
and what value did they bring to the Muskie School?
rambling on about the “training” they supposedly provide and offering zero details on the “extraordinary work” that these supposedly indispensible workers offer to the public is a complete disservice the concept of journalism and fails to provide the public with information regarding the expenditure of their hard-earned tax dollars…
Do you even know what the Muskie school is? Do you have any idea what it does?
I do. I have intimate knowledge of them.
Do you read Dilbert??
Childish.
how so? I know Muskie from the inside. Do you??
Not much – you can bet your bottom dollar on that.
It’s a place where the out of office party hacks can stay warm and dry whilst they steal even more from the taxpayers.
A person loses a job due to lack of adequate money to fund the position. What else would you call it other than a layoff?
Nice job on the compassion, jtc. Maybe your job is next.
Money for the poor should be used for direct services, not to employ researchers and academics. If you look at the data you can observe the shift in government support for the bottom quintile of the poor to the middle class. Thus leaving the poor with less at the expense of people who do not need the subsidies (earned income tax credit, student loans for middle income etc). There is only so much pie to divide up and actions such as using welfare money to employ researchers and academics diverts it from the needy.
Atta way to create more jobs and keep people in the state. Politics before people, I always say.
It’s sad and scary that your heartless rant has so many likes.
featherbedding
The company I work for laid off 11 people 2 months ago , I didn’t see on the front page of the BDN.
the company i worked for layed off around 400 people, closed intire departments transferring a few jobs to out of state offices. Forget front page BDN. It didnt even make the local paper.
There should always be competitive bids for projects involving tax payers’ money!
Yes, remember when Cheney’s former company Halliburton got that mulit-billion dollar non-bid contract to handle all the civilian jobs for the military when Bush started the war in Iraq?
What other companies were in a position to deliver on that contract? I am guessing you do not know. How about Obama’s no bid contracts? I recall him giving a sweetheart deal to Ronald Perelman and of course there are the campaign bundlers who have been the recipients of many sweetheart deals for various green energy projects and other slush fund activities.
Don’t ask the Bush haters to respond rationally to your argument with any cogent views on Obama. They lack logical thinking to deduce that no-bid contracts are common with both parties, whenever they are in power.
An irrelevant screed is an irrelevant screed.
We will never know what other companies could have delivered on that contract BECAUSE THE CONTRACT NEVER WENT OUT FOR BID!!!!!!!
That tells everybody here that you have no clue what other companies were in a position to possibly cover that scope of coverage required in the contracts. The truth of the matter is there are only 3 or 4 companies in the world able to deliver those services on such a scale and only ONE of them was a US company. The only real competitor in the game at the time was the French firm Schlumberger.
If you are going to be a watchdog, you are going to learn how to put bite behind the bark.
Wrong again Liberal S&C. There have been contractors for the military since Washington’s day and a great many of the functions performed by Halliburton were already being done by others. The Cheney administration, er Bush administration, bundled those services so that they could make the very claim you just did, “who else could meet these requirements?” then they just GAVE the non-bid contract to Halliburton. And holy moly they got away with it! Then Halliburton sub-contracted many of those functions back to the original holder of the contract. Dang! Remember when they said it was “unAmerican” to question your government? That is how they countered any clear thinking individual who questioned this action. In fact, questioning the government is the most American thing a citizen can do! Starting an unnecessary war and then carpetbagging to profit from it is treasonous in my book. All those lives, all that money, just so Cheney’s boys could make a couple of billion. Outrageous! Oh I forgot to mention that little Bush had the pleasure of carrying on where his daddy left off. At least daddy Bush had the good sense to get the hell out of there and not to hire his old employer to profit from a war. Good grief!
That is pure BS. Your defense is that the job was intentionally too big. In reality, your problem is you don’t like the politics or the people rather than the sensibility of how and who the contract was awarded to.
And what if those bids take jobs out of Maine and give them to people across the country or in Canada? Maine first. Always.
It is about time….
Mark Lappping is highly respected nationally in public policy and, as U Southern Maine’s Provost for two terms, was extremely well liked for his leadership and for his supportive and humane treatment of faculty and staff. It is easy to rationalize the pending loss of these positions as of no consequence to the state. No doubt the same people who argue this would be first in line to protest the elimination of even one assistant coach or athletic administrator at UMaine or USM. Too bad that the nearly $900,000 annual salaries for the seven former Baldacci Administration top administrators hired by the UMaine System–as detailed two weeks ago–couldn’t have been used to retain these likely more qualified Muskie School employees. I suspect that none of them lacks a college degree, unlike the most unqualified hire mentioned in that report.
Maybe we should be investing more resources in business rather than “public service sector employment training”.
Sure! Maybe we can throw more money at business to finance sending more jobs to the Chinese. When taxes go to business, it goes in some businessman’s pocket. How many jobs have been created since LePaige’s big taxcut?
I do not know how many jobs have been added in Maine since any tax cut. I am sure you could research that in department of labor statistics on line. When businesses receive tax cuts, the owner of the business benefits as do his employees. When you receive tax cuts, you benefit as does your family. It is not a complicated thing. You deserve to keep most of what you earn and it is not government’s money.
This also falls in line with DHHS eliminating case managers for the severely mentally ill, and privatizing this out to an agency. Absolutely a bad, bad move. I have no idea what those legislators were thinking. Welcome to the jungle…
What is wrong with private sector case managers? Are you suggesting that government employees are better than private sector employees?
Lord, this news just made my day.
QUASI, baby………..that’s where it’s at!!
Well, maybe not so much anymore…….
How many high paid administrators are associated with the Muskie School? How many of these administrators will lose their jobs versus teachers that actually train students? What are the names and purposes of all of the so called “research” projects that are underway and that will be lost? I have taught at the University and now work in the private sector and I am amazed at how much more work gets done in the private sector with less people than how little work gets done in the public sector with much larger staffs. In my opinion, the University needs to look at the services it provides and find ways to do it more efficiently with less people just like we have been forced to do in the private sector. I can also say that one of the biggest costs that keep us from growing in the private sector is the cost of taxes and complying with government mandates and regulations. We have had to cut staff in order to stay afloat and the newspapers do not run stories about our struggles on Page One. As hard as it is, the Muskie Center and all State Government needs to make the same cuts that the private sector makes every day to live within our means.
Administrators at the Muskie School are teachers also.
And how many classes a day do they teach, curious to know.
Look up the course schedule online if you really are curious.
Dual pay?
Oh well, more Maine jobs bye bye. It is LePage’s direct fault this time. Seems, he likes to create unemployment in Maine.
These are public trough jobs at great expense to the taxpayers with little to show for it.
According to you, ALL state jobs fall under that category.
Sorry, you have an extremest agenda, and I’m not taking your word for it.
Most of the time you’re just plain wrong.
Since you cannot quote me ever making such an assertion, your comments are rather empty. I have a conservative, mainstream agenda and you have never proven me wrong about a single thing. Carry on.
How ‘extremest’ of you.
Liberal Soup N Crackers – do you even have a job?
Or is your job posting right wing troll comments here?
I just ran your screen name through google… 6,240 comments here. Quick math: 3.5 comments a day for FIVE years. Assuming you didn’t post them all in the last few months.
How did you get that job? Which think tank is paying you?
You are incorrect. I have made 1,908 comments on the BDN forums. Advocates who are frustrated with the comments of opponents have a tendency to refer to them as trolls even when there is no basis for it.
I am both gainfully employed in the private manufacturing sector and also work as a private investment manager. I am taking a vacation day today to manage a few things at my home. If I could get paid to refute you liberals this easily, I would jump at the opportunity.
I am only frustrated with your frequency. It’s hard to debate with someone who has so much free time. That’s what I meant by troll – the ability to post and respond multiple times a day.
And thanks for the clarification. It appears the rest of your comments are on redstate, spectator, pjmedia… so you get around.
That’s good. And you argue well. Perhaps when my jobs (oh wow, a liberal who works!) slow down, we can debate. You seem a worthy opponent.
Maybe and then when you are unemployed, they beat you down more. Then you get these inconsiderate posters who take every opportunity to beat you down further. Remember the days of compassion?
As much as I appreciate the services provided by the Muskie School I’d rather see these layoffs occur than see even deeper cuts to direct service providers such as emergency social workers and child care workers. When it’s 2:00AM and some child’s life is in turmoil the Muskie School isn’t going to help that kid, but an in-the-field DHHS worker just might.
Only with the correct training!
Yes, but without training, these caseworkers would not have the knowledge to handle such situations;-((
Wah,wah,wah.The BDN writes a daily article,either about cuts that our previous administration caused or about the poor gay people. Your LIBERAL slant gets so old!!
It is good that the Muskie school will have to compete for proposals instead of living in an open door arrangement.; however, they probably have a major advantage functioning in a university supported infrastructure while applying for more grants. Richard Barringer undoubtedly helped create the Muskie school while at State Planning Office which became a resting place for displaced government elites. Where was the accountability on reports which emphasized an acknowledged bias? Has anyone checked the accuracy of economic predictions of C. Colgan a former State of Maine economist? An ivy tower has partially collapsed and hopefully Gov. Lepage will correct the biases in Maine’s grant awarding process.
I contacted a former SPO specialist for a report yesterday and was referred to DEP. SPO is closed and no longer a sole source funder of Muskie.
Many of Muskie’s staff are imports and will go where the jobs are, or as they like to write about, a ‘mobile labor force is the hallmark of a vibrant economy’.
The public sector has never given a beaver’s butt about the tens of millions of private sector jobs lost to this rotten economy. Eleven public sector jobs lost? –PLEASE!
I feel bad for these people but apparently this is the way things go right now. Than you GOP!
Another example of Landslide LePage’s jobs program?
What are you complaining about? He is freeing up “brain” resources for the private sector.
He can give them a job at Mardens.
A job at Mardens is better than no job at all, at least to people with an interest in supporting themselves.
Let’s see $200/week after taxes, let the deductions begin $50.00/week for gas, $100.00/week per child for daycare, rent, insurance, food. But look at the bright side, they will get that employee discount at Mardens. Or let me ask you Soupy, should they just stop breeding? Or perhaps marry into a rich French family from Canada? Hmmm.
The weekly earnings would probably be over $250/week but the difference is minimal. Your suggestion is that they have zero rather than $250? Perhaps they need to work two jobs and stop breeding. If they can connive a rich French Canadian into marriage, more power to them.
—
Reading through the posts and I have a question Liberal SnC; how do you figure that the take home pay is going to be over $250.oo a week? The vast majority of Mardens employees don’t even get full time work at minimum wage. Under Lapage’s leadership, Mardens went from a store that had some deals (albeit you had to search for them) to a sad, sad joke.
The assumption is full time at slightly above minimum wage. There is a minimal federal income tax bite and the SSI, FUI and SUI taxes are set percentages. The issue was not really Mardens specifically but the typical non skilled service position that someone might take rather than being completely unemployed.
On a side note, the animosity the confiscation class has toward LePage is irrational.
Good. Finally we are making some headway toward reducing the huge load of “administrators” that occupy these bureaucratic “Research & Training” positions. The objective is to reduce the size of DHHS, this is a good way to do it. I’m sure some state or federal agency somewhere will find a desk for them.
The worst administrator is in the Blaine House. It will be interesting to see how he administers after Nov. 6th…
We are closed for buisiness.
In effect, more government positions eliminated. love it
Sure! Now how about the Governor’s advisor position?
‘Brain jobs?’ Maine don’t need no stinking ‘brain jobs’ we just need to get off the couch and get us a trade…..and then move the heck out of this backazz state…….pffffffft.
These “extraordinarily good” people will just have to find extraordinary employment in the private sector. I don’t think we will miss the “brain jobs” very much.
God forbid any intelligent people should exist in Maine and hope to be employed. The state (and the country) should be reserved for people who cheerfully accept peasant wages and have IQs no higher than 70. Becoming aware of people with higher IQs simply makes the anti-“brain job” people envious and angry.
That assumes the people employed in state educational and administrative facilities are the really smart people in Maine. Step back and think about that for a moment.
They are certainly among Maine’s intelligent citizens.
It’s fascinating how much bias there is against intelligence among Commenters.
….
I did think twice about it although I don’t think t was nasty. It was just unneeded.
…..
The irony of your post escapes you, I am sure.
….
There is no bias against intelligence. There is a reasonable bias against the notion that the smartest people in Maine are employed by government institutions. You didn’t take time to step back and think. Do you happen to be employed by government?
I’m not employed by government & not suggesting the people being laid off are the most intelligent people in the state, just agreeing that they tend to be intelligent.
I was responding to your comment, “I don’t think we will miss the ‘brain jobs’ very much.”
You responded without addressing the context of my remark. These jobs were suggested to be “brain” kind of jobs and my point was simple. We are not likely to miss the contribution of those particular “brain” jobs or at least we will successfully adjust to their loss.
I disagree with the inclusiveness of your term “we.” YOU won’t miss them.
We being those who actually fund governments and their institutions does not mean that we is all inclusive of all people. You can learn these things in school, you know.
If you are implying that I do not pay taxes, you are in error yet once again.
I was not implying that at all. Instead I would consider you to be part of that non-inclusive element excluded from “we”. As for once again being in error, that would only apply if your straw man fallacies had any validity.
Hey, have a good weekend. Let’s agree to disagree.
Agreed. Enjoy the weekend!
Don’t let him get to you Liz, he just spouts sarcastically. He does seem somewhat intelligent, however his facts and figures are quite skewed and he knows absolutely nothing about the Muskie School and the services they provide. Not to mention the repercussions of these lost services down the road.
he knows absolutely nothing about the Muskie School
Don’t be so sure of yourself.
Elaborate, please, I’m listening.
Crickets!!
What would you like to know about it? It is the public policy school of the University of South Maine. It has a couple hundred people associated with it on staff. It is predominantly a graduate and research focused institution. As with any University college it has numerous on-going research projects in a variety of interests.
Did you think this was a secret research tank that only progressive liberals were in on?
Did you copy and paste that from Google?
Actually, I wrote all by my conservative self. Apparently you think these are secrets.
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Just pointing something out Soupy. Though the Muskie School is contracted by the state for services, their employees are NOT Maine state government employees, I tried to point that out to you before you embarrassed yourself…sorry. As for all the brain power not being employeed by the state of Maine, you’re right. Isn’t that where Paul LePage is employed?
That might be valid if the USM were not a publicly funded institution but that is not the case. Additionally, LePage is not “employed” by the State of Maine government in that he cannot be hired, terminated or dismissed by the executive branch of Maine government. He is instead elected to head the government or at least the executive branch. So, in a technical sense of receiving a government compensation package, you could make that argument but it would not be a sound rebuttal to the points being made.
They are not State employees if that’s what you’re trying to say, trust me I know.
Yes, LePage is elected, however, is he employed? Answer honestly. Does he receive a paycheck? Again, answer honestly.
They are employed by a publicly funded institution.
With regard to LePage, I addressed your line of reasoning. If you wish to base your refutation on it, proceed.
Again, are they state workers? Do their benefits reflect that of a person employed by the State of Maine? You can find this information on google too.
They are employees compensated by public funds. I think I have made that clear to you already. If that is not the case, then none of them would be losing their positions due to the cut-off of state funding.
Public policy should never, ever be based on the envy of the stupid and the ignorant.
Just sayin’.
Perhaps you could just say something relevant?
We will get by just fine. The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
More unemployment in Maine, thanks to a Governor who promised to BRING jobs to Maine.
All these people that are getting laid off I hope are looking for work out of state. Nothing here anymore. All these politicians did not think this through. They need to bring the jobs here then make the cuts. All these unemployed people don’t have jobs so they won’t be brining any revenue into the state.
great job politicans, you took the easy way out.. lets just cut programs and not worry about how to creat more jobs.
Lets deal with reality, just for fun, ‘K?
Since taking office LePage has seen the unemployment rate go from 7.9% to 7.2%
Since taking office LePage has seen 14,000 jobs added in Maine.
Now these are not large numbers but this is the opposite of your claim of more unemployment because of LePage. It is also not a long period of time in office to bring about greater changes.
Actually some folks close to retirement took layoffs and collected unemployment, once that ran out, they retired. Also, how many folks unemployment benefits ran out but are still unemployed, to lower that number? You might want to re-check your percentages, might be a little “smoke and mirrors” there.
Ummm 14,000 jobs? You sure? Did those go to Kestrel in Brunswick? Nope, Wisconsin! Can you please refresh me where these jobs are?
I do not doubt for a moment that the unemployment numbers are affected by scoring with the denominator however you would also have to apply that same logic on a national scale to the Obama administration numbers that are being touted recently.
The total job increases are provided by the State of Maine Department of Labor. You can google it quite easily and calculate the change from one period to another.
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It is about time, now keep going and clean out all the unnecessary administrators while you are at it, system wide.
Start in the Blaine House!
You do not believe the State has to have a Governor?
And so the fallout begins. I suppose we really don’t need jobs anyway…
Oh, but if you lose your job, the Tea Pottiers label you as lazy and “on the couch”
No, thats not true. If you lose your job and you are content to live off of unemployment benefits, food stamps and housing assistance, then they might consider you lazy and “on the couch”. If you say those people don’t exist, you don’t know what you are talking about.
Of course they exist! That doesn’t mean that all unemployed are lazy. Read the opinions here. Tea Potty view is if you arn’t working, you are shiftless. That’s just a slap in the face to someone who can’t find work. That is why I have no respect for them. It is very narrow sighted and demeaning. I worked full time for 45 years, since the age of 16 and loved every minute of it. Raised a family and now they are working at good jobs…better than I ever had. I never looked down my nose at anyone that was down and out and neither do my kids.
These are not jobs and people leaving Maine, they are government bureaucrats that produce nothing and yet consume scarce fiscal resources. Turning them out to pasture, some of which will probably greener for them, is good for the state.
The money saved, by making government employees redundant, if returned to the entrepreneurial c lass will have the effect of creating more and more jobs in the private sector. Yes, some of these new jobs will only be “ McJobs”, but many more will provide real income and potential.
The only way out of our first, 21st century depression, is with 21st century economic solutions: reduce government spending and return the money to the 49% that actually pay taxes and let capitalists and free markets determine its efficient allocation. Today, instead of the market determining how capital is allocated, inept government bureaucrats make those decisions, both directly and indirectly, on how scarce resources are redistributed.
On the other hand, you can keep in place the current confiscatory government spending like a drunken sailor until everyone is on the dole or a government employee and there is no free market: and, therefore no freedom.
Mike, dah mayor, Brennan worked there and he did a lot of good stuff. Like he published this as a co-author..” Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Maine
Author(s): David Lambert, Michael Brennan
Sponsoring organization: Muskie School of Public Service Institute for Health Policy
Discusses Maine’s mental health system.
Describes how Maine provides mental health services, while providing other health care services under MaineCare”
This is very important, I’m sure you all have copies or read it…well if you didn’t you’re ignorant, cuzz this is the kind of important stuff that’s getting cut.
All the more reason to DOUBLE THE CUTS !!!!
It says on their web site that the have over 200 employees. Maybe they do need to cull the heard. It always seems that everyones job is important when it is time to cut. When the taxpayer can’t pay anymore then where are your salaries going to come from. And my final qkuestion is if you can find a better means to save then send you idea to Augusta.
Outstanding News !!!!!! Way to go Paul !!!!!
Time to double down on the cuts and get twice as many of these filthy pencil pushing public parasites off the taxpayers back.Paul, you are our HERO! Can we make you Governor for Life?