Republicans would like to walk away from a federal probe into the internal workings of the state Department of Labor. But Democrats on a government watchdog committee are refusing to let the issue die. Today they were able to convince one Republican to support a plan that will allow further monitoring of the department, following allegations last year that Gov. LePage pressured hearing officers to be more pro-business.
The reports first surfaced last year about a Blaine House luncheon where Gov. Paul LePage reportedly bullied and intimidated state Department of Labor hearing officers, whom he felt were siding too often with workers during unemployment compensation appeals hearings.
The governor created a Blue Ribbon Commission to look at the fairness of the process, and a probe by the U.S. Department of Labor's solicitor's office followed. Although the commission recommended some changes for the system and the federal investigation found no evidence of actual bias, the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee still left open the option for further review.
But when Republicans on the panel moved to put the matter to rest, Democrats refused. The result was a 5-5 tie, an outcome Republican Sen. Roger Katz did not expect.
"I'm not willing to suggest that I'm always right, but when a vote on this committee breaks down exactly on party lines, it's a sad day," Katz said.
Katz, of Augusta, had hoped that the thorny issue could be resolved, since the Department of Labor has pledged to adopt new protocols recommended by the feds and the Blue Ribbon Commission, and since no actual instances of bias on the part of the governor were ever found.
"Everyone has to have confidence in the fairness of the people making the calls, the judge or in this case, the hearing officers, and I think there were some legitimate concerns raised over the fairness of the process at the department of Labor," Katz said. "But they've been thoroughly vetted here, both through the federal process and through the work of the Blue Ribbon Commission. I'm satisfied that if they there were problems there, they've been addressed and that the system is working properly now. For myself, anyway, I don't see the need to keep this open further."
"For this is not quite something that is as ready to rest," said Sen. Chris Johnson.
Johnson, a Somerville Democrat, is the co-chair of the committee that oversees the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability. He says that while he is encouraged by the responses of officials at the state Department of Labor, he's not ready to close the book on a continued investigation into the agency.
"My thought is that this is something worth checking into later on the progress of those recommendations being implemented, just as we would if it was OPEGA's reports and recommendations, and to check whether the original concerns and the recommendations based on the study of those have been resolved or whether there are still further actions that might need to be taken to fulfill those recommendations," Johnson said.
Following a tie vote, Republican Rep. David Cotta, of China, joined Democrats in asking for monitoring by a new government oversight committee when the panel is created by the next Legislature. In addition, both parties on the committee have agreed that ethical standards should be adopted within all state agencies.
If approved by the Legislature, Republican Rep. Paul Davis says these could improve professionalism.
"They're going to check with each agency, they're going to go to the state auditor first, I believe, and see if they have a list of agencies that have an ethics policy, and then they're going to go to each agency that doesn't and find out what's going on," Davis said.
Members of the panel may not meet again until September.