This month Maine voters elected a Tea Party governor (thanks to a 3-way race) and turned control of the State House over to the Republicans for the first time in 30 years. Governor-elect LePage got a lot of support by railing against able-bodied "welfare cheats" who supposedly are draining the coffers of the Maine treasury.
So, in their first major action post-election, who do the Republicans elect as the new House Speaker? A certain Robert Nutting. Mr. Nutting owned a pharmacy and several years ago was at the center of "Diapergate" - a scheme where his store overbilled MaineCare, the state and federally-funded Medicaid program, by $1.6 million.
True's Pharmacy, which Nutting owned from 1970 until it closed in 2003, was found to have overbilled the state-and-federal program by about $1.6 million for sales of adult incontinency products, such as diapers and bed liners, according to an audit in 2001. Nutting was a member of the Legislature at the time.
Unable to repay the money fast enough, the company went into bankruptcy and its assets were liquidated, leaving nearly $1.2 million in remaining debt, according to state records obtained by MaineToday Media. That balance was wiped out in the bankruptcy, and the state and federal governments were forced to absorb the loss.
This is the face of the Maine GOP's commitment to fiscal responsibility: take from the hated "government" and then use the protection of the courts in order to avoid paying your debts.
The Maine GOP Platform- a document of pure Tea Party wackiness - states the following:
To Promote the General Welfare:
a. Return to the principles of Austrian Economics, and redirect the economy back to one of incentives to save and invest.
b. Cut spending, balance the budget, and institute a plan for paying down debt. Proclaim that generational debt shifting is immoral and unconscionable and will not be tolerated!
c. Pass and implement Fed bill #1207 (Introduced by Ron Paul), to Audit the Federal Reserve, as the first step in Ending the Fed.
d. Return to transparent and honest reporting of economic statistics free of gimmicks and distortions.
e. Require the government and all its agencies adhere to the same GAAP accounting rules that businesses must follow.
f. Restore the provisions of welfare reform removed with the stimulus bill.
j. Institute Zero based budgeting on all programs.
k. Espouse and follow the principle: It is immoral to steal the property rightfully earned by one person, and give it to another who has no claim or right to its benefits.
Mr. Nutting violated Tea Party principles by stealing from a government program and then failing to honor his obligations. What does the Maine GOP think about its new Speaker?
Rep. Rich Cebra, R-Naples, said Nutting's experience will help him in the Republican mission to make Maine more business-friendly.
"This kind of thing is an example of a state government that needs to be reformed," he said. "If you look back at the facts, you see a government that was not responsive to small business, and that is exactly what I've been elected to turn around, and I know there are many members of our caucus who feel the same way."
In other words, it's "the government's fault" that Mr. Nutting stole and failed to repay taxpayer money.
The Bangor Daily News had harsher wordsfor Mr. Nutting:
A speaker of the House who was able to walk away from a $1.2 million debt to the state begins resembling, on a grander scale, the welfare deadbeats that candidate LePage and tea party activists railed against.