Maine Governor Wants To Paint Over & Destroy Mural Honoring Working People
While other Republican governors have battled with organized labor over collective bargaining rights and benefit contributions, Maine’s governor has set his sights on a 36-foot-wide mural of the state’s labor history, which includes images of worker strikes and “Rosie the Riveter.”
Gov. Paul LePage has ordered that the mural, in the lobby of the state Department of Labor’s building in Augusta, be painted over to show business leaders that the state is just as friendly to them as it is to workers. “I’m trying to send a message to everyone in the state that the state of Maine looks at employees and employers equally, neutrally and on balance,” he said in a radio interview on Wednesday. “The mural sends a message that we’re one-sided, and I don’t want to send that message.”
LePage’s push to remove the mural came after “several messages” from members of the public complained about it, as well as an anonymous fax last month from someone who said the artwork was reminiscent of “communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.” And it comes as several governors and legislatures around the country are engaged in debates over the power and privileges of labor unions.