As this weeks news again shows us, Paul LePage’s brand of politics all too often involves end-runs around the truth.
LePage has strongly overstated his case, and yes, has told outright lies in his effort to build public support for his proposed MaineCare cuts. A recent BDN article shows LePage is incorrect in his claims that most of the childless adults who receive MaineCare are able-bodied young men. Dirigo Blue documents that one of the MaineCare recipient “facts” LePage mouthed in a WCSH-TV interview last week is an outright lie.
After LePage’s early efforts to eliminate LURC, the land use regulation commission that has long been responsible for overseeing development of the North Woods, was rejected, LePage and the Republicans have changed their approach to re-shape LURC in a way that will result in the deregulation they sought in the first place. Ron Joseph, a former state wildlife biologist, writes in the Sun-Journal that LePage and the Republicans are out to destroy LURC and the Northern Maine Woods. Joseph writes, “If the final recommendations are approved by the Legislature following public hearings in January, McPherson and other developers will have a green light to forever alter northern Maine's undeveloped lakes and forests with disgraceful second home projects . . . A restructured LURC isn’t about balance. It’s about appeasing corporate landowners who sit on millions of dollars worth of shorefront properties on northern Maine’s undeveloped lakes and rivers.” To us, it is unconscionable and a tragedy, that a man who has no apparent appreciation of the North Woods and perhaps has never set foot in them, can play such a huge role in the demise of this vast resource which has been so big a part in Maine’s history and identity.
In his recent radio address, Lepage criticized the proposal that would require Maine to invest in renewable energy, stating the costs will be too high, and justifying his claim by stating Maine’s electricity rates are significantly higher than the national average. What LePage does not mention but Dirigo Blue points out for us, is that Maine’s rates are the lowest in New England and are also lower than thoe in New York and New Jersey.
Child labor laws, health insurance deregulation, the test scores of Maine students, the LePage tax cuts, the economy, welfare, Medicaid, energy, the mural -- on virtually every issue that matters, the Governor has made statements that are significantly misleading if not outright untrue.
A list of LePage lies, flip flops, and gaffe’s is being maintained here by Dirigo Blue.
More on the LePage lies at AppalledbyLepage.com
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
LePage and Technical Education: Cutting Square Corners off the Three R's:
During a visit to the Hancock County Technical Center in Ellsworth, Gov. LePage repeated his previously stated belief that Maine has placed too much emphasis on preparing students for 4-year colleges and not enough emphasis on career and technical education.
“What we are trying to do is make career and technical education mainstream instead of second-class education,” LePage said during yesterday’s visit. Beefing up the academic offerings at the state’s 27 vocational and technical centers so that students do not have to travel back to their regular high schools for the academic portion of their program is one way LePage hopes to accomplish this. He also cited the need for the state to show more flexibility in terms of vocational students and the state’s general graduation requirements.
LePage’s proposal makes sense on several levels -- including the common sense one. Maine has and will probably continue to have more jobs for those trained in trades and technical skills over jobs for those with a liberal arts education.
However, this proposal seems to fly in the face of other concerns previously voiced by LePage. His proposal also seems dramtically inconsistent with other current state and national education initiatives.
(1) LePage kicked off his recent focus on education with a complaint that the test scores of Maine students have been stagnating. However, any initiative which places an emphasis on technical education is almost certain to result in backsliding in terms of the core academic subjects of English, math, science, and social studies.
(2) The technical schools themselves have stated a preference for receiving students who have a solid base in the core academic subjects over students who are weak in reading, writing, and / or math but know, for example, how to write a computer program or how to frame a roof.
(3) National movements including No Child Left Behind and the increasing emphasis on standards-based education make it difficult for schools to clear time in a students schedule for extended blocks of vocational and technical education.
“What we are trying to do is make career and technical education mainstream instead of second-class education,” LePage said during yesterday’s visit. Beefing up the academic offerings at the state’s 27 vocational and technical centers so that students do not have to travel back to their regular high schools for the academic portion of their program is one way LePage hopes to accomplish this. He also cited the need for the state to show more flexibility in terms of vocational students and the state’s general graduation requirements.
LePage’s proposal makes sense on several levels -- including the common sense one. Maine has and will probably continue to have more jobs for those trained in trades and technical skills over jobs for those with a liberal arts education.
However, this proposal seems to fly in the face of other concerns previously voiced by LePage. His proposal also seems dramtically inconsistent with other current state and national education initiatives.
(1) LePage kicked off his recent focus on education with a complaint that the test scores of Maine students have been stagnating. However, any initiative which places an emphasis on technical education is almost certain to result in backsliding in terms of the core academic subjects of English, math, science, and social studies.
(2) The technical schools themselves have stated a preference for receiving students who have a solid base in the core academic subjects over students who are weak in reading, writing, and / or math but know, for example, how to write a computer program or how to frame a roof.
(3) National movements including No Child Left Behind and the increasing emphasis on standards-based education make it difficult for schools to clear time in a students schedule for extended blocks of vocational and technical education.
Friday, December 16, 2011
LePage Caught in Lie About Welfare
Paul LePage stated that Forbes Magazine had identified "welfare" as one of Maine's structural problems that needs to be cleaned up on Wednesday during a town hall-style meeting at Mt. Abram High School.
LePage's statement comes at a time in which he is trying to convince the legislature to cut more than a two hundred million dollars from MaineCare, Maine's medicare program. LePage has not only been undeterred by claims that the cuts will eliminate everything from HeadStart programs for impoverished kids to assisted living programs for low-income elderly people, he has taken his campaign to the streets --- and has been misrepresenting the facts.
One misrepresentation is that a major cause of the current budget shortfall is welfare fraud. The governor provided no facts or statistics to back up this claim that is clearly designed to appeal to the emotions of those who already feel their taxes are too high.
The more recent lie is LePage's statement implying Forbes Magazine told him that Maine had to reduce the size of its welfare program in order to improve from its current last place ranking among the 50 states in terms of climate for business.
Adrienne Bennett, the Governor's press secretary, raised the lie to the level of the absurd by suggesting her boss was referring to"Mainer's welfare" and not to the specific welfare program.
As reported in today's BDN, the conservative magazine took the rare step of correcting LePage for his mis-statement. "“I certainly didn’t say anything about welfare costs, which has nothing to do with the ranking that we do,” said Forbes senior editor Kurt Badenhausen. “I didn’t tell them they needed to reduce energy costs. I told them, basically, the best thing they could do, and that any local government could do, was just to try and create more jobs.”
The reader comments below the article show that Mainers are more than fed up with this kind of dishonesty from their governor.
Read more about LePage's campaign against welfare at: www.appalledbylepage.com
LePage's statement comes at a time in which he is trying to convince the legislature to cut more than a two hundred million dollars from MaineCare, Maine's medicare program. LePage has not only been undeterred by claims that the cuts will eliminate everything from HeadStart programs for impoverished kids to assisted living programs for low-income elderly people, he has taken his campaign to the streets --- and has been misrepresenting the facts.
One misrepresentation is that a major cause of the current budget shortfall is welfare fraud. The governor provided no facts or statistics to back up this claim that is clearly designed to appeal to the emotions of those who already feel their taxes are too high.
The more recent lie is LePage's statement implying Forbes Magazine told him that Maine had to reduce the size of its welfare program in order to improve from its current last place ranking among the 50 states in terms of climate for business.
Adrienne Bennett, the Governor's press secretary, raised the lie to the level of the absurd by suggesting her boss was referring to"Mainer's welfare" and not to the specific welfare program.
As reported in today's BDN, the conservative magazine took the rare step of correcting LePage for his mis-statement. "“I certainly didn’t say anything about welfare costs, which has nothing to do with the ranking that we do,” said Forbes senior editor Kurt Badenhausen. “I didn’t tell them they needed to reduce energy costs. I told them, basically, the best thing they could do, and that any local government could do, was just to try and create more jobs.”
The reader comments below the article show that Mainers are more than fed up with this kind of dishonesty from their governor.
Read more about LePage's campaign against welfare at: www.appalledbylepage.com
Monday, December 12, 2011
LePage-Speak -- A New World of Vocabulary
Conservation is a Ponzi scheme. Political dialogue is "bullshit." Our governor flew to Virginia to lay wreaths at the graves of the dead in the same week that he stated his intention to cut access to medical care to the still living. This and more at www.appalledbylepage.com
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Paul LePage's Approval Ratings Are Up . . .
. . . But not for the reasons you might think.
It's called scapegoating. You can read about LePage's "Operation Scapegoat" in our recent post at AppalledbyLePage.com
It's called scapegoating. You can read about LePage's "Operation Scapegoat" in our recent post at AppalledbyLePage.com
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
LePage Education Plan for 2012 and Beyond
Paul LePage has some ambitions in terms of reforming education in the state of Maine. That's a scary thing, since not so long ago, he hadn't seemed to have thought about it much. His plan then was to promote home schooling, reduce federal mandates, and allow more control on the local level.
More recently, LePage has more ambitious goals such as changing the way teachers are paid, putting new requirements on teachers, promoting more technical and practical education in high schools, and promoting a 5the year of high school. More details and commentary at:
Appalled by LePage -- Education Plan for 2012 and Beyond.
More recently, LePage has more ambitious goals such as changing the way teachers are paid, putting new requirements on teachers, promoting more technical and practical education in high schools, and promoting a 5the year of high school. More details and commentary at:
Appalled by LePage -- Education Plan for 2012 and Beyond.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Paul LePage and ALEC: Suspected Connection Confirmed
The cozy relationship between Paul LePage, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, and the Koch Brothers (a major donor to ALEC) is brought to light in a recent Colin Woodard article in the Portland Phoenix.
Most of the inner workings at ALEC remain covert, but Woodard reveals
that the new corporate chair of ALEC for the state of Maine is Ann
Robinson, a close advisor to LePage and also a corporate lobbyist at
Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios. Continue reading at: www.appalledbylepage.com
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