The organization representing Maine’s public school teachers laid out in a recent news release a list of eight Gov. Paul LePage quotes, mainly about public schools, for reporters to choose from. The provided headline, “Caught on Tape: Governor LePage Trashes Schools Again,” made clear the Maine Education Association’s intent: attack LePage. In doing so, the organization happened to prove the governor’s point in one of the quotes.
That point, made by LePage at a York County Community College event, was that politics can be unpleasant: “I am trying to agitate the citizens of Maine. I’m not in this game to get re-elected. I don’t care about re-election. I will tell you it is the most corrupt, vile system in America, is politics. Because it’s more lies. I’m trying to agitate you folks to say we’ve had enough of this crap. Let’s fix it. And how do you fix it? One way. At the polls.”
LePage certainly isn’t blameless in the game of politics. But the MEA isn’t, either. In 2012, the MEA gave more than $120,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Democratic and unenrolled candidates, and political action committees, including The Committee to Rebuild Maine’s Middle Class. That PAC spent $758,000 on a number of races this election cycle, all to help Democrats. It also spread its share of misinformation through ads.
For instance, the PAC charged that Rep. James Gillway, R-Searsport, “sold out Maine women,” referring to bills like LD 116, 924 and 1457. However the votes on those bills happened on a day Gillway was absent, according to the Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library. The PAC’s site also asserts, for example, that an Augusta Republican, Rep. Karen Foster, voted against LD 225, a research and development bond, when in fact she voted for it. She even voted to override the governor’s veto, according to the reference library’s records.
We’re not criticizing the job of the MEA — to protect the interests of teachers — but it is important for Maine residents to have all the information. That also includes putting LePage’s comments in context. The quote that got the most attention from the Wells event — and that spurred the MEA to say LePage was “caught in a bald-faced lie discrediting public schools” — involved the governor saying “tough luck” to Maine students. That sounds bad on the surface, but what was he really referring to?
He said charter school legislation has been a good step so far, but overall, “If you want a good education, go to an academy. If you want a good education, go to a private school. If you can’t afford it, tough luck. You can go to the public school. Until the state of Maine decides, and the governor’s staff and the Legislature sit around the table and say, ‘What’s best for our students,’ we are not going to fix our schools.”
LePage spoke harshly. Clearly, using a rough tone and comparing public and private schools isn’t an effective strategy to motivate teachers, administrators and school board members to improve academic achievement (and it stirs up the opposition). But the governor’s comments were tied to a larger message about the need for reform and for different parties to work together on changes. Part of reform for LePage involves online and distance learning. It also involves school choice — making it easier for students to choose what school they attend — an idea strongly opposed by the MEA.
Consider that LePage did speak in placatory terms during the Eggs and Issues Breakfast. “I think I work best with an honest opponent,” he said, referring to how he worked with a Democratic council as mayor of Waterville and how he will relate to the new, Democratic Legislature. “If the Dems are really serious about sitting around the table, we’ll get a lot done.”
LePage’s uncut comments are an easy target for those who oppose his proposals. We just encourage you to get the whole story. Understanding the full picture includes putting his quotes in context, recognizing the agenda behind the accusations and knowing that both LePage and the MEA take part in their share of political games.
Dear dear Paulie, leaders aren’t supposed to “agitate” the public, they’re supposed to resolve problems to make the public’s lives better. Gosh didn’t you learn anything in school? You’ve agitated us enough already. Please either get with the basic leadership program or pull a Palin and simply move on to your Florida retirement…and take those personal family jobs right along with ya.
Woody Guthrie was an agitator. It’s what you do when you are not in a position of power. Well, come to think of it, maybe LePage has just been getting ready for the new paradigm in which — unless he decides to work with Democrats — he won’t have much power at all.
Or it’s simply the only role he’s ever learned to play in life. Maybe in his next life he’ll come back as a Maytag washer.
But Woodie Guthrie had talent …
Woody Guthrie in fact was a tool who sold out to the BPA who hired Guthrie to write a set of propaganda songs about federal projects to gain support for federal regulation of hydro-electricity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll_On,_Columbia,_Roll_On
Woody Guthrie also assisted the war effort by ‘dancing on Hitler’s grave’, and eventually fell afoul of the anti-communist hysteria of the 50’s……I watched a good portion of the MPBN bio-pic of Guthrie and it is worth watching again. Didn’t realize he was an adulterer as well….but what great artist fully meets social standards?
All I want for Christmas is for LePage to resign!
Private schools and academies thrive because the teachers are held accountable and can be fired for failing the students. It is nearly impossible to fire a underperforming teacher. Now don’t go bashing!! I said “underperforming” There are numerous great public teachers. I know alot of them. It’s the poor ones who drag a system down.
you can fire a teacher as long as they go by the steps thats in the contract once they do that if the teacher does not improve you can firer them so don’t lie .
I didn’t lie I said it was nearly impossible. That’s the truth
OK you tell me how it nearly impossible to fire a teacher ?
You are not a teacher or not in the school system so you do not know what you are talking about
It has nothing to do with the quality of education. It is just LePage supporting his supporters! Performance issues could be worked out in a civilized manner without raping the whole public system.
If only we could shout out your comment from the highest rooftops in this state.
You’re right, it does have nothing to do with the quality of education. More at:
http://www.dirigoblue.com/2012/11/lepage-looks-to-cross-aisle-ends-up-in-gutter/
Excellent point. Lepage is all about panic and was elected by panicked voters. He is the cheerleader of panic and it is all aimed at getting us to panic and make stupid, irreversible choices that cripples the future.
Lepage wants to use that panic, not to improve outcomes, but to destroy the union and manipulate the power balance to send us all back to the dark ages. All the GOP’s efforts are aimed at denying power to those that disagree with them.
The teachers ARE the experts at how to teach. Lepage is a junk store manager who works for the Koch brothers. Even a 5th grader can see that.
Private schools thrive because they kick out students from families that require extra attention. It has nothing what so ever to do with accountability. The same is also true of the handful of charter schools that actually help students (the vast majority of them actually hurt children and still stay in business, so much for the whole accountability thing). Teachers in public schools are evaluated frequently and if their boss is unhappy with performance (and willing to do his or her job) the teachers who need to go are out of the system. The problem is there are so few people willing and capable of taking their jobs that often times schools don’t dare get rid of a marginal teacher. If we increased teacher salary perhaps we could increase the size of the applicant pools and the quality of the new teachers to make certain every class gets the best teacher possible. Until we do that, we are really stuck with the system we have now (other improvements that would immediately improve test scores, apparently the only metric that education deformers care about would include the ability to remove students who choose not to work).
Yes in addition to that I’ll add, that if a students is a constant distraction in a private school they are thrown out. Where as a public school everything is private/private and parents don’t know and can’t find out that one student can disrupt a whole class every day all day without any repercussions. Priviacy act!.. Happens everyday.. Plus Most big schools in Maine have at least 5 sexual assults minium per day, some might find there way to the super but are handled in house by the admin.. parents never find out.
Absolutely chock full of ignorant nonsense. On what planet do you get this foolishness? Of course disruptive students are disciplined. 5 sexual assaults a day? Really pulling that one out of the sky aren’t you. Just nonsense.
5 minium per day I said.. Do You have a daughter in school, ask her if the boys don’t grab the girls.
Oh here we again with the teacher bashing (and yes, spray perfume all you want, but it is bashing) from a perspective of obvious ignorance and from a writer who obviously has never spent a second teaching in a public school classroom. First off, overall Maine schools do very well nationally, so enough of that piece of ignorance. Second, private schools get to choose their students. Public schools don’t. Gee, ya think that just maybe that has something do to with anything as you make these wild comparisons? They are exempt from MANY of the rules, regulations, mandates, etc. constantly slamming the public schools and which devour the time of the individual teachers. And yet, nonetheless, most public school teachers perform very well for minimal pay. Think you can do better? Then go get a teaching license, walk into a public school, and prove it. Otherwise, why don’t both you and LeBUFFOON end the ignorant nonsense. PS: Maybe YOU are awful at YOUR job. Can we all please evaluate YOU? And as to your buddy LeBUFFOON, the people of Maine just gave this goofball HIS evaluation as we sent his pathetic little ignorant TeaBaby Party PACKING, same as is going to happen to him and flabby jowls come 2014.
I would suggest that private schools/academies ability to thrive has more to do with parental involvement and the generally more heterogeous student population…meaning uniformity of values, not necessarily race, etc.
You can firer a bad teacher
Paul Lepage-Maine’s poster boy for the dumbing down of America.
You know that is a lie, Yet I am interested in how many people will agree with you.. I support the Idea that the supers are hired by a teachers group in that school, so that the supers can work with teachers to better education, rather than against them so to look good to a board or council.
well virtual education has a HIGHER drop out rate then PUIBLIC schools !!!
Isn’t it a crime to escape from the public school?
Want to see a lie? Check out LePage’s photo on the state web site; it’s a great example of how Photoshop can make someone look 100 pounds lighter and 10 years younger.
wow. What a brilliant comment.
Do you sell pants suits too?
Have you ever read the book, “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America?” It is an excellent read written by a woman from Maine who also was a columnist for the BDN. You should read it, it would help you to understand the public school system.
You don’t know much about Charter schools do you? or other reforms Lepage is, make that was, implementing.
Well it’s good that Paul isn’t in this to get re-elected THAT shouldn’t be much of a problem- thankfully.
He opened a website for re-election contributions about 2 months after he was elected. Does that sound like a man not looking to keep his job?
I would not rule him out. You obviously are falling for the media’s campaign against him. You will see how the democrats will try to make this state turn back to the welfare capitol. 40 yrs. of democrat rule got us into this mess. There are too many people in Maine looking for “free stuff.” The federal gov’t is going to run out of money, and so is this state. If you want to rip a man for coming from nothing and being a success, go ahead. As a friend of mine stated who moved here from out of state, “I have never seen so many people who begrudge a man for doing well.” He was talking about working with families in Maine who are on assistance who begrudge their own family members. LePage is not a polished politician, it is very refreshing. If you have never met the man in person, you should try. Your opinion of him would most likely change.
He’s done well by forgetting what and where he came from.
Let’s not forget this guy is from the same party that brought us no child left behind. In his own words he tells us that it’s a failure and knows how to cleanup his parties mess if we would only listen to his reason. I got a better idea …. how bout you succeed at something first, before you go blowing your own horn?
To be fair, NCLB was bi-partisan idiocy. However, Conservatives have been leading on school policy for the last 30 years and have not taken any accountability for their failures when it comes to school reform.
lol I hear ya, I’m not so sure how fair I’m in the mood for being? After listening to a corrosive conservative agenda for far to many years about the only thing I’m interested in is keeping my foot on the gas. Next thing you know LePage will have Maine pay for schools reading from those special text books from Texas, you know Jesus and dinosaurs.
I especially like Paul’s letter to the Diplodoci…egg layers not lying down with egg layers, and such.
This ‘bi-partisan idiocy’ was rooted in the failure of States to hold schools accountable for monies allocated under the Elementary and Secondary Education act designed to uplift the academic performance of students from poor families.
So you must think that ESEA was also ‘idiocy’ and those court decisions which found ESEA’s implementation so flawed that school vouchers were proposed as an alternative(Denver, NAACP decision).
Conservatives have a stunning track record in successful school reform…what have you been smoking? Try Jeb Bush’s progam for starters, or the school vouchers or the Charter schools or the merit/performance pay.
Charter schools don’t work and hurt children. You should look at the Credo study. Also, school vouchers do nothing to improve the education of all children. Merit pay similarly has been shown to have no effect on school performance. Everything conservatives think will work end up causing more schools to fail at their central mission. Their beliefs are that schools need to be dismantled and their policies favor that. If conservative policies were left to their natural devices only middle and upper income students would get educations and the rest would be left out in the cold. They should not be allowed anywhere near education policy.
Personally, I agree with ESEA, under performing schools do need more resources. They have the highest needs children. Republican led policy (as well as RTT under Obama) is for high performing schools to get the lion’s share of resource and leave struggling schools and students to die (students figuratively).
How many sexual assults happen in Bangor public schools every day and never get reported?? How many sexual assults stop and never leave the supers office?.. It would surprise you how girls are treated by the school admin.. and you wonder why they put up with abuse as adults.
The Gov. certainly did agitate people with his comments. So glad that he did. It makes great reading in the Comment section. The Gov. speaks the truth…………….
Ahhh, the poor MEA, the truth always hurts doesn’t it!
The Kennebec Journal will no longer let us make comments like this. I will never read the KJ again. In college, at Ricker, this Bangor paper was the one we all read; and this will be the only paper I will read in the future. Hey, it is great to see some of my old KJ buddies here: STillRelaxin and Mainegal17. The Maine House and Senate are both being taken over by Democrats, hurray!…for one reason…Paulytics LiePage has been a bully and a buffoon!
Well you can still make comments but you’d have to be very careful as your personal information would be hanging out there for all to see. I’m not sure what to make of the “negative rating” business. I suppose it might get some of the real nasty folks to calm down a bit. I mean how many times can one be told that they are disliked before they get the hint? That will be interesting to watch…for a while. I used to go by “Relax” on the KJ but like most folks have pretty much stopped reading their paper and certainly wouldn’t post there or anywhere else using such a foolish system. When the BDN goes the same way I guess I’ll have to confine my soapbox to my living room talking to the dog.
This new commenting system was a surprise to me. Where is it announced? Actually, I like the negative as well as the positicve evaluations. With Discus, the only way you could indicate disagreement was to not vote or to comment adversely.
Ricker? 64-66, then Uncle Sam took me away.
Democrats dislike LePage because he is right. And too bad if he ruffles a few feathers. Democrats basically spew the hate because they simply cannot face the facts. We are where we are with education because of 40 years of democrat rule. We had two years off and here we go again. We made a huge mistake at the polls, and you will pay for it with higher taxes and even more welfare. We don’t want to move forward in Maine, we want something for nothing.
Right? Not exactly. Actually, not even close. If you dig into it a bit, there is little to no evidence that private schools provide a superior education. They generally do enroll a whole different student — and so public / private comparisons in terms of student achievement have no value. There are lots of students that private schools would rather not take. And if you sent all those students, en masse, to private schools, the private schools would start to look a lot like public schools, wouldn’t they? More at http://www.dirigoblue.com/2012/11/lepage-looks-to-cross-aisle-ends-up-in-gutter/
Ruffling feathers seems to be the only thing he knows how to do.
The education system in Maine is far better than when I attended. Like any system it requires constant oversight and tweaking, but this buffoon wants to throw the baby out with the bath water.
It is a fact that the single most significant influence on student outcomes is parental involvement. So why isn’t Lepage insulting parents? Education is as expensive as it is because it is taking up the slack for parents. It is attempting to educate all comers that they may have a better life.
Lepage, like all the tea governors is all about consolidating power through redistricting, destruction of unions and disenfranchising voters.
LePage is often right, but he does more than ruffle feathers. Delivery matters, especially at the adult, governmental leadership level. And his choices of windmills to tilt at make it worse. He makes Libby look skilled and pragmatic, and that is saying something.
It doesn’t matter how right he is anymore. Everything he says will be questioned if not dismissed…that is his own fault, not the Liberal Media’s.
It really doesn’t matter what Gov. LePage says or does the left is in attack mode. I guess to be liked he’ll need to give a bunch of polished non-answers.
And what mode has the Governor been in?
The truth. Even if the general public doesn’t want to hear it. If in two years the majority of the public doesn’t feel he’s doing his job then he will be voted out. It’s as simple as that. That’s the great thing about this country…you can change leadership with just a vote.
The BDN wrote: “LePage’s uncut comments are an easy target for those who oppose his proposals. We just encourage you to get the whole story. Understanding
the full picture includes putting his quotes in context . . .”
LePage’s quotes ARE an easy target, but it seems the BDN is lowering the bar for him here. What, really, does a politician do but talk? And, if a politician doesn’t communicate clearly, what good is he, really? If a politician unintentionally agitates and generates controversy without trying to do so, then that politician has a problem. And, if he does intend to agitate and generate controversy, then he’s getting what he asked for.
I feel that as the CEO and manager of a politically contaminated and corrupt bureaucracy extremely reluctant to go in the direction of efficiency, conservation, productivity and deregulation; you absolutely have to kick some butt.
This includes firing and replacing people and putting the harsh realities on public display—it really galls the teachers’ union to highlight the differences between private, religious run, and public schools but any concerned parent can easily find them in the facts about Maine Schools.
But when they continue to point fingers at every one else for their failure and their only solution is ‘more money’; then the governor MUST point the finger back at them and enact competitive reforms like charter schools and merit pay that have worked in many other states. All too often, the unions have cherry picked out ‘bad’ things about say Charter schools and attempted to smother every experiment, then the governor must speak out.
When government expands, everyone is happy; but when we run out of revenue and it is difficult to raise taxes, and we have to reduce the size of government, then the fights begin and the language is harsh as are the accusations.The Governor is a street kid at heart and doesn’t shy away from a worthy fight, and I fully support him in that….although he could be a lot more diplomatic and perhaps he should speak in French once in a while?
An effective leader does at times have to “kick some butt,” but it’s kind of important to have good aim when you do so. Maine has some excellent public schools and some excellent teachers, yet the governor’s comments have universally soiled the good along with the bad.
You mention the differences between public, private, and religious schools. It is important to keep in mind that the primary difference between these schools is the make-up of the student body they enroll. Study after study has shown that once you break down the student test data by socioeconomic status, students at these different types of schools score pretty much the same.
Lots of people (not just union members) have concerns about privatization. There are plenty of reasons to believe that diverting money away from our existing public schools and creating a redundant private system would be wasteful and inefficient as well as damaging to the overall quality of education the state can provide.
The Governor often places effect before calm, hyperbole before reality, and fervor before tranquility. These fauxs will no doubt affect future political battles but in no means reduce the veracity and validity of his points. The public school experience has transcended effectiveness and short circuits the hopes and dreams of thousands of students who refuse to toe the line of expected college fervor. In a pique of ethnocentristic based expectations the current system has established roadblocks and justifications for so many gifted and motivated students who wish to seek their fortunes outside the realm of squared classrooms and piled textbooks. Our obligation to support, instruct, and validate the areas of emphasis chosen by these young adults has been usurped in a pique of political expediency and we have left them with the futility of the never ending boulder of Sysiphus’s rolling. The Governor’s point, being that those other than future academics would better be served in the private sector or within the province of a charter school is sadly valid in its proposals and accurate in its conclusions. An increased effort by the current readership to evaluate the actions of the current structure rather than extraneous verbage would certainly increase the level of understanding and perception. Ken Fogelman
Part of the so called conservative revolution since Reagan has been the belief that privatization and market solutions provide the best motivation for improvement in just about everything that can be privatized. As Reagan famously said, govt is not the solution but the problem. Well, while many hold this belief as sacrosanct, it just isn’t the case. Some services don’t respond to market solutions, don’t and can’t respond to supply and demand, to competition in a way that benefits the consumer of the service. It is true that many things do respond to supply and demand, driving prices lower while driving innovation upward. Better products at cheaper prices. But not everything submits so easily or even at all to market forces. Health care is a case in point. Consumers of health care, the heart attack victim, the cancer patient doesn’t shop around for the best care at the lowest price. It is a matter of life or death to obtain the best treatment, often the cost be damned. In too many cases in our for profit system of health care it is the life that is damned when insurance companies deny coverage, patients are unable to pay, and sometimes both death AND bankruptcy are what face the patient and their family.
In Britain the once nationalized railroad system that ran a relatively tight ship fell to pieces when privatized. Maintenance was foregone, accidents occurred with greater frequency. Privatizing the Iraq war has resulted in billions of dollars vanishing… poof… as if they never even existed. US soldiers trained in certain skills watch as private contractors do the exact same jobs for several times the pay… talk about demoralizing.
Is privatization the answer to education? The Gov thinks so, in spite of evidence that the results are very mixed. The Gov appears to have a vested interest in online educational schemes which seem to fare the worst when compared with traditional educational settings. It is the rare student that possesses the maturity to benefit from online study. I think the claim that devoting tax dollars to support privatization schemes, whether they be charter schools that may or may not skew opportunity to the better connected or wealthier student or online schemes, takes from the public school system is a valid one. Proceeding down this path should be done very carefully, less the profit motive turns out to NOT be the solution people expect.
“Part of the so called conservative revolution since Reagan has been the
belief that privatization and market solutions provide the best
motivation for improvement in just about everything that can be
privatized.” and YET it has failed. PRIVATE Charter schools have faced scandal after scandal ( and low test scores) and then there is Black water and Haliburton..
You do know that a Democratic administration put companies like Black Water and Halliburton where they are.
The first compulsory education laws were enacted in 1851 in the state of Massachusetts. before these laws were enacted, 99% of Massachusetts’ citizens were literate. After these laws were passed, Massachusetts never reached that level again. In fact today only 92% of the Commonwealth’s citizens are functionally literate
Maine’s schools were for nearly 150 years a mixed blend of private and public schools, closely following Jefferson’s advice to provide universal 1-8 education; and then advance people based on merit and talent. The role of the largely private high schools were to further refine this talent, for example Bates, Colby and Bowdoin were ‘fed’ students from high schools affiliated with Baptist, Methodist, and UCC religious orders. Jesuit schools came in to overcome discrimination against the Irish; and soon proved to be academically superior—in Canada, nearly all schools were run by Catholic orders for a long time.
“Let’s fix it. And how do you fix it? One way. At the polls.”
I think we just showed the governor that we aim to fix it by getting rid of him and his minions who are not at all interested in solutions. They are only interested in political power. They don’t want to work WITH the unions to make something better they want to destroy the unions so they have free reign to do what they want.
LePage is an easy target because he always has his foot in his mouth, and then sends his apologist out to reform his remarks. “He didn’t mean this, he meant this”
Mr. LePage needs to go to any community college in the state and avail himself on one of the classes in mediation, to learn how to listen, how to frame responses and how to accept solutions that do not fall in perfect sync with his ideas.
Plain and simple the Governor is anti public education ( and anti PUBLIC UNION) and so is his education commisioner. .His education commissioner was the ED consultant for The Hertitage Ceneter who’s sole purpose is to promote PRIVATE enterprise.PERIOD, regardless of merit or benefit to the public !!! The commissioner CAME to “PUBLIC ” service with a certain INNATE bias which he has passed along to the Governor.. At the heritage foundation, as in Augusta , the commissioner has promoted his OWN lies and deception and bias , to deceive the governor and the public. about PUBLIC education. ODD,isn’t it ,he never points out our national test sores are TOPS in the nation.
OF course the PUBLIC unions support Democrats , they are the party who has a LONG history supportIng and defending Maine’s WORKING people; from raising the minimum wage , to promoting safe working conditions, to eliminating child labor to supporting the LABOR mural at the LABOR Department!!! .AND it is the Republican party that has a LONG history of opposing Maine’s all of that including most recently trying to errode child labor laws and trying to make Maine another right to work state.When Republicans support workers: they will support them. They haven’t .
Isn’t it odd that the GOVERNOR of Maine endlessly criticizes the PUBLIC education system is :”charged ” with funding ; not dismantellng .YUP there is a reason The R’s lost in Maine .They are out of touch and OUT of step with MAINE people..And the Maine people VOTED OUT the party who tried to take way their right to vote!!!
There is an innate bias that supports the misguided notion that market solutions and privatization offer the best hope of innovation and success. Unfortunately, it just isn’t so. Somethings are not at all suited to market solutions, supply and demand, competitive markets. Health care is one of the big ones, affecting everyone at some point in their lives. Education, a hallmark of any advanced society, that reaches ALL American children is another. A CEO of a very large corporation gave a talk a while ago in which he promoted the very real belief in HIS circle, in shorthand the 1%, that the most efficient democracy is the one where consumers vote with their market choices. I hope it is obvious to everyone that that notion very quickly does away with this other older notion of “one person, one vote.” A market “democracy” gives the most votes to the one with the most money… Sound familiar? I’m happy to see that in some respects that notion didn’t carry so much weight in this election… just ask Karl Rove what the $400 million he tendered for his clients bought them… (not much, expect notoriety.) There is much more work to do in this regard that will be done. Overcoming this misguided idea that the market is sacrosanct was part of what this election was about. People want policy that serves the most people with the most good. Life ISN’T all about profit. The Gov’nah needs to learn this.
That’s why there are inherently governmental responsibilities. This R believes that education is one of them.
You are doing a great job Gov. Lapage . keep up the good work. The head lines should be teachers UNION VS the taxpayers. the unions have gone to far
Teachers unions should not even be allowed to be. They are corrupt to the core. Every one of them. Unions are the very reason we do not make anything in this country anymore.
Factory workers in China earn $1.36 per hour. That’s why we don’t make anything in this country any more.
While obviously intellectually challenged, the majority of liberal posters here who ascribe to ostrich politics in lieu of completing due diligence display a remarkable likeness to spiral-shaped bacteria — whose sole purpose in life is to cause irritable bowel movement.
After two years of this man’s impenetrable foggy tea party ideology, the BDN apparently has better fog lights than most of us.
The writer obviously believes that beyond the fog, something worthy of note, lurks within the soul of this acrimonious individual.
Whenever I see his picture, my mind vividly recalls Captain Queeg testily clinking the ball bearings he carried in his pocket, as he glared from the bridge of the Navy ship Caine.
Perhaps he removed the Mural in hopes of finding the key to the strawberries.
This article is rather pointless, identifying the ways in which this group or that person may have acted poorly, or been unfairly targeted.
The root of the problem is the American political system. Far from being “the greatest system in the world”, it leves itself open to corruption and abuse, primarily by those with deep wallets. And the legislatures, state or federal, can easily become gridlocked by partisan actions all rooted in who is being paid off by whom.
There is no easy way out of this mess. Expecting politicians to act better, when it is in their individual financial interest to do otherwise, is naiive. Nor will they pass any meaningful laws to improve the situation.
Did the BDN and Portland Press Hearld and their subnewspapers & tv reporters hold the past Gov. under the magnifing glass like they have LePage? Will they for the next Gov.? If mainstream news outlets had held our past Gov. in the light we may have found out about The Maine Transportation Fraud, Maine State Housing Pie-in- the-Sky’s Management, an/or lack of etc., while our corrupt government is allowed to go unchecked all the while the so-called-news agencies look the other way (wink, wink). Our media appears to be in collusion with Democrats and have made themselves insignificant and unreliable, while spoon-feeding their followers.
No one held LePage under a magnifying glass. His bullying, abusive style, his loudmouthed ignorant pronouncements and his hate inspired edicts as Governor put him front and center, all of his own doing.
How well has no child left behind been working out ?