AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage is defending a little-known unilateral decision he made earlier this year to grant more paid vacation time to about 55 of his political appointees. The workers, hired by the executive branch, hold positions ranging from secretary to department commissioner. LePage says the policy is needed to retain good employees who take pay cuts to work in state government. But state workers and other critics say the governor's action smacks of elitism.
Until the story appeared in the Bangor Daily News, only a select group of the governor's staff was aware of a new policy that extends additional vacation time to Gov. Paul LePage's political appointees. LePage instituted the policy unilaterally in February for about 55 of his workers. He says he had to do something to reward the workers, whom he says took pay cuts when they came to work for the state.
"It's very, very difficult to compete with the private sector, so we can't offer money so we've got to try and offer other benefits," LePage said. "The next governor can choose to do it differently."
LePage says the new policy tries to recognize the amount of time each employee has spent in the private sector before accepting a position with the executive branch. On average, he says the additional time amounts to about a week. But he says it's possible that some of the workers may be receiving more time under the policy.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud called the governor's decision outrageous, and says the governor is using taxpayer dollars to reward his cronies. When asked whether those workers could choose to take the additional benefit in the form of cash in lieu of vacation time, LePage said he was uncertain.
"I don't know, call it what you want folks, posturing," LePage said. "But I will tell you this, and make no bones about it: The people in my office are qualified, they're not cronies, they're not political hacks like others in other parties and groups would like to have you believe."
"Gov. LePage has attacked Maine workers time and time again, but he has the audacity to radically increase paid vacation time for the political appointees while the state's economy continues to lag behind," says Lizzy Reinholt, communications director for the Michaud campaign.
Reinholt says, if not for the newspaper report, LePage's vacation policy for his workers would never have been disclosed to anyone. She says that continues to make the administration one of the least transparent in Maine history.
Reinholt dismissed Lepage's denial of cronyism, and instead pointed out that LePage's policy was also nepotistic. One of LePage's first acts as governor was to his then-22-year-old daughter, Lauren LePage, to serve in his administration with a starting salary of $41,000 a year. Two years later, Gov. LePage hired his brother-in-law to work at the State Planning Office for $68,577 a year.
Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler says LePage's policy sends the wrong message to Maine's state employees. "If this makes any sense at all, it needs to be a policy that includes every worker in state government - not just political appointees," Cutler said.
At the offices of the Maine State Employees Association, union President Ginette Rivard said LePage's political appointees would certainly be entitled to take their vacation time as salary, which she said amounts to a taxpayer-funded bonus for the governor's inner circle. She said state workers were devastated upon hearing the news. "It's very elitist, it sets up separate classes of workers," Rivard said.
Rivard said the union plans to file a Freedom of Access Act request with the governor's office to determine exactly which employees are getting a week of vacation and which could be getting much more.