Rosa's Blog

I don’t suppose anything should shock us anymore, but when I saw that Gov. LePage had the Labor mural removed secretly over the weekend I was surprised.

As I wrote in an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald today, an open and inclusive approach to government is quintessentially Maine. Closed doors and a history whitewashed, that’s not my state.

I can understand the Governor is probably tired of hearing about the mural, and his public comments in which he called people who disagree with him “idiots” demonstrate his frustration.

But by his actions, he has turned the mural into a lasting symbol of his administration, one that will be remembered long after the mural finds a new home.

Businesses, and particularly small businesses, deserve a voice in government, and they should be made to feel welcome at the Department of Labor or anywhere else in government. But his actions go too far.

Maine needs open, honest dialogue. We need intelligent examination of the issues we face. Our governor should encourage diversity. He should shine as much light as possible on the whole process of making our state stronger.

Gov. LePage … Continue reading "Removal of mural creates a lasting symbol" »

Tomorrow, working people, artists and historians are rallying at the state capital to tell the governor that they will not stand for revisionist history and the governor’s demand that a mural depicting Maine’s labor history be removed.

The timing of the governor’s actions couldn’t be worse.

On March 25, 1911, 146 people, mostly women and mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants, died in a terrible fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York.

It was the spark for the modern Labor Movement, which led to critical reforms that have made workplaces safer.

It’s hard to imagine when children had little choice but to work in textile mills for 14 hours at a time, or when women were locked onto factory floors and forced to use the boiler room of the mill as a bathroom.

But those were the facts before working people had the chance to organize and demand better conditions.

Along with public education, unions in the United States have helped to build a robust middle-class that has carried our country through everything from natural disasters to wars and economic collapse.

Today, that middle-class is being eroded by public policy that punishes working families to give tax breaks to millionaires.

It’s not right.

There’s a better way.

Government … Continue reading "There is a better way." »

Governor LePage is making national news again. This time it’s with his move to erase from the walls of the Department of Labor a mural that depicts the state’s labor history and to rename conference rooms in the agency, including one named for Frances Perkins, a pioneering woman in government. She was the first woman to ever serve in a president’s cabinet, joining FDR’s administration as the Secretary of Labor.

While the removal of a mural or the renaming of conference rooms at the Department of Labor aren’t likely to inspire hundreds of Mainers to protest, they are indicative of Governor LePage’s contempt for working families, for unions and for history.

There is no better example of this than the Governor’s proposed two-year budget, which he would balance on the backs of teachers, state troopers, state workers and the poor. Under his plans, they would all pay so that the Governor can lower taxes for millionaires and the state’s highest earners.

His plan takes the real economic hardships the state faces and uses them to pursue an ideologically driven agenda. He’s following a national script, but Mainer’s by nature don’t follow the crowd. They know right from wrong, and they’re watching the … Continue reading "Wiping out history?" »