The US Department of labor has said that if Governor LePage of Maine is going to remove the mural from the state Labor Department he has to give back the money used to create it!!
The department said Monday that LePage violated the terms of a federal grant that paid for most of the mural’s $60,000 cost when he removed the artwork from state offices last month.
The request for reimbursement came in a letter to state labor officials from Gay Gilbert, administrator of the U.S. Labor Department’s office of unemployment insurance. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
Hilarious.
The mural was created in large part with a federal grant that provided 63 percent of the cost of art work. Gilbert’s letter said the state must return 63 percent of the current fair market value of the mural, which could now be higher than the $60,000 it cost to create it.
“Alternatively, the state could again display the mural in its headquarters or in another state employment security building,” the letter said.
The funny thing is that Maine would have to pay not only what the cost of creating the mural, but the fair market value of the mural, and given its recently publicity that might be a lot higher. This was funded under the REED Act.
Part of the mural’s federal DOL funding, from the REED Act, came with the understanding that the mural would be displayed at administrative offices of Maine’s Department of Labor. When LePage removed the mural he broke that contractual understanding by violating the terms of the grant.
“The best solution at this point would be to put the mural back up and avoid having to use taxpayer money to pay back the federal government. Public art belongs to all of us and I don’t think the governor should have acted so hastily in taking it down. It wasn’t a decision for one person,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree.
Some of the panels of the 36-foot mural illustrate important events that changed workplace conditions like the 1937 shoe mill strike in Auburn and Lewiston and Rosie the Riveter – who actually worked at the Bath Iron Works. One panel shows Frances Perkins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman to be a U.S. Cabinet Secretary and severed for twelve years. Perkins had a strong connection with the state and is buried here.
Sheesh....
FIRST TIME ON THE REC LIST!! THANKS EVERYONE!
One more thing I missed:
LePage was unable to comment for this story as he is vacationing in Jamaica.