Former Marine Resources Commissioner Norman Olsen offered a peek inside the inner workings of the LePage administration yesterday when he abruptly resigned his position.
In a lengthy public statement, Olsen laid out a stinging indictment of the governor and his unwillingness to stand up to special interests, support his rhetoric with action and manage state government. Olsen went so far as to predict that the administration would cover up a report that would be unflattering to the department and some members of the fishing industry.
But there was one piece of information, if true, that demonstrates a dangerous vindictiveness on the part of the governor and an economic short-sightedness that could hurt Maine’s chances for economic recovery.
According to Olsen, LePage ordered: “No further collaboration with the City of Portland to develop measures to return our groundfish boats to Maine, despite the work already done to secure the support of visiting Commerce Department officials. Portland was against him, he said, and we will not work with that city. Rather than work with Portland, he said, we’ll build a new port somewhere.”
It sounds absurd that the governor would turn his back on the largest city and one of the economic engines that helps to drive our state.
But when you consider this comment and the last-minute push to change school funding statewide, which was led by State Senate President Kevin Raye, who’s from Washington County, and supported by Gov. LePage, there’s a disturbing pattern emerging.
That change cost Portland schools about $1 million in funding.
Portland may have a lot of Democratic voters, and certainly LePage won his election by pitting rural areas of the state against more urban areas. But we are all Mainers. We are one state. And we all rise or fall together. Dividing people might have worked in a splintered election. But leadership demands bringing people together.
The governor is elected to serve all of the people of the state, to protect and grow our economy, and to balance the overall good of the state against parochial divisions.
Instead, Gov. LePage appears to be falling back on a vindictive and mean-spirited campaign that rewards his supporters at the expense of the well-being of the entire state.
That’s not acceptable. The governor owes all of us an explanation.
Here’s a link to Olsen’s statement: http://www.kjonline.com/news/Olsen-releases-statement-on-resignation.html
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