The ugly, the vain and the dangerous from LePage

Gov. Paul LePage speaks with reporters outside a Portland press conference on June 3. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

Gov. Paul LePage speaks with reporters outside a Portland press conference on June 3. Troy R. Bennett | BDN

Twice this week, Gov. Paul LePage has been rebuked by courts.

But there’s no evidence, even when met with the limits of his power, that it has had any impact on him.

First, the U.S. Supreme Court, controlled by conservatives, refused to take up an appeal by the state regarding an inappropriate attempt to deny health care to some low-income young people in the state.

Then a Maine Superior Court justice told the governor and his Department of Health and Human Services that they had overstepped their authority in an effort to deny assistance to asylum seekers living in the state.

If he’s done nothing else, LePage has demonstrated that he is willing to push the limits – of the law, good taste and common decency – to get what he wants.

His supporters love it, but the state pays the price.

And though he suffered two defeats this week in his efforts to take health care away from poor kids and to deny “illegal alien welfare” to men, women and children who have come to Maine to escape the horrors of war and violence, the battle is far from over.

With LePage and his re-election, our state has entered a new era of politics that’s driven by race-baiting attacks, personal animosity and political dirty tricks designed to turn neighbor against neighbor and lay at the feet of vulnerable people the failings of an economic system that leaves most working families behind.

And while the governor may want poor people to get off the couch and get a job, he has shown no hesitation in trying to keep his political opponents from getting or keeping jobs.

If you cross this governor, there will be consequences – personal and professional. The governor will use the power of his office to enforce a vendetta.

It’s governance by fear and intimidation, with a side helping of revenge.

Most often LePage takes aim at people who have no voice and little chance to fight back: poor families, children living in poverty, immigrants and refugees.

But if anything, LePage has shown no restraint in his targets.

Senate Republicans found out when the governor’s political action committee launched nasty robo-calls into their districts when they disagreed with his tax scheme.

The governor illegitimately forced John Fitzsimmons, the president of Maine’s Community College System, from his job by threatening to hurt the colleges and their students if he stayed. He said the schools, and by extension their students, would “feel the wrath” if he didn’t get his way.

Fitzsimmons led a successful reinvention of the community colleges, managing overwhelming growth while responding to ever-changing demands to prepare the state’s workforce and help it adapt to a global economic collapse.

He deserves better.

Then earlier this week, the governor did his best to hurt Speaker of the House Mark Eves and prevent him from taking a job as the head of a school for at-risk kids in Maine.

It was a disgusting display unbefitting the office of the governor.

The speaker often is at odds with the governor on issues of policy. That’s to be expected. The two have differing worldviews, different priorities and different constituencies.

Maine has a citizens’ Legislature, and most lawmakers need to have another job in order to provide for themselves and their families. A thoughtful and sincere leader, Eves is absolutely qualified to be president of Good Will-Hinckley.

The chairman of the Good Will-Hinckley board of directors, John Moore, stood by the selection, even in the face of tremendous pressure from the governor, telling the Sun Journal: “Mark Eves’ professional credentials and career in psychology and family therapy, as well as his statewide policy and leadership experience … make him the best candidate to lead our school’s work creating opportunity for at-risk and nontraditional students from across Maine.”

The governor simply has no authority to do what he has done, but he doesn’t hesitate to use his office and the force of his personality to try to get what he wants and to hurt people whom he doesn’t like.

That’s not leadership. It’s something else entirely: Ugly, vain and dangerous.

David Farmer

About David Farmer

David Farmer is a political and media consultant in Portland, where he lives with his wife and two children. He was senior adviser to Democrat Mike Michaud’s campaign for governor and a longtime journalist. You can reach him at dfarmer14@hotmail.com.