The College Fix

Maine Gov. Paul LePage has taken a lot of heat for his decision to remove a mural from a government building—including being compared to a totalitarian regime by a college president.

Last month, the Republican LePage announced that the 11-panel, 36-foot wide mural, which had hung in the main lobby for three years at Department of Labor, would be removed. The mural, commissioned in 2007, depicts Maine’s history from colonial times to the modern era, as well as highlighting workers, labor strikers, and notable figures from the pine tree state.

Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquerella was not pleased.

“The act of removing images commemorating Maine’s history itself conjures thoughts of the rewriting of history prevalent in totalitarian regimes,” she wrote in a letter to the governor.

The letter largely concerns Frances Perkins; one of the figures depicted in the mural, she attended Mount Holyoke and was the first woman to be appointed to the cabinet of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A spokesman for Mount Holyoke, Max Pearlstein, said that the school has not received a response to the letter from the governor.

“I know Mount Holyoke has not been the only place to be in touch with his office,” he said.

Last month, Charles Scontras, a labor historian at the University of Maine, told the New York Times:  “Totalitarian regimes erase history as well. We manage to do it by indifference or neglect or for ideological reasons.”

Adrienne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said that the administration is looking for a nuanced view of workers and owners.

“When you walked into the DOL (Department of Labor) lobby, you had a mural which depicted one side of an equation,” she said. “We’re looking for a neutral view.”

Bennett said that the governor wishes to represent all of the state’s interest groups, and the mural did not properly do this.

“The Department of Labor is a tax payer funded agency that works with both job creators and workers. We’re changing the mentality here in Augusta. That is that both job creators and workers are assets,” she said.

Taxpayer funding has been one of the most important aspects of the fight over the mural. The mural initially cost $60,000 and was commissioned by the Maine Arts Commission in 2007.

Now that the mural is down, the federal government would like the money back.

On Monday, Gay Gilbert, an administrator of the Office of Unemployment Insurance with the U.S. Department of Labor, issued a letter calling for the return of 63 percent of the value of the mural. In a letter originally obtained by the Associated Press, Gilbert states that the money for the mural came from Reed Funds, which are for federal unemployment benefits.

“We understand, however, that the mural is no longer on display in your headquarters…the state must, as a condition of continued participation in the Federal-State UC Program, return to its UTF account the amount of the Reed Act funds,” said Gilbert in the letter.

So, with the mural removed, the LePage administration may have to pay $41,800 back to the federal government.

The artist behind the mural, Judy Taylor, said through email that she was upset at the situation.

“I was frankly speechless,” she said. “I would like the Governor to return the mural to the people of the state of Maine.”

Bennett declined to comment on both the Department of Labor letter and president Pasquerella’s message. However, she believes that the issue has been blown out of proportion.

“We have to focus on health care costs, energy costs, regulatory reform and tax cuts, all the issues that have great value to Mainers. The work that is being done is being overshadowed by his mural,” she said.

Bennett also mentioned that the governor’s office is trying to organize other local artists to create a new mural.

“We have asked artists to submit works of art to show job creators and workers. It’s all about balance.”

Bryan Ens is a senior at Northeastern University. He is a member of the Student Free Press Association.

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