UPDATE: Lawsuit Filed Against LePage Over Mural ["Just like Christie, he makes them all pissy"]

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Gov. Paul LePage is facing more opposition to the removal of murals from the Maine Department of Labor, this time in the form of a lawsuit.

It was filed late Friday afternoon. Attorney Jeff Young filing the lawsuit against LePage; Laura Boyette, acting commissioner, Maine Department of Labor and Joseph Phillips, director of the Maine State Museum.

The mural was removed from the Maine Department of Labor's Augusta office in late March. It is being stored in a building off Route 27 in Augusta that is being rented by the state. LePage had ordered the mural be removed, saying the mural was too one-sided and contrary to his administration's attempts to make the state more business friendly.

The 36-foot mural depicts several moments in Maine labor history, including a 1937 shoe mill strike in Auburn and Lewiston and "Rosie the Riveter."

The complaint in the lawsuit alleged state government officials acted in violation of the First and 14th Amendments.

"The removal of the mural is clearly in violation of the First Amendment, protecting Freedom of Speech; the Maine government removed the mural because it didn't agree with the message in the mural," Young said in a statement. "The mural portrays important moments in Maine's labor history, and Plaintiffs and the People of Maine are being denied the opportunity to learn about history due to the mural's removal from the lobby of the Maine Department of Labor."

Dan Demeritt, communications director for the governor's office, released a statement saying, "The Governor’s office cannot comment on the lawsuit because we have only seen the press release issued by a law firm that represents the AFL-CIO and employs the chairman of the Maine Democratic Party. The mural remains safe and secure, awaiting transfer to a suitable venue for public display.”

Boy, it's going to take a powerful amount of energy and resolve to undo the longstanding mess we've inherited in what remains of America.

I know, I'm exhausted tracking down just those details not reported and still one will fork off into another directions raising further questions..

Details are what the Left Will DO FOR YOU. Fine example is the Bangor Daily News. Was that always like this? thought it was more conservative before. So found myself posting 2x's over on the Bangor News site--they are fit to be tied over the mural issue..as the governor said: "we don't have anything [better]to do in Maine". No one hated him when he gave them jobs at the growing Marden chain of super stores, or found themselves raving about shopping at Mardens or lowered their taxes in Waterville compared to other cities and towns in Maine, while putting emphasis on education, having been once 11, abuse and alone on the streets. He won only spending $160,000? His opponents spent way more and are whinning over a recall. I read over in the BDNews comments some State Senate Republicans have signed against him on the mural--can't judge a backbone by what's under ones political hat, I guess.

LePage is a survivor when up against the important things in life--but those liberal gnats can be really annoying. You swat, they still return.

Have seen they want to boycott all companies coming to Maine if they meet with LePage--how low are the IQ's of these Mainers??

Funny story on your mom. You made me want to go buy an Italian Sandwich with everything, oil and vinegar...

ftd

Wow. I don't think I have ever been so overwhelmed by an answer to a question I had. That just goes to show you the poisoning effect of federal money. Once that money is added to a project, what would have been a simple ownership question becomes a lawyer's dream.

I find it interesting that a bunch of "art" paid for to keep artists busy and subsidized during the Depression gets sold by the pound when the government is concentrating on the war. Then long after the war is over they decide that the sale didn't really count so the purchasers don't really own the art any more. I guess that make sense if some 2nd lieutenant sells me his tank because it wasn't really his to sell, but it would gall me if my grandfather bought a couple hundred pounds of scrap art seventy years ago and then the feds tell me to return it now.

Ooh, nice catch.

The crazies may have opened up a giant can of worms for themselves.

Remember when the state and school districts got caught overestimating the number of migrant children who qualified for federal funds and had to pay back $5,000,000 to the feds?

How can they possibly justify using Reed Act money to fund "art" projects?

State, school districts share responsibility for federal aid fiasco

Update for the Record:
LABOR MURAL: A $60,000 TAXPAYER-FUNDED INSULT TO WORKING PEOPLE
The removal of a 60-foot mural from the Maine Department of Labor has sparked a huge controversy. While Democrats and reporters focus on anti-organized labor intent, the bigger story is that this mural was a self-honoring monument selected by Baldacci Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman.
Fortman spent $60,000 of taxpayer funds to commission a huge mural for the waiting room of her department. That's $60,000 of taxpayer funds that won't be used to deal with pension shortfalls, or health care for state workers. To burn through $60,000 on a piece of art for a waiting room of a state department is outrageous.
What is even more outrageous is the fact that Fortman herself is painted into the mural. Fortman is portrayed nearly life-size, in a panel with labor icon Frances Perkins, as reported in today's Lewiston Sun Journal's Political Pulse: The mural, recall politics and pranks ( http://www.sunjournal.com/state/story/1008812) . Imagine that - a sitting Labor Commissioner using $60,000 of taxpayer dollars to decorate her office with a painting of herself.
Imagine if a private-sector boss used corporate funds to hang a life-sized portrait of himself on the wall, at the same time that a shortfall in revenue forced him to cut pension contributions and health care benefits for his workers. The same Organized Labor protestors that are celebrating this mural would be the first ones to cry foul. That's exactly what Laura Fortman has done.
The fact is, the real reason this state is facing budget cuts is because of three decades of foolish decisions like this one. Democrats like Laura Fortman have thrown millions of taxpayer dollars at self-serving expenses for years, from this $60,000 mural to pay homage to a Labor Commissioner, to the $54 million state house renovation that Libby Mitchell spearheaded when she was Speaker of the House, to the $157,000 in gift certificates that former Democrat Senate Leader Paul Violette gave out like candy as the head of the Maine Turnpike Authority.
The real story here is not that Governor LePage decided to move this mural. The real story is that Baldacci's Labor Commissioner wasted $60,000 of taxpayer funds to decorate her office with a painting of herself.
This is an insult to the hard working people of Maine.

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