AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Labor Commissioner Robert Winglass is stepping down from his post, and Gov. Paul LePage has nominated Winglass’ deputy to take his place.
LePage’s office announced Wednesday that Winglass plans to step down as head of the state Labor Department once lawmakers confirm his replacement. LePage said he plans to nominate Jeanne Paquette to take Winglass’ place.
In a news release, LePage’s office said Winglass, 76, originally committed to serving one to two years as labor commissioner when LePage nominated him. He was sworn in in June 2011.
“The Department of Labor has made significant progress during the past year under his leadership, becoming more efficient and responsive to the needs of our people and businesses,” LePage said in a statement. “I wish him well in his retirement.”
According to LePage’s office, Winglass and his wife recently sold their home in Bath and relocated to their retirement home in Surry.
Winglass, a Massachusetts native, spent much of his career in the U.S. Marine Corps. He retired as a lieutenant general in 1992. Winglass served two terms in the Maine House, from 1995 through 1998, representing Auburn.
Paquette, 53, joined the Department of Labor in July 2011, soon after Winglass, after a career in the human resources field.
In 1999, Paquette, of North Yarmouth, founded Employment Times, a free publication that lists job openings. She also founded HR Times, a Maine human resources trade publication, and the website MyJobWave.com. Those businesses later merged with Sun Media Group, publisher of the Sun-Journal in Lewiston.
She also has overseen human resources for Lewiston-based Androscoggin Bank and Creative Work Systems, a nonprofit organization in southern Maine that serves people with disabilities.
“Having worked with her over the past year, I am confident that Jeanne will provide not only continuity but also effective leadership,” LePage said in his statement. “Her background in human resources provides her with important connections with all of the people and organizations the department serves.”
The Department of Labor oversees the state’s unemployment benefits program, runs a variety of programs to help out-of-work residents train for and find jobs, enforces labor laws and researches employment data and trends.
LePage tapped Winglass to lead the agency in April 2011 after his first nominee, Cheryl Russell, withdrew her name.
“We found him to be someone who was very concerned about working people in our state and genuinely worked on important issues,” said Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO. “We found him to be a voice of reason within an administration and governor who, far too often, has shown contempt for Maine’s hard-working people.”
Winglass is the fifth state department head to step down since LePage took office in January 2011. LePage’s original economic development, environmental protection and marine resources commissioners — Philip Congdon, Darryl Brown and Norm Olsen, respectively — all left the administration last year.
Adjutant Gen. John Libby retired in February, stepping down as head of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management. LePage recently appointed Col. James Campbell as acting commissioner of that agency.
The governor’s cabinet will change again at the end of this month, when the departments of Agriculture and Conservation merge. Agriculture Commissioner Walter Whitcomb will head the combined department and Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley will no longer be a cabinet member.
LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said Wednesday she couldn’t say whether Beardsley would remain with the newly merged department in another capacity.
BOOM BOOM BOOM AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST.
Maybe at some point, a critical mass will be reached: so many underlings bailed that all the rest bail on LePage, leaving him alone (except perhaps for his nepotistic relatives); and forcing the People of Maine to quickly develop a recall procedure, necessary to avoid total collapse of our state government and permanent loss of face on the national scene.
The key to ending all things LePage is the election on November 6th. If the people of Maine send Democrats to represent them in the Maine House and Senate it will put the brakes on Governor Dumbmouth. A House and Senate controlled by Democrats will cut off any more of LePage’s special interest legislation. A Democrat in the office of Attorney General will also put a large damper on all things LePage.
Let’s do it! Get ‘er done!
Last I knew, we don’t elect Attorney General or Secretary of State in Maine. Perhaps it’s time we became like other states and vote them in, rather than have them be political appointees. After all, what would be better, peoples’ choice or cushy political reward?
LePlague’s election has shown us some deficiencies in Maine’s Constitution. Those being that the offices of Attorney General and Secretary of State are political plums rather than elective offices, and that there is NO PROVISION for a recall. Both need to be fixed.
….And Another One Down ….And Another One Down…. Another One Bites The Dust…Boom Boom Boom…
Thumb with glasses
Hard to get a year and earn a weeks vacation with old tricky LePage.
What an ironic location for the photo: right in front of the portrait of Mr. Trickle-down.
Hopefully more will follow …. soon.
Smart move Mr. Winglass.
Like rats on a sinking ship…
Good. You should see the tactics they are using against people who are unemployed. In a five week period they say you HAVE to apply for fifteen jobs. If you do not show this on your log, they call you and harass you like a bill collector would badgering you. Then if you don’t kiss their butt, they send you a notice that you have to pay back the money you got for the five week period (around $1,000.00 to $1,500.00). It is a very unnerving situation when money is tight. So a person then has to go through a tedious appeals process worrying they might have to pay back the money. How many people do not appeal I wonder? I encourage anyone in this situation to appeal. Because when you appeal, the hearing officer will rule in your favor because the law does not require a certain number of jobs listed on your unemployment log. It is just dirty little scare tactics. Under the direction of our bully tactics govnah as he stated at the convention ‘get your butt off the couch” By the looks of his gut, he ought to get his butt off the couch. Most people want to work. So where are the jobs govnah? A man is only worth his word.
Applying for 15 jobs w/in a 5 week time frame averages to only 3 applications per week – that is too many?
When a person is looking for a job in his or her field, it could be.
Since I’ve been unemployed there have been ZERO, let me repeat Z-E-R-O jobs in my field withing the state of Maine. There’s goes all that money wasted on the master’s degree that was required for ENTRY LEVEL in the field.
Maybe you should find another “field “, or move.
You should also work on spelling and grammar
You didn’t put a period at the end of your sentence. Physician, heal thyself.
You want us to feel bad for not applying for 3 jobs a week ? Sorry. Nope.
Get your butt off the couch!
So, a person with a Masters Degree should get a minimum wage job? Is that what you are saying?
yes take anything you can get.One does not have to start out being the boss.If you are good at what you do you do not need a union or help to move up.
Gee, how many applications did Lepage’s daughter and brother-in-law have to submit??? Imagine, Governor TeaRadical who says he despises “socialism” gives cushy government jobs to his family members. That guy and those who think he has anything resembling a brain better enjoy the next three months, because on November 6th LeBUFFOON becomes an official VERY lame duck.
He/She can write a letter to the Governor claiming to be a long, lost cousin and get a government job
I was unemployed for 3 months earlier this year — NOT on unemployment, I forunately received a severance package that covered me for a at least 2 of those month — and I did 3 cover letters and/or applications per DAY on most days. I’m as much a D as anyone else, but 3 applications per week is hardly an onerous burden. But I do agree with the general premise that our Gov is unfit for the office he holds.
What is your profession to have so many job openings?
You should have been eligible for unemployment anyway.
Wow. What do you all say to a person who has a Master’s Degree and has spent over 20 years in education. Then all districts have been cutting positions like crazy. Also, so to say this person is an older person and districts are hiring younger people because it cost less. What do you say to this person has only been unemployed once in a lifetime before. There is prejudice about people hiring older people in our society. They want the young and bubbly. Also, if you look at the jobs open out there the majority require a high school degree. Thus, this person is overqualified and lacks skills for other positions. It use to be you could jump from one skill area to another, that does not happen anymore. My main point here was the bullying tactics being used by the department of labor towards a person who has been trying very hard to get a job.
I’ll tell you what you say to your friend who has a Master’s Degree: put the self-pity behind you. Attack finding gainful employment as if it were a full time job. Get up early each and every day, sit down at your desk or work table and WORK 8 hours a day at getting another job. This involves calling everyone you happen to know and building a network, write the letters, make the calls and above all stay positive. I’ve been there, done that and it’s not impossible, but feeling sorry for yourself and making excuses isn’t helpful.
And the turnover continues within the LePage administration. Who could stand working with or for him for more than a year or two? Must be why he needs to keep hiring family members (on our dime) instead of qualified professionals. Now all we need to do is turn the House and Senate majorities away from GOP/Tea Party in November and we’ll be back on track to recovering what dignity we have left as Mainers who’ve been forced to endure a constant barrage of negativity directed right at us every week from the mind and mouth of Paul LePage.
Take down that ugly mural in the background. Lepage, time for a manzier or move to a moo moo please.
Ayuh, that person (in the mural) would be viewed as a left-socialist wingnut by the current Republican membership.
Yup. Reagan increased taxes. He negotiated with Tip O’Neill to shore up Social Security. He approved “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. And he said that millionaires paying higher tax rates than bus drives was “crazy.” Yes indeed. Reagan would be cast out as an “evil liberal” by today’s TeaPublican party the delusional lunatics who run it.
Hey Spruce, Just want to say I love your use of words. Carry on.
Thank you. Just consider me a political cartoonist who uses words to paint caricatures. Deserved caricatures.
Ha! I see a big buffoon with a pregnant looking belly.
So basically the guy did nothing for over a year but draw a salary and sit in a chair for a few hours a day (and I bet it wasn’t 8 hours, either).
Beardsley should go next if any of the stuff in the Carlson report is true.
Yeah but it must be about time for his daughter to get a promotion to a higher paying gig. That $41,000 she gets per year must be tough to live on for a 22-year-old. Meanwhile cops get, what, $35,000 to start?
Yes good comparison.
This is the 10th person to leave Lepage and we aren’t even at the halfway point yet.
I guess those 12 minimum wages jobs Winglass created at the fireworks stores just where not enough to keep him motivated.
Winglass said Lepage has created a work force second to none, but according the Paul Lepage Mainers are so dumb no one whats to hire us and collages require a “special” test just of Mainers.
God – I think I hear Freddie Mercury singing…
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Dear Mr Winglass,
I hope you seek retirement moving forward, the jobs are not great in this state as you may have learned seeing the unemployment numbers go higher, and out of state the grass does look greener in some of them states but the big mouth you are pictured here in this article has already made it public that if you are from Maine you will be looked down upon. Sadly that is going to have an impact on finding another job or career elsewheres. If you do retire however, you should have better sucess in another state or country. Good luck!
He is focusing on the next three jobs he is creating, an embassador to Flordia, Canada and Jamaica. Those jobs will be reserved for his family.
Does he know the secret location of the mural?
Our dear governor is taking much better photos since he corralled his moobs with the hardly noticeable man-bra.
Good riddance!
Shocking! Another white, male appointee. Are we sure he’s not a relative?? He is an absolute one-term flash in the pan. Let’s hope we can undue the damage.
fun to read the rants from the demorhoids as there party is circling the bowl.