Gov Lepage stirs the pot.

Updated: 2:43 PM
2 GOP lawmakers blast LePage on 'corrupt' remark

By Susan M. Cover scover@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau

AUGUSTA — Two central Maine lawmakers who represent...state employees released statements today....

Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, said he grew up with many state workers and considers them friends who often work hard for less pay than they would receive in the private sector.
...snip

Rep. Patrick Flood, R-Winthrop... said he was "sorry the governor" referred to many of his constituents in Readfield and Winthrop as corrupt.
...snip

The Governor's Office declined to comment this afternoon.

Source

Politicians looking for cover. Not unexpected. Not sure what's driving the governor's comments, but if I were to take a WAG it might have something to do with the DHHS computer fiasco. No doubt in my mind that the employee's unions are pushing back against the governor from inside of the "beast" and that probably drives him crazy as well. I know it would me. Unions to me are nothing more than an unelected level of government that interferes with the effective conduct of government business. I don't believe an employee can serve two masters effectively. Couple that with the union's political agenda and the taxpayers take a beating. I know Gov LePage has the stones to take on the unions, but I haven't seen any will out of the legislature to do so.

Maybe just maybe they understand that those people pay taxes and have the rights of everyone else one of which is to be respected.
Whatever their purpose it is OK, that is what they should be saying ,now for the other side get the hell on the band wagon and pass the tools to fix the problem.

As to the DHHS thing problem w/ computer blow the dam thing up and start all over again.

No one can fix it that is the problem they have tried to fix two broken systems ,parts aren't interchnageable.

As to the DHHS thing problem w/ computer blow the dam thing up and start all over again.

We already did that once. The first time it cost us $80,000,000 (really probably twice that given the way government accounting works) for something that was completely useless. We blew that one up and started over and those dedicated, hardworking, underpaid public servants then proceeded to waste another $40,000,000 (again probably twice that) to get us to where we can limp along with no idea what in heck we are paying for.

When do we decide that they just aren't smart enough to handle the job?

I Have worked for the state for the past thirty five years, I can tell you that it has gone from bad to worst. I know of a case where promotions are now based on whether or not you're sleeping with the commissioner. If that is not corruption I don' t know what is.

Uh-oh --- you're not allowed to even suggest that, Mainelion. If you do, you'll be on the union hit list.

Um, Naran, it was Quinn who shared that inside information and I thank him for doing so. I've heard the story and this serves to confirms it.

The hackerama.......
Flood and Katz are part of it.

BlueJay - my comment was in response to the one from Mainelion, above Quinn's.

Meanwhile, if anybody knows that something like Quinn is suggesting is actually true, it should be reported to the proper authorities!

Naran - it has been. The whole Department is aware of the ongoing HR investigation. Very poor choices on the part of the parties involved, and just more unfortunate stereotypes about corruption in state government getting played out at the taxpayers' expense...

Thank you for the information.

Stirs the pot?
Looks like the Governor has made himself up a cauldron of that famous Cumberland County Jail Chili.
Not sure if he got it right though. By way of the passing of his own Commissioners it appears to be a top management problem rather than middle management.

has anyone found a link to the transcript of the fullness of Lepage's comments at the meeting? (PS, I am not talking about a transcript of the followup letter he sent out, but his comments at the town hall)

The closest I can find to the transcript is below.

I added the bold below to highlight to those who seem to be trashing Lepage that we should always try to understand the fullness/context of any quote of any politician, and that it is too easy to take quotes out of context. And that usually, when someone does take a quote out of context, they are more likely than not (a) being lazy, or (b) looking for something, anything, to trash someone (Republicans do this with O all the time, and Dems did this with GWB all the time, on and on, etc).

I was hoping to also get the fullness of the question he responded to, but I have not found that yet. From what I have seen so far, I don't take much alarm at what Lepage said at the meeting. Alot of people here seem to be rising up in shock and horror like LePage trashed every single Government worker out there. Not true (!), as he clearly made the point with the 1st statement that I bolded below.

Not to say I agree with LePage's comment or choice of words either. I think a statement like that made by a sitting governor needs backup (show us facts Paul!). It makes me think he knows something we don't, and I'd like to see the facts.

From this Press Herald article:

In response to a question about state license fees, LePage said state government is inefficient and so big that it needs the "trick" of fees to function.

He said he and the five Cabinet members who were with him agreed with the questioner's perspective but they have little control over some state positions.

"Believe me, there is a lot of good and hardworking people that work for the state. They are not the problem," he said at the meeting.

"The problem is, the middle management of the state is about as corrupt as you can be. Believe me, we're trying every day to get them to go to work, but it's hard."

Isn't a followup letter enough and says it all ?
Bad choice of words, bad form,etc. etc..

I work for the state and I have friends that work for the state. In my opinion Gov Lepage said nothing wrong. I am sure there are plenty of people that work for the state that would agree with him.

That being said, I do enjoy calling my co-workers "corrupt" :)

Edit: And Bruce, they take from Corrections and Public safety when they should be taking from PUC, Education and DHHS.

LastMainerOut, I agree with every word you said. Thank you.

LMO that is the point here are people who agree w/in the state and they are ready willing and able to correct certain things.
The barriers being put up are bad enough from the element that he was talking about approaching this in this way is not helping.
Real simple call them incompetent , inefficient anything that will hit directly on target. Not those words in that forum.
The myth of not being able to dismiss and get rid of these people is just that it can be done.
If you research some of my past posts even before election ,I advocated he put out a strong message to employees what the priorities are.
In reality what we got was we are just like Mardens'!
I firmly believe part of this is related to the difficulty of putting together a cabinet and having been left w/ what he was left with.
Hell you think $5000 retirement incentive would have driven a lot more of them out! Didn't me I retired to early and didn't get told about the process!

Quinn is obviously punking us.

mainemom why do you say that? It seems to me from talking to a number of people, both inside and outside of state government, that it is widely known that a certain commissioner is sleeping with some of his employees and then giving them promotions.

Don't bet on it mainemom!
I have alluded to it many times but the last 8year rein of Baldacci saw one thing and that was a deterioration of ethics and leadership w/in state service.
It was quite obvious that those things were not talked about and one was on their own to maintain the exceptable level of performance in these areas.

It is sort of "high school" to talk about sex for promotions. If it is true then it should be reported. One of the directors I worked for ended of leaving his job because of rumors about him and a co-worker. None of it was true, but once the investigation was over he left because he lost interest in working for the State. I wonder why?

I don't know why anyone would want to be a manager for the state anyway. If you want to accomplish anything they will bury you in meetings or paperwork.

Quinn uses the present tense, "is" sleeping with... and the male pronoun.
There are a finite number of male commissioners in the LePage administration.
If you think Quinn is not punking us, then use the process of elimination to find your suspect(s).

So here we have:

Quinn - I Have worked for the state for the past thirty five years, I can tell you that it has gone from bad to worst. I know of a case where promotions are now based on whether or not you're sleeping with the commissioner. If that is not corruption I don' t know what is

dac69 - The whole Department is aware of the ongoing HR investigation. Very poor choices on the part of the parties involved, and just more unfortunate stereotypes about corruption in state government getting played out at the taxpayers' expense...

Quinn - It seems to me from talking to a number of people, both inside and outside of state government, that it is widely known that a certain commissioner is sleeping with some of his employees and then giving them promotions

Is it possible that this is at least some of the corruption that Gov Lepage was referring to?

Yes ,it could be ,but a group in a town hall meeting in Newport is not going to be able to do much about it,where as he could!
See these things really do not change with administrations. In the end every gov. regardless of party ,has to make choices when confronted w/ specific issues in these areas.
It is real easy to talk about them ,real difficult when you have to assess the potential political damage from dealing with it directly . Things like OUI arrests /charges are easy politically, a popular issue easy for everyone to agree w/
some of the other stuff isn't so! Everyone who wishes or maybe had wished it would be different w/ LePage hopes it is or realizes it probably isn't going to be in the end.
I hope it is but am a realist.

I understand a BDN on line poll on the Governor's comments show overwhelming support for his position.

Talking to various state level representatives and bureaucrats throughout the years, I have been told that I just don't understand how things work in Augusta.
I think it's time things in Augusta were changed so that I CAN understand.

Bruce

Maybe it's time for the attendees to the Newport town hall style meeting to hear what's really going on down there.

Mel - the folks you communicated with may have their BDN polls mixed up.

Here's one:

Poll Question
Do you agree with Gov. LePage's view that any bond issued by any state agency needs to be approved by voters at referendum?

Yes 65.04% (227 votes)

No 34.96% (122 votes)

Total Votes: 349

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/29/politics/lepage-stands-by-position...

********************

Here's another:

Poll Question
Should LePage apologize for calling state workers corrupt?

Yes 69.58% (1,089 votes)

No 30.42% (476 votes)

Total Votes: 1,565

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/04/30/politics/moderate-republicans-to-l...

Ugenetoo
Yes maybe they do need to hear what's going on down there!
But did they really hear what is going on in a objective specific manner or another verbalization that communicated frustration etc, vs. action to correct the problem.
I really do not understand why it is so easy to defend the gov. when his manner and words create more angst than helping !
That doesn't solve anything.
A reminder the people at these meetings have been more than willing to sit back and leave down there to others of both parties for years!

I like the Guv just the way he is. I have heard from friends in Michigan and Alabama who say they wish they had a governor like ours. Lets not aid and abet the Liberals who are frothing at the mouth. As long as LePage keeps beating the crooks and Liberal (but, I digress) back, he is the man.