SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage announced Friday that he has signed a memorandum to State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin committing to issue bond funds of $375,300 to Skowhegan on or before June 20, 2015.
State Sen. Rodney Whittemore, R-Skowhegan, and Donald Skillings, chairman of Skowhegan’s planning board, worked with the governor to secure the memo, which is similar to the one issued to Livermore Falls and Norway, according to a release by the Maine State Republicans.
“We both felt it was necessary to reach out to the governor on his terms,” said Whittemore in a statement. “The governor is looking out for state finances and that should be important to all Mainers, but the governor also recognizes the importance of getting some of these local projects off the ground. Donald and I were not interested in political gamesmanship with the governor, that is why we quietly sought a meeting, and I think the results speak for themselves.”
In May, LePage said he would not issue voter-approved bonds until state spending was under control. The $3.5 million Communities for Maine’s Future grants bond was passed by the Legislature in 2009 and approved by voters in 2010. Skowhegan was one of 11 communities designated to receive funds from the bond for downtown revitalization projects.
State Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, sent letters to LePage, asking him to release the voter-approved bond money.
“The governor has finally taken a small step toward helping the businesses and people of Skowhegan, who were stunned by his decision to withhold the voter-approved bonds in the first place,” said McCabe. “He’s now promised to cut a check in three years for a bill that’s come past due. I’m glad my letters bringing attention to this issue were able to help secure a promise of payment even if it is for three years from now after the governor’s term has expired. At the end of the day, I want to see jobs for area contractors and we want to encourage people to support downtown Skowhegan.”
Adrienne Bennett, press secretary to LePage, said Whittemore’s approach of talking directly to LePage, and not through the media, was more impactful.
“What you have are some politicians are seeking out real solutions, while others are seeking political points,” said Bennett on Friday.
Bennett said the memo doesn’t stray from the governor’s position that municipalities should seek their own gap financing for projects.
“He has been very consistent with his message, that we need to be fiscally responsible,” said Bennett. “We’re not going to issue bonds until our spending is under control.
“It’s encouraging that town officials are starting to think outside the box, and not just going to the state [for funding],” Bennett continued. “We certainly aren’t looking to hinder job growth or economic development. Those are good things for the state, and the governor supports them.”
Three towns — Dover-Foxcroft, Eastport and Monmouth — received Community Development Block Grant funding because they fit CDBG guidelines and were completed or “well under way,” according to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development spokesman Doug Ray.
In his July 20 statement, McCabe said other towns that were denied voter-approved bonds included: Bath, Belfast, Dover-Foxcroft, Eastport, Livermore Falls, Monmouth, Norway, Rockland, Unity and Winthrop.
Mr. Lepage is not a politicain Adrianne, he is a bussiness man…..Fail.
LePage just wants the towns to grovel before their emperor to gain his approval. The precedent is set for Bath, Belfast and the others. Just approach “His Eminence” on bended knee to get his blessing and then you can get your funding, too.
Paul LePage is an epically terrible governor. If a bond is approved by the citizens it’s not the governor’s role to veto it.
The Hon. Jeff: Anyone who knows you knows that you were not seeking “political points” as Ms. Bennett thus spews. You wrote your letters to the Hon. Gov. LePage and you made your position public, all in the interests of getting for your district and constituents what the Maine electorate voted to establish as theirs. Because you weren’t in the Hon. Gov. LePage’s pachyderm fraternity, you subjected yourself to the PR malignancy of Adrienne and her ilk — when all you continue to do is to work for the best of those whom you represent, seeking what the voters allocated to them.
But lo & behold, when fellow frat brothers of the Hon. LePage come along and “reach out to the governor on his terms” [“Look, Pauly, the voters allocated the funds and you have to give it to them, even though it’s all partisan in your world-view: you can save face by saying you can wait until 2015 to give it up”] and they accomplish, albeit with the stench of partisanship, what you worked so hard to accomplish. And you know what, Jeff? I bet you’re okay with it — so long as the people you represent get what’s rightfully theirs.
Keep fighting the good fight, Representative McCabe. I’m sorry you had to subject yourself to this kind of slime.
You can read the complete correspondence between Rep. McCabe and Gov. LePage here:
McCabe’s 12 July letter
LePage’s handwritten reply of 14 July
LePage’s second letter to McCabe of 27 July
McCabe’s letter of 31 July
Donald Skillings is the Republican opponent of Rep. Jeff McCabe in House District 85.
And for someone who is “not a politician,” Gov. LePage sure knows how to play the patronage game.
Reminds one of a mob boss doling out favors (which should not be his to give). Wonder what the Don want’s in return. And this is not political?
Mr. Barber – How can you fail to report that Mr. Skilling is the Republican candidate opposing Representative McCabe? Please give your readers the whole story and let them decide if the Governor is playing partisan politics with the Communities for Maine Future grants.
And in the interest of knowing the whole story, I am the Democratic candidate in Senate District 23.
Look how Skillings uses this on his facebook page:
Just wanted the people of our town to understand what I can do for the folks in Skowhegan if I’m given the chance in November. Vote for results not rhetoric!
I met Skillings not long ago and was not impressed. I am even less impressed now. Maine does not need another empty suit.
GOVERNOR LEPAGE= WISHY WASHY DECISIONS
first he said is concern about the budget and said no to skowhegan
now he changes his mind and says yes
ms, Bennett,——its LEPAGE,skillings,whitemore playing politics
Rep. McCabe threw a series of hissy fits and yelled, pouted, kicked and screamed to try and attack the Governor, but in the end his shenanigans were exposed, and a solution was found once his noisy, troublesome self was bypassed.
Maybe Rep. McCabe should have tried a sober, serious approach to solving the problem rather than the hysterical look-at-me-while-I-attack-and-pose-for-the-cameras-but-refuse-to-look-for-a-solution approach that obviously failed the people of Skowhegan.
Maybe you should read the complete correspondence regarding the Skowhegan project that I posted elsewhere in these comments. Not that I think you will.
Yeah let’s continue to support Liberal Pet Projects like fixing up government parking lots and planting trees in Skowhegan, and Norway Municipal Auditorium which none of us will ever use. While we continue to have crumbling bridges & roads, with other communications infrastructure falling apart as well. That is what Democrats care more about things that luckily create 10 jobs at best at each of their pet projects. While Mainers have to continue to put up with huge repair bills to their vehicles from the huge potholes, cracks in the road , huge chunks of broken pavement. You lefties can continue to attack LePage for trying to hold off on these pathetic bond proposals that we have to keep paying for that do nothing. While instead we should be focusing on real issues . We can’t do that no way because those so called multi- talented Democrats have never cared about the Maine People in the first place. They only care about phony issues to give folks a false impression they are doing their jobs . It’s only about power to them. They don’t care about jobs and new businesses getting folks off of welfare checks. It is about them worrying about their elections and finding ways to keep their seats.
You do understand that the people of Maine voted to authorize the State to sell bonds specifically for the projects like those in Skowhegan, Monmouth, and Livermore Falls, right?
And you do understand that the people of Maine authorized $47.8 million in transportation bonds in June 2010, and in November 2009 and additional $71 million for more bonds dedicated to transportation?
Further, you do understand that the budget for the Dept. of Transportation is separate from that of the General Fund, and that while one half of the DOT budget comes mostly from the Federal government, the other half is from taxes and fees associated with driving?
Rep. McCabe used the “squeaking oil gets the grease” method. So do you suggest he should have used a GOP greasy palms method, instead?
You folks living in Bath, Belfast, Unity, Winthrop or Rockland (where I live) might want to find your most prominent Republican and tell her or him to pay a visit to Augusta and have Gov. LePage send another memo to Treasurer Poliquin authorizing a bond to finish the projects in your towns.
Because it seems that Gov. Paul Richard LePage is only going to tell Democrats to go pound sand.
When was the last time Democrats told the Governor anything but to go pound sand, or something similar?
Ah yes. Another wonderful example of “People Before Politics”. Of course if the good people of Skowhegan aren’t really really good and do everything LePage demands of them he could just as easily decide to change his mind and not issue the bonds.
“State Sen. Rodney Whittemore, R-Skowhegan, and Donald Skillings, chairman of Skowhegan’s planning board, worked with the governor to secure the memo,”
lepage tells people to kiss his butt if they want something
whitmore and skillings must have kissed lepage’s butt
whitmore and skillings= butt kissers
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2011/01/14/politics/lepage-on-naacp-tell-them-to-kiss-my-butt/
Skowhegan is a nice town. Our governor drives through there to get to Quebec.
To get HOME to Quebec. Le Grenouille still has not produced his birth certificate.
New birther? Nice!
Spoke French as his first language, left home as a boy, and published campaign stickers in French to boot. He could be an illegal immigrant for all we know. Plus, since he is of French heritage, he’s also a Latino.
Both sides can play this game is all I’m saying.
Does is make good business sense to force municipalities to borrow money to fund these projects while they wait for LePage to release the bond money already approved by the voters? I don’t think so. It’s another example of LePage’s short term thinking. This is pure politics and I don’t think the good citizens of Skowhegan and a host of other rural Maine cities and towns will forget come November.
One wonders: would Mr. Skillings have acted differently had he been the legislator and had the governor been of a different stripe? Would he have had a quiet sit-down (or whatever it was), or, after having been stiff-armed, would he have taken the issue elsewhere – to the press, maybe? I think he might have done the same as Rep. McCabe.
So, was this piece of campaign Skillings’s or Whittemore’s idea? Is LePage, the blunt object wielder, really that savvy? I hope the voters in that district can see this one for what is. But, then, we voters are often as slow and gullible as the politicos take us for – and have been since the git go. Oh, did Adrienne Bennett actually say “impactful?” You go, girl!
We approved the bonds. Now all we have to do is kiss the emperor’s ring.
His ring? Oh. Could have sworn he said people could kiss his butt.
Not these towns. They had to bend and kiss the emporer’s ring in order to get the bond money we – the voters – had passed.
Inch by inch The memo only mentions on or before 2015.
The authorization from LePage is a promissory note that will allow Skowhegan to borrow gap funding until the bonds are actually sold. This is how it worked for the Livermore Falls project.
Good work, Rep. McCabe. It was your effort that put the public pressure on the Governor to do this. Way to fight for your community.
““What you have are some politicians are seeking out real solutions, while others are seeking political points,” said Bennett ”
Lepage has learned to talk out of both sides of his mouth.
Mccabe of Skowhegan spoke up to defend the best interests of his community.
Lepage changes his mind but plays politics and gives the credit to Whitemore and Skllings
Lepage, you have learned to talk from both sides of your mouth.
All the time Rep. McCabe was working on this, trying to meet w/the governor, trying to call attention to the one-sided decisions being made, what did we hear from or about Whittemore or Skillings? Total silence. Now, when as the headline says, “Gov. LePage commits to funds…,” it is time for voters to think about committing all 3 of them…to the dusty annals of history.
I guess sending letters and getting responses from the governor is not direct communication. What a strange way this has unfolded.. I hope that other towns do not continue to get shut out.