Main Street

Departing Maine official says LePage wanted to deny help to Portland fishermen

The abrupt departure of Norman Olsen, Maine’s Commissioner of Marine Resources, has led to claims of political payback in anti-worker Governor Paul LePage’s administration.

From the Boston Globe:

Former marine resources commissioner Norman Olsen issued a statement after resigning that spelled out his grievances with the governor and made the jolting claim that LePage was not interested in helping Portland fishermen because the governor did not enjoy political support in the city.

According to Olsen’s statement, he believed that Governor LePage was changing plans for port development because Portland did not support him politically:

Olsen said the governor declared that there will be no further collaboration with Portland officials despite work underway to lure fishing boats back to the city. He quoted the governor as saying that “Portland was against him’’ and that “we will not work with that city.’’ He also quoted LePage as saying he would explore developing another port.

Would the governor really seek political retribution against one of his state’s biggest cities? Portland Mayor Nicholas Mavodnes issued a letter to Governor LePage to make sure that was not the case. It’s not a letter a local official should ever have to write to a governor.

Mary Noel Laughy of Augusta, a Working America member, has no reason to mince words. In a letter to the Kennebec Journal, she writes that, in her view, the priorities expressed by then-candidate Paul LePage last fall are not the same as his priorities as governor:

Last year, gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage shook my hand when I was eating at a local restaurant. He promised me in front of a room full of people that he was going to work to help the elderly and disabled; that he’d create jobs for them. Instead, he’s done just the opposite…

If I had known what the governor and his administration were truly planning to do, I never would have let him interrupt my meal to feed me half-truths last fall.

Maine isn’t broke, just the administration governing it.

Looks like the amateurish mural removal earlier this year was a sign of things to come.

(Please read Mary’s entire letter here – and Mary, congrats on getting published!)