Will Rogers (1879-1935), once popular cowboy, newspaper columnist, humorist and actor, famously said: “All I know is what I read in the papers.” Like Rogers, all I know about the Good Will-Hinckley squabble between Gov. Paul LePage and House Speaker Mark Eves is what I read in the newspapers. From what I have read thus far, Eves’ suit against LePage has little or no merit.
In his suit, the speaker alleges the governor violated his rights when he intervened in the Good Will-Hinckley hiring process, thereby preventing Eves’ hiring as president of that school. Specifically, Eves claims LePage, by threatening to cut off $530,000 in state funding to the school, caused the GWH board of directors to rescind Eves’ job offer.
Although GWH is usually referred to as a single entity, it actually comprises two separate schools and a number of student programs on its Fairfield campus paid for through a variety of public funding streams. In total, those public funds amount to more than $2.2 million annually.
When considered as a single entity, GWH meets the criteria of a private nonprofit organization, only by a loose definition of the word “private” because it benefits substantially from taxpayer funds. Thus, the speaker did not enter into a contract with GWH to preside exclusively over a standalone, privately funded school. With plentiful public funding, Eves’ $120,000 annual salary for babysitting about 100 students — the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences itself already has a principal — comes with public accountability.
It later was revealed that Bill Brown, the speaker’s paid legislative assistant who also chaired the board of the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, the GWH-run charter school, acted as a behind-the-scenes coach to secure Eves’ appointment.
Recall that it was LePage who initiated and signed the legislation creating Maine charter schools in 2011. Before the enactment of that bill he saw the educational potential of the charter school concept by requesting $730,000 in state funds for GWH to reopen its doors, which had closed in 2009, costing the jobs of more than 100 people.
Former GWH president and former Maine House Speaker Glenn Cummings said “Gov. LePage put a stake in the ground when he put us in the budget.” LePage rescued GWH from the brink of extinction.
Also, recall that about the time of his overnight conversion to jump aboard the charter school bandwagon, Eves stated he “still had reservations” about charter schools. And Eves let it be known he intended to retain his elected position as House speaker while simultaneously heading GWH — a possible conflict of interest.
Faced with the prospect of going along with the appointment of “Maine’s most vehement anti-charter school politician” of questionable qualifications, a half-hearted commitment to head Maine’s premier charter school and the political clout to undo his signature educational achievement, the governor sent a letter to GWH expressing his “serious concerns” about Eves’ hiring. And the sharks smelled blood.
Testifying under oath before the Government Oversight Committee on Nov. 12, LePage administration aides revealed they had met with GWH officials and expressed their lack of “support” for the school with Eves at the helm. In their zeal to implicate LePage of wrongdoing, certain members of the committee misconstrued that ambiguous comment by the governor’s aides as an explicit threat to cut off the $530,000 in state funds unless Eves’ hiring was rescinded.
But their hopes sagged when Sarah Vanderwood, a paid GWH lobbyist, testified, “there was no direct [statement] ‘the funding was in jeopardy.’ It was the sense that I got.” They came to hear what they wanted to believe.
The committee found no evidence LePage had broken any laws. The attorney general later concurred.
There is no evidence LePage made an explicit threat to withhold state funding. Try charging him with wishful thinking.
Now we are being treated to the sorry spectacle by pious hypocrites of the fringe left — with the tacit collusion of a one-party press in a two-party state — desperately digging for excuses to impeach the governor. Imagine if he acted more like a certain smooth-talking Democrat whose trackings on the blue dress of a female intern constituted irrefutable evidence of disgraceful conduct in office, perjury and obstruction of justice. Instead of being the target of an inquisition, LePage could earn speaking fees of $100,000, be honored with degrees from prestigious universities and bask in the adulation of a grateful public.
Such is the schizophrenic state of Maine politics and across our fruited plain.
Case closed.
Walter J. Eno lives in Scarborough.