PORTLAND, Maine — A judge on Tuesday allowed three state employee unions to join the Maine Association of Retirees in its lawsuit against the Maine Public Employees Retirement System over the elimination last year of cost-of-living adjustments for Maine state employee retirement benefits.
The Maine State Employees Association, Maine Education Association and Maine State Troopers Association were granted permission by U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen to intervene in the lawsuit, according to a media release.
The 15,000-member Maine Association of Retirees filed the original lawsuit in February.
The unions claim the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for retired employees violated the Constitution as an unlawful taking of property without just compensation, and a violation of the contract clause.
“We are very pleased with Judge Torresen’s decision to allow my clients to intervene,” Jeffrey Neil Young, an attorney at McTeague Higbee in Topsham, said in a statement. “The unions represent a large number of individuals affected and are in the unique position to provide important information about the suit due to their longstanding representation of state employees, their expertise in these cases and their historical involvement with state employee retirement benefits.”
The court will issue a scheduling order shortly for this case to be heard.
Great news as the more that are allowed to participate the better possible resolution will come out of it. MAR had no right to stop others from joining the lawsuit as they tried to.. I do thank them for doing it first though.
But I thought Obama said that there wasn’t any inflation…so why the need of a COLA?? I was gonna’ complain about the cost of gas and heating oil, but I noticed how my better my pick-em-up truck runs on 4 dollar gasoline, and my house is warmer and smells like spring flowers with heating oil around 3.80 a gallon.
Got a link to Obama saying that?
.
Cause I’m pretty sure he didn’t.
The Federal Reserve target rate of inflation is 2% annually http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…
now think about that for a second….it is the policy of the United States to devalue their citizens currency at a rate of 2% per year. If you have 100 dollars in the bank today, at this time next year it will be worth 98. And of course, don’t forget that while your dollars are worth less and less, the cost of the items you need on a daily basis cost more and more.
And how is this supposed to help the middle class exactly?
It how the privately held Federal Reserve makes it profits.
” It is the policy of the United States to devalue their citizens currency at a rate of 2% per year.”
Thats the most rediculous statement that I have ever heard!
Since when does inflation follow the Federal Reserves Recomendations?
Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency
with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with
which that currency can be exchanged. ‘Devaluation’ means official
lowering of the value of a country’s currency within a fixed exchange
rate system, by which the monetary authority formally sets a new fixed
rate with respect to a foreign reference currency.
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.[1]
When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys
fewer
goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in
the purchasing power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account in the economy.[
You confuse devaluation and inflation. The fed does control devaluation when it pushes cash into the system. They have effected a devaluation 3 times in the last three years. We are debasing our currency under current fed policy.
It’s not just devaluation and inflation he confuses…
We and our children will be paying for democrat votes through union thugery FOREVER! Thanks baldy and your democrat hack buddies. Hope you enjoy riding on the backs of Maine’s working poor!
You’re so 1930.
Lol, there were no “public sector” unions in 1930.
yes let’s see a link to that
As the unions kick liepages but$ again!
A change LePage made to the State of Maine Retirement System was that cost of living increases would only be made on the first $20,000 of annual pension. Hope this suit does away with this rule
The legislature passed the bill to make that change, and LePage signed it.
Remember if the legislature stops being co-conspirators with the arrogant ignorant fool in The Blaine House he will become powerless.
15,000 employees, What do they all do???
Here is how I would handle it., fire 10,000 of them. they then would be forced to cash out of their penisions at a 50% penalty + taxes. since they have not paid into the SS system they would have to collect welfare disability to live on… and the State could contract these jobs out at 1/2 the cost… It may be not pretty but we do not run the State to fund peoples lifestyles..the state is here to provide services to it’s people.. not employees…
When are the new contracts due?? (-;
The number of full time equivalent state employees has not changed by any significant amount since LePage was sworn in. It is within a 0.6% of where it was before.
.
He huffs and he puffs but all that results is hot air.
.
The contracts were due over a year ago. LePage hasn’t been able to accomplish much there either,
Read the story, it’s retirees dumbass, they no longer work for the State.
The SEIU has been trying for (I believe 2 yrs) to get a contract with the State. Lepage’s expensive out of state lawyers show up hours late for bargaining and say “we only showed up so you couldn’t say we weren’t cooperating.” State employees do a variety of things. For example, when most of us wouldn’t be on the road they are plowing snow. It doesn’t matter if it is Xmas, midnight or whenever. When there is a snowstorm, they have to go plow the roads so they are open for the rest of us. Would you be upset if a love one having a heart attack couldn’t get to the hospital in a snowstorm because the road wasn’t plowed? State employees are needed to run the massive social service programs like food stamps, TANF, MaineCare. They process applications so elderly people can enter the hospital and have insurance to help pay the bill or (heaven forbid) enter a nursing home or have food on the table. They are public health nurses and the people who care for the mentally ill. They are child protective workers who save children when parents want to cook them in an oven. Would you really want to do any of these jobs? Would you like to go to work everyday knowing someone with a mental health or substance abuse problem might be swearing at you before the day is over? Would you want to be the State cop who has to ring a doorbell in the middle of the night to tell someone there has been a death in his family or go into a DV situation where you may be killed? Do you want to be a DOT employee working on I-95 when a car speeds by going more than 55 miles per hour? State employees do this everyday, plus many other jobs I can’t think of right now. Contracting out for someone to do these jobs for minimum wage wouldn’t work. Believe me
There are plenty of jobs in the private sector that are just as demanding.
name them
Snow plow drivers/ power company employees/ private company’s that do road work/Doctors/nurses/ mill workers/loggers/
Gee, where do we start ? Schneider (who got his keester shot off on the ACA case in DC), Bowen (who came here from Virginia to make a name for himself and not much else) and Millet (who see’s financial doom and gloom on command and is terrified every time someone says ‘increased revenue’s’ as a way to solve the State’s cash flow issue’s). The only one’s who are really effective so far has been Woodcock (one of the VERY RARE type’s in State gov’t who actually thinks before he engages his mouth) and he’s shown that over the last year as far as the deer and moose hunting permit problem’s and the State Police Superintendent. Some of us are still waiting for the DECD folk’s to how us what they have, the Bomabardier Aerospace issue being the main one since it has so much potential for both Brunswick but also Houlton and Limestone (at Loring).
So far the only one at the local level that has been effective is the new Houlton Town Manager, who just left Millinocket, that got the Thermogen Plant going. Talent is not dependent on money. Talent, to actually work and be beneficial, requires only 3 thing’s. A clear list of goal’s, the support of those involved toward getting those goal’s achieved and everyone not involved or working toward that goal to GET OUTTA THE WAY ! To date all I’ve seen outta LePage’s Cabinet is a bunch of dancer’s who can’t do anything but trip over there own feet no matter how many dance lessons they get, the DHHS / Fed’s computer problem being the most public.
You left out Summers with his BS in Leisure Studies.
And those jobs pay way better than public service jobs.
Remember when the governor was unable to get his first choice people that he wanted in his cabinet?
Those jobs didn’t pay enough. The governor ended up with a pile of third and fourth stringers.
People choose to work for the State. “The Governor ended up with a pile of third and fourth stringers” You might want to rethink that comment.
I have no idea what you’re trying to articulate.
Which ones would fire? State Police? DPW? Maybe the Game Wardens? That might not be the most rediculous things on the discussions, but it’s right up there! Hpow about we fire the food inspectors! You don’t care about what you eat do you?
It must be a nice feeling for people. That the Union workers that live in Maine want to sue other people that live in Maine. To get every last dollar from their friends and family. We don’t mind working an extra few hours a week to pay a retirement plan no other Mainer will get. They should get the same social security every one else gets. They must be OBAMA supporters same as California That is BROKE. We need CHANGE and why do they think they should have anything better than any body else in the USA. It must be a nice feeling for people. That the Union workers that live in Maine want to sue other people that live in Maine. To get every last dollar from their friends and family. We don’t mind working an extra few hours a week to pay a retirement plan no other Mainer will get. They should get the same social security every one else gets. They must be OBAMA supporters same as California That is BROKE. We need CHANGE and why do they think they should have anything better than any body else in the USA.
Isn’t arguing that suing the retirement system is suing the taxpayer the same as arguing that suing a private employer is suing the consumer? It doesn’t make sense. Maybe more Mainers should get active and organize to collectively bargain for decent retirement income, rather than take what’s “available.” After all, it isn’t necessarily true that the employer must know what’s in an employee’s best interest in these matters simply because he or she is the employer. By the way, “everybody else” doesn’t get the same social security benefit, most especially public service retirees who are not subject to social security, and, if they do qualify, must surrender part of what’s due them because they worked in public service.
The teachers don’t pay social security on their State income, but they want to draw full benefit on what they paid in from the private sector jobs they may have had.
Your Social Security retirement or disability benefits may be reduced. Social Security benefits are intended to replace only a percentage of a worker’s pre-retirement earnings. The way Social Security benefit amounts are figured, lower-paid workers get a higher return than highly paid workers. For example, lower-paid workers could get a Social Security benefit that equals about 55 percent of their pre-retirement earnings. The average replacement rate for highly paid workers is about 25 percent.
Before 1983, people who worked mainly in a job not covered by Social Security had their Social Security benefits calculated as if they were long-term, low-wage workers. They had the advantage of receiving a Social Security benefit representing a higher percentage of their earnings, plus a pension from a job where they did not pay Social Security taxes. Congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision to remove that advantage.
And most important in the whole picture is that one legislature can not bind future legislatures with “promisses” it can’t pay for.
Only 13 states come under the Windfall Elimination Provision and Maine is one of them. Now I’m a state retiree. I worked for the state for 20 years and get a state pension. I also worked in the private sector for over 20 years. Because I have a state pension I lose about 40% of my SS. This is 40% of money I EARNED not yours or anyone else. Also because I have a state pension SS would not pay me death benefits after the lose of my wife. She worked and payed SS for over 40 years the GOV’T kept ALL of hers. So where is it fair I lose 40% of my SS because I worked to types of jobs? Again I’m ONLY asking for the money I WORKED for.
Before 1983, people who worked mainly in a job not covered by Social Security had their Social Security benefits calculated as if they were long-term, low-wage workers. They had the advantage of receiving a Social Security benefit representing a higher percentage of their earnings, plus a pension from a job where they did not pay Social Security taxes. Congress passed the Windfall Elimination Provision to remove that advantage.
I understand this. But I’m losing 40% of SS on income earned during the 20 plus years not working for the state.
Blame the state for opting out of SS. You didn’t pay into SS for 20 years while you were working but want full SS benefits. Time for the state to go into social security with a supplement pension like was done for federl employees and federal legilators in 1983.
Working a second job pays into SS. That was his point, he doesn’t get it back. Any SS you paid into the system prior too or after your employment with the State is screwed. That was his point. It is all one screwed pie one way or another.
NO I’m not asking for FULL SS. I’m asking to be payed for only the 20 plus years worked and payed into the system. Which is greatly reduced from full SS. They are still taking 40% form this reduced amount.
The system is not going to work until all are under SS ( I know this doesn’t help you). I believe the state workers and teachers would be better off with a similar system that the federal employees and federal legislature went under in 1983. Having a retirement that follows you where ever one works I believe would actually increase one’s pay. Being tied to a job because the pension doesn’t go with you if you change jobs outside the system actually keeps people in underpaying jobs. I have hired people from the state. Some though even though they are offered much more money they are in bondage to the state retirement and health benefits and won’t leave.
Billy, the Federal Employee’s Retirement System plan is a joke. It was brought in only after some bean counter decided that it was cheaper to pay only a portion of what Federal employee’s were supposedly worth over the longhaul. It has been a disaster ever since. It’s also a shining example of the results of mismananaged people when you bring in a business ‘profit only’ type to manage people instead of someone who knows that ‘service type’ people are worth far more than a simple business model of HR says they are.
The older Civil Service Retirement System had a simple and easy to calculate retirement plan that was the model for a lot of State’s, until Jimmy Carter came in, that still works well even now. Carter came in and screwed us all with his miracle Civil Service Reform Act in ”78 and left the Country with what so many people are complaining about in the Federal Gov’t. Slow, if not nonexistent, service’s, outright lies being told to the public because the Federal employee’s boss says to on threat of the employee being outright fired and financial corruption, Party be dammed, that rivals the old Chicago mob days of Capone. The Fed’s have long since abandoned the principle, as has Maine, that has been proven to be the most effective HR principle of all, that being you take care of your people, don’t abuse or jerk them around and you are gonna get a lot more out of them than you could ever expect. Maine has what it wanted simply because Maine just didn’t care anymore. Well guess what ? With the State’s birth rate dropping just who do you think Maine is gonna have to recruit to do all of these jobs that everyone so ldly calls for but is loath to pay for because of the expense ? It sure isin’t the Tooth Fairy !
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10007.html#a0=2
Jimmy, I’m trying to argue with you. I’m frustrated with the rule. I went through all this last year. I feel the Feds. are penalizing me for having a state pension. My wife worked and payed into the system for over 40 yrs. and the Feds. ended up with all of it. As stated earlier, I’m not looking for full SS, only payment for the 20 plus years I did pay into the system. SS is taking 40% of this reduced amount.
I’m just pointing out how it works not arguing with you. People die all the time without receiving any Social Security. The issue is with he State not he Federal Government.
That’s an interesting explanation of the both the calculation of SS benefits depending on the workers average earnings as well as the rationale for the Windfall Elimination Provision. It’s the first time that I’ve heard it. Can you provide any links to that?
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10045.html#a0=2
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10007.html#a0=2
do you have a problem repeating yourself? State of Maine retirees were promised these benefits when they started working, maybe 30+ years ago. In exchange for low wages, poor working conditions, etc there was the promise of a good pension. You or anyone else could have applied for a state job also. this is what state retirees have planned on and then when they go to retire, the system has changed. I don’t think so.
I agree its not right but that’s exactly what happened to many millions of private sector workers pensions that they had been promised throughout their whole careers.
You need to ask those private sector employees and employers
Ask “them” what? Im one of them.
And that’s not right either!
They were screwed so the corporations could make record profits.
“In exchange for low wages, poor working conditions, etc there was the promise of a
good pension.”
Historically, like “30+ years ago” as you state, “lower wages” were indeed a trade off for more generous benefits than their private sector counterparts. That trend changed over
the years until more recently, a public employee w/out an advanced degree (i.e. beyond a bachelor’s degree,) makes more $$$ & still receives a benefit package that dwarfs the average private sector worker.
I don’t understand the “poor working conditions” comment. That makes zero sense & simply isn’t true. The wages, pensions, & benefits for the public sector employees are paid by the private sector.
Frankly the entire system is unsustainable & no amount of passionate rhetoric about
“rights” is going to change a broken financial model.
They worked for it they deserve it!
Same as Those on Social Security!
Whining about having to pay your bills for services rendered is futile!
The very best way to hasten the “race to the bottom” is to attack any worker who negotiated better pay and benefits than you did.
And you don’t have a state job….why??? You can work at the Maine State Prison, they are hiring all the time!
The FACT is that Maine created their own retirement system instead of putting their employees into Social Security, because it is actually cheaper than Social Security. That is the cold hard truth. So the contract the state signed should be honored.
No one is forced to work for the State. Twelve States stayed under the old retirement system for whatever reason and people know this when they hire on.
Law passed in 1983. I started with the state in 1982. Again I’m not asking for a thing I didn’t earn.
I’m sorry that you regret the decisions that you made in life. Other people made other decisions and one of the recruitment tools used to entice them to enter public service was the State Employee Retirement Package. They should receive everything they were promised!!!
The union people are just hard working Mainers, just like you and me. They arn’t the cause of all your problems and the State isn’t broke. LePage just needed more money to pay for his taxcut for his rich buddies. Now he has just what he wants! Mainers bickering with Mainers and looking for someone else to blame their problems on.
Here ?
… no compromise Mainers bickering with reasonable Mainers who pay their bills and taxes soso expect the State to do the same.
Tax cuts for his rich buddies? I see the first $5,000 single and $10,000 of taxable income being excluded from income tax. The linking of the exemption amount to the federal means an extra $950 per exemption that will not be taxed. The standard deduction has also been tied to the federal for another $1,950 that will not be taxed. The top rate has been reduced .55% and that starts at an income of $28,600 for single.
You failed to mention the the increase of $1 million on the amount of an estate which goes untaxed.
So you believe that promises are made to be broken? I pity your spouse.
…
COLA ‘private property’?
as an unlawful taking of property without just compensation.
Pretty bizzare.
I’m curious as to what your response would be if someone modified the terms of one of your contracts to your detriment and without your assent.
What property?
Read the complaint/memo that was filed if you want that question answered. It has nothing to do with my comment. Answer the question and quit dodging.
It’s called Contract Law and Judge Torgerson had every right and reason to do it. When Maine entered into these Contract’s, that included a Retirement System that the State obligated themselves into as part of the whole of the Contract, and it’s provision’s. That included ALL OBLIGATION’S, not just what the Governor thinks is a provision whenever he decides it is. Judge Torgerson is about to slap the Governor and his AG with a pretty nasty legal equivalent of a 2 x 4 right across the chop’s and there isin’t gonna be anyone to get in the way if they’re smart. And if they are real smart the Legislature is gonna bow out of this one as well. Once the Court’s get into these type case’s the only one’s that make out is the lawyer’s since the Judge is limited to awarding damages to what was called for in the original complaint. But the lawyer’s fee’s are neverending. And the AG had better have a real deep wallet ’cause this one’s gonna hurt !
What property?
Their retirement deduction’s qualifies as property in both civil (You ever read a divorce settlement and see how the retirement benefit’s are split and how they are factored ?) and administrative law. That’s how disability benefit’s are calculated, by the employee’s deduction’s over the year’s until the disability occured. Employee’s deduction’s, if not a deduction, are the property of the employee to spend as they see fit. That’s property to me and in any Court in the Country as is described in any law book or legal code.
if it ws part of a negotiated package for services rendered then it is just as much private property as your weekly paycheck!
pppfffftttt!!!!
What the people of Maine that are supporting the union in this action don’t seem to grasp is that this money comes directly out of your pockets. Did you get a raise this year? Do you even have a job?
BY the way, just because additional unions were allowed to participate doesn’t mean they’re going to win.
State workers in some areas have not gotten a raise of any kind for going on 4 years.
I will type
very slow for you. The retirement given state workers is not free or a hand out.
they contribute a significant amount to it. It is contractual compensation for
services rendered. Similar to a professional l roofer putting a new roof on your
home. When he completes the work according to the contract, payment for services
are due and expected. In addition they pay taxes. Geez get off the band wagon
and be real or apply for a state position there are plenty out there. DHS
worker, State police, Teacher, Corrections Officer, DOT and more . They have
great hours and great working conditions.
You can take all day to type but you’re still talking out of your fundament. Public workers should not be allowed to unionize. Why would mostly good folk want to be part of the bureaucratic collective?
Maybe because they have a boss that’s abusive and doesn’t stand by the contracts the State has made! Those “abusive collectives have been around as long as there have been workers. They are responsible for your 40 hr week, workmen’s comp, and most of the other little bennies you enjoy, like a paid vacation. They are the ones who built your car,( it wasn’t the CEO of the company), they built all tyhe weapons that keep our kids safe when the politicians decide to find another war. They also protect the working man from bosses who like to mistreat and bully
All the old tired arguments of the proletariat. I’ve been a union member and know first-hand the corruption, nepotism, and unbelievable incompetence. I’ve been non-union for the last 20 years and have never been mistreated or bullied and I’ve never been ravaged by a CEO who doesn’t personally build automobiles. When I read your bleating justification for the unions, the word “victim” comes to mind.
So what did you do to combat”the corruption, nepotism, and unbelievable incompetence” I think the answer is nothing other than these lame posts of yours which I’m sure you read and re-read all day. LOL
Typical vacuous response from a union tool…
thanks for confirming lol
When you write LOL, you seem to be the only one laughing. Surely you can do better.
Yes that right an they should be working for minimum wages an no benefits an no breaks an no ot an should work 6 days a week an 12 hrs a day an do 6 jobs at once to
What I think you’re trying to say is that Norwegians are the happiest people in the solar system and that 45000 Americans die each day because we do not have an American equivalent of the UK’s NHS. Down with corporations!
Why? so they are not taken advantage of. You post smacks of cold war Russia.
I suspect that you know very little of the cold-war USSR and to compare American labour unions to the dictatorship of the proletariat is simple-minded. Your post “smacks” of too many trips on the short bus.
Please remember poor working taxpayer that your taxes are giving these hacks their retirement pay…and I say no raise!!!!
Last I checked, State workers pay the same taxes as everyone else.
Anyone who is hired to provide a service , and is given the terms of that
service has the right to expect that the terms of the agreement, whether a written
contract or not, to be honored.I don’t
know what you do for work, but you have a wage and benefits package perhaps.After a
number of years at that job,you have performed a service and when it comes time
to retire, you would expect that the money you paid into a retirement plan that
was part of that agreement to be honored. That’s all these people are looking
for…honoring the contract that they were promised when they retired. I assume
that you may pay into social security .Your expectation is to be able to draw
your benefit. Don’t forget, that the workers who will be paying into social security
will be helping to fund your retirement so you will still be able to get a paycheck.
Hence, you like me , will depend on taxpayers to insure your retirement also.
The problem is all these plans are pyramid schemes. As the pyramid base deteriorates so does the supply of cash to support it!
Hacks????
What an idiotic statement. State workers PAY taxes . . . and they PAY into the retirement system. Go back into your mother’s basement
As one of the ever fewer taxpayers in the state I say no raise!!! Not on my taxes!!! State retirement plans need to come to an end…. it’s very bad math to think they can last forever. You must contribute to your own retirement… not the taxpayer!
You think state workers don’t contribute to their own pensions?? You are sadly mistaken!
I’m sorry to say that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.
State workers contribute more to their retirement then you do to social security. The state contributes less then they would if they were paying in to social security for the state workers. State workers have the retirement plan instead of social security. State workers also contribute to their retirement through the same taxes that everyone else pays.
now that would really help….
Oh my God ! A lawyer and a Judge who both read and apply The Constitution, namely the 4th Amendment, in Maine. The Tea Party had better watch out. There is proof positive that the Maine educational system is working, despite all of LePage and Bowen’s comment’s to the contrary.
Do you confirm that by referencing the eloquent prose rendered within this “fine” periodical? OR by the clarity of diction and the close attentiveness to the correct spelling and usage of the Queens English?
Except that we speak American English here, not the Queen’s.
No Becky. It’s by the Judge’s actual realization that by Maine taking a part of their retirement that Maine is in effect taking what these retiree’s had earned, thru their payroll deduction’s, without their consent and without compensating them according to The Constitution. Now if the Tea Party bunch want to go and argue it, please, feel free to do so. But someone had better read The Constitution’s 4th Amendment first. This ‘taking with out just compensation’ is applicable to more than these retiree’s. Think E-W Highway land and how that’s gonna be acquired and suddenly you’re gonna see this in a whole new light.
Well, Quequeeg, I see you have moved your reading list up by a century. You must have read Ken Follett’s Key to Rebecca or at least seen the title.
Wah, wah, I want my Maypo!
I’m sure your mommy will give you some. In the meantime, public sector retirees simply want what they were promised when they entered public service.
In the absent of Unions, the Republicans would have all working for minimum wage with no benefits, I hope in all respect this case is won by the retirees.
They would hate me then I would kill the program entirerly. It is grossly unfair ; “executive” staff get far better percentage paid in then the working stiff who because of lower wages and contribution level winds up with far less money. Teachers forced into the system but have to pay for health insurance 100%. An unfunded unaproved debt thus is actually proven to be against ME constitution. Disability benefits a roman emperior would envy. I see nothing but a golder road on the back on ME workers when I see the pension. As tax payors we should be thankful to the trustees who have to manage the money and deal with every perk the morons in the legislation pass have done a superior job in managing assets.
I’m sorry to say that you really don’t know what you’re talking about.
Jap is a racist comment, but typical of the collective mentality. Same goes for the teatard comment. If you represent the typical union member, it’s no wonder so many folks find unions abhorrent.
Good news, Ladies and Gentlemen! We have two new races in our world. The Japanese and the Tea Party.
Bigot alert!!
I am not normally pro union but it shouldn’t matter if it’s a union job or not, if you have a contract and you uphold your end of it you should expect AND receive your compensation on the back end. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a state, federal, or private sector worker period. While I’m definitely for cutting spending and perhaps changing the rules of today to reflect a need to reign in costs, we should not, under any circumstances, violate the terms of agreements made in the past.
That’s right unions, let’s proceed down the path of bankrupting the state. Don’t worry about the long-term, just take care of you.
that’s right ,Maine needs to honor its obligations or is that a a foreign concept to
you.
In my remarks I mis-spelled the Judge’s name. My apologies your Honor.
I stand corrected Sir. Hoorah !!! (Something the Navy ashore just can’t seem to understand. But the Corps sure can !)