Anti-union Gov of Maine orders mural removed

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by msina

US Labor Dept. steps into mural dispute | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Originally Posted by msina

..... AND,... the mural was paid for by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Gov. LePage STOLE it. He may be looking at some legal issues.

Originally Posted by JimMe

That's easy to resolve. Give it back to the U.S. Dept of Labor. They can put it wherever they want, just not at the State Deparment of Labor.

Originally Posted by JimMe

Does the federal grant specify which state office must display the mural? If not, there's probably a forest ranger station in the boonies in Maine that needs decorationg.

Originally Posted by msina

From what I garner, yes,.. It was specifically created for the Dept. Of Labor (after being voted for from a number of choices). It was paid for by a grant by the U.S. Dept. of Labor that was applied for by the State of Maine's Dept. of Labor. Further, to satisfy the contract with the U'S. Dept. of labor, reimbursement would have to be at "current market value". Considering the publicity surrounding the removal, the market value has increased.

Obviously, nobody came forward who knows much about these things, so I'll contribute what I know. I work for a state agency that performs many of the same functions as the Maine DOL, and have seen a little about how these things work. Three divisions of the Maine DOL are 100% funded by the Federal DOL, Employment Services, Unemployment Compensation and Labor Research & Statistics. Sometimes funding is available under Special Budget Requests (SBR) that must be specifically applied for and, if granted, spent according to the grant rules. All of them that I have seen were specifically for the funded agency. Any granted money not spent must be returned to the federal government.

The Governor probably IS looking at some legal issues after removing from the Labor building something the feds paid for specifically for the Labor Building.

The probably CANNOT just put it somewhere else. The federal Department of Labor paid for it to be put in the Maine DOL building.

They CAN'T just give it back to the feds. What the feds wil do is sue the state for misuse of the granted funds, asking for their money back plus interest and penalties.

You can't move it to a ranger station. The ranger station is part of the State Parks, etc., NOT part of the federally funded Labor Department.

Maybe somebody should have ASKED a MDOL veteran (not the Acting Commissioner) what they could or could not do.

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Public unions will go the way of the carrier pigeon soon. They should be and will be made illegal. The taypayers will not have a a gun held to their heads to have roads fixed, fires extinguished, criminals apprehended, or their children schooled all while the unions continue to plot against the taxpayers, demand ridiculous salaries and benefit packages, and continue to fund one sided campaigns, namely the Democrats. Unions DO NOT represent the majority of workers in America and have not for quite some time. They are thugs of the worst kind whose greed makes corporate America seem positively philanthropic in comparison. The Governor of Maine was elected fairly. He obviously had the most votes in the five way race or he wouldn't be governor. I'd suggest if the democrats want to beat someone they negotiate with the ticket splitting independents and hangers on who robbed them of a governorship. That said it still does not explain why the Maine House and Senate went Republican too after 30 years of Democratic rule. You can thank your sitting Democratic do-nothing President for that "change".
I support the Governor's decision to remove the Union propaganda mural. If they want it restored elect a different governor in four years and have that person restore it. If he is pi$$ing off the Democrats with this seemingly meaningless gesture you should brace yourselves for what is to come. It's about time.

Ranting about public unions has absolutely nothing to do with the legality of the Governor's actions.