(CNN) - Maine Gov. Paul LePage ordered a 36-foot mural depicting the state's labor history be removed from the lobby of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Augusta, Maine, according to LePage's office.
The plan put forth by the Republican's administration also includes renaming several department conference rooms that carry names of pro-labor icons.
LePage press secretary Adrienne Bennett said discussions about the mural began months ago. After they received phone calls in opposition to the mural, his administration concluded the art showed favoritism toward a certain group.
"We understand the value of history and respect the artist, we are now exploring options of where it can go," Bennett said. "We want to find the appropriate place for it. We want to find it a home."
Bennett said the Maine Arts Commission will help find a suitable place for the art.
The 11-panel mural depicts labor scenes including a cobbler and a textile worker, and pro-labor organizations have used the action to criticize the governor.
A statement from the Maine AFL-CIO said removing the mural is an "insult to working men and women" and is another example of how LePage is putting politics before people.
"No matter what you name a room, no matter how many pictures you take down, the truth is that this state was built by and for working people and this move dishonors the generations of hard working Mainers who came before us," the statement said. "Paul LePage cannot erase our history, and he will not silence the voice of working people in Maine."
LePage, a first-term governor, was elected with 38 percent of the vote and Tea Party support in the November elections, defeating independent Eliot Cutler and Democrat Libby Mitchell.
Laura Boyett, the acting commissioner for the Maine Department of Labor, in a letter to her employees, said the department received feedback that the building is "not perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers," and is therefore removing the mural and renaming all of the conference rooms.
"If either of our two constituencies perceives that they are not welcome in our administration building and this translates to a belief that their needs will not be heard or met by this department, then it presents a barrier to achieving our mission," Boyett wrote.
– CNN's Nina Raja contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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And those businesses wouldn't exist without the working man and woman.
Go LePage! Time to end these big unions! GOP 2012!
Well - I guess we all need to move to main - THERE MUST BE PLENTY OF JOBS THERE, since this nutjob is concentrating all his resources on historical artwork.
Gheeeeesh !!
what a piece of crap. People republicans only like the rich, open your eyes, they hate the working class, those that built this country
Yet another republican looking out for the everyday working man & women. Gotta luv those pro-big businesss, pro- big banks, pro "to big to fail" Insurnace cos, pro- Wall St bailout repoublicans. How many times people do you have to be hit over the head before you realize who is hitting you over the head ? Get a grip people. If republicans you will be working until you die. Then. what have you got and what did you work for ? to enjoy your "golden years" LMAO @ you who vote republican. Oh. Not to worry. You can always go out and fight in a war of their choosing...
right. sure. and of course for all the RIGHT reasons
Is this a move against labor of the 17th and 18th century labor work force thatcould use their know how and wits to stop and settle down and start a business or do a job? Or is this move against the present day false idea that only union labor works the best?
We may have to reconsider our Maine vacation this year. "Whose side are you on?"
Maine put a RED MAN in office and this is what they get!! If they LIKE HIM, then SO BE IT!! This is also the same governor that said the NAACP can kiss his BUTT!!! I wonder if President Obama is hanging in the state/government offices in Maine???
Just another tell, of the real motivation of the republican party. This if nothing else should tip off the people who worked, and paid dues that the double speak of the right wing, was nothing more than a platform where power could be attained, and the war against the working class, could be extended. Now that they are entrenched, they believe they have a mandate to do the bidding of the morons (minority voters), that voted them in office. Wake up, or it's going to be too late for us all.
These state governors will do everything they can to abolish the unions and deprive the working men and women of protection in the market place, but in the long run they will fail. They are actually, { and we all know it} trying to put down our president because, {and I'm white} he's a black man and they just are too childish to handle that!! There have always been the working poor, the middle class and the wealthy. This will probably never change, but what happened in Wisconsin when Gov. Walker decided to do things the Koch way, showed that the people,{ the voters} are tired of being pushed around and we are going to continue to fight back for a little dignity in our lives.......!!!! .We'll see you all at the poles in 2012!!!!!
Wow those rethug/tpers are really tearing down our working class. They are going to try to steal another election.
Lets put up a velvet Elvis poster instead, uh?
still more proof that republicans are NOT for the common american.
Let's just rewrite history! Totalitarian governments love to do this!!
Wow. Le Page really is trying to win the title for worst governor. I wonder what other Koch/tea party directives he will follow ?
So a multinational corporation can tell an American government building that they don't like pictures of Americans working (as they outsource our jobs and create tax-havens in the Caymans)?
This stuff is trully frightening and fascist.
This is another example of right wing extreme politics. How come these people who have complained did not complain years ago.
The Governor doesn't want to be reminded of the slave wages that are coming back.
"the department received feedback that the building is "not perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers,"
Remind me again, which one votes – businesses or workers?
What a shoddy attempt to re-write the history of one's state.
Dear Maine: It was not that long ago when we were NOT regularly making national news for the boneheadedness of our governor. PLEASE get us back to that. No more LePage.
Can the Republican agenda be any more clear than this? It seems that the Republicans are not only hell-bent on destroying unions, but also erasing the history of unions and why they were needed in the first place. This reminds me of the Romans sacking and burning the library of Alexandria Egypt. "He who controls the past (history) controls the future." The GOP must be stopped before the middle-class completely disappears.
I can say the following because I live in Portland, ME and grow up here. LaPage is a clown and is becoming a disgrace to this great state. For along time I want to give him a break, but I am truly tired of his act.
He is Maine's governor and they have to live with him. I just want to say that the roster of candidates coming out of the
Tea Party have no reason nor sense of what this Country is about. They want to tear down everything that has really
held us together through art, music, debate, love for the environment, our children, each other, and the beautiful
flag that is our center of pride. They claim Christianity, but they are going against all that is good and right.
Destruction has become their "war cry" and my first thought is to leave. However, I will talk and work against them
for as long as I can because they are ripping out the very soul of America and it has to be stopped. Maybe this is
too dramatic, but it is also getting very, very, serious.
This Governor's actions are actually quite appalling. I'd like to know how long the mural has been up in the building. I find this to be extremely telling how combative the far right and the Tea Party are to middle class and working Americans.
So ... the department of labor can not display artwork depicting labor history. It's sad that the "two constituencies" are people and businesses, but only because it's the people that vote for elected officials. Sure businesses have some influence, but it's still the people that vote; there technically should be only one constituency for which the department of labor must be concerned.
What another unthinkable idea by a Republican lawmaker....for.one, these paintings are fibers of our history and they represent a period of change and growth for labor in the United States. I am just so dishearthened with what brewing for this country and the hatred I have heard from the right wing who sprew not a check and balance but pure hatred for anyone and now things that don't agree with them and their agenda. And how much will this cost the state of Maine and what murals will hang in those halls, a painting of teaparty express bus? Get real, this was historic and proud time for America, more good came out of unions than what is brewing now.
A statement from the Maine AFL-CIO said removing the mural is an "insult to working men and women..."
It's not an "insult to working men and women," it's simply a reflection of the fact that a state Department of Labour is not supposed be an advocate for unions–and that's what's upsetting the Maine AFL-CIO.
Sad. A mural of working people is coming down. Pretty soon all we're going to see across America, are statues of Wall Street Icons.
The GOP is alienating the entire American work force. They may as well concede 2012 to Obama, the way they are going. No one is going to vote for them.
Republicans once again rewriting history to suit their agenda.
A mural about unions is not as much a work of art as it is a political advertisement.
Governor LePage is correct in trying to lessen both the power and the positive image of unions.
The all out war by the fascists against the middle class is in full swing now. Soon they will be heard saying "Let the eat cake".
Are the Republicans really that afraid of the common people who bulit this country?
Wow. This country. I tell you. These new Republican governors are corporate fat cats. They can't even handle pro-union paintings. That is lame. Really really lame. Destroy our knowledge base and create corporate zombies.
You know wats ironic it is always republican administrations that go after your rights and freedoms and try to undo everything that has shaped the middle class and what we have a a great country today. they go about these radical changes and people sit idly by and go under the deception that it is the democrats that push far reaching radical agendas. who passed the patriot act(spying on americans bill) which i think its necessary sometimes to prevent terrorist, who tries tell women when u can have an abortion even if your health is in danger, burst unions and takes away your collective rights to bargain and now removing things that chronicle our struggle and history to create a perfect union. but idiots keep voting republican and think cos Obama is not white or traditional president people used to seeing he is radical and coming after you or trying to strip u of ur freedoms while the republicans with thier coporate sponsors hood wink u all and doing it right under your very nose. report just out today almost everystate with republican gov and state congress is pushing union busting bills and trying make it dificult for women have abortions without regard to safety of the woman and one bill think its in ohio trying to make it illegal have an abortion after 4 weeks no matter the circumstance. i am pro-choice but i do not support abortion i just belive its a womans right choose what she does with her body and i dont think they make those decisions lightly
LePage is beyond silly,
The mural has eleven panels, the govenor wants them removed because they don't reflect all of the history of Maine, so why not remove only a portion of them? Remove five or six of the panels and replace them with pictures of the greedy and unscrupulous business owners who believed in social darwinism. Shouldn't everyone feel represented, then, in that building? It's true that unions have grown to a point where they are stifling business, however, that doesn't mean there's not a need for them or that they were necessary at a point in history. It seems as if this govenor is trying to erase history. Maybe it will work, and then in a little time from now we can all try and forget that we mistakenly voted in a bunch of neo-nazi conservatives who are hell bent on servicing the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class.
This governor just is one more Republican who is insensitive to the middle class. Union is not a bad word, Mr. Governor.
Are these people really such idiots that they honestly believe becuase of a conference room name or a mural that business leaders will not feel welcome in a government building? Really? Do we call this "economic correctness?"
This is kindve Orwellian, and reading this article was a pretty disgusting insight to some who support the Tea Party. This is a war on labor gone too far. Be careful the road you walk or doublespeak will start to say...
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Labor is Corporatism
Unless of course, it doesn't matter, in which case QUIT WASTING TIME AND TAXPAYER MONEY ON STUPIDITY
Good grief.
This is really getting silly. Art is exactly what it is. Why wouldn't a labor department have images of people working.
Same {thing}, different day. Another Republican who thinks that workers are a problem, who thinks that businesses are more important than people. I believe he forgot that businesses don't vote.
This is what the Republicants worry about? What a bunch of losers!
The solution is easy. So no one feels they are not going to get a fair hearing at the Maine Department of Labor the administation building walls should be painted gray and conference rooms should not have names but simply numbers.
Everyone against Labor needs to remember the 40-hour workweek, the weekends, paid vacation and sick time, child labor laws, workplace safety laws, mandated meal breaks, and health care for full-time workers - and then do a Google search for "A Day in the Life of Joe Republican."
Well it looks like this typical scum bag Republican is using the same tactics used by Henry Ford's anti labor crowd and goons used in the 1920;s. It appears the The Republican pary and the Tea Partiers are looking more and more like the Brpown Shirt goons of Germany in the 1930's.
Will the Governor be burning books next?
This is what happens when the current crop of republicans get power. They immediately use it to attack their opponents in any way possible. To paraphrase that old Oldsmobile commercial, "this is NOT your father's GOP".
Hope those of you who voted against your own interest and those who stayed home during the previous election are satisfied. Ask yourself, where are the JOBS they ran on? Shame on the Republican Party. 2012 can not get here quick enough.
Aren't these things the same as the Communist Chinese do?
This is confusing. If it is the Department of Labor , why is it a problem to have murals honoring labor? If businesses are uncomfortable with the murals, let them build a Department of Business with murals honoring business. 38 percent of the vote is not much of a mandate even in a 3 way race, so maybe Gov. LaPage should tread lightly before making major changes to existing structures. This does not sound like a fiscally sound way to spend (waste) the state's money.
I am in opposition to Gov. LePage, maybe like the art work he should be removed. This is agenda driven plain and simple. If governors acted on every request made in opposition, well nothing would exist as everything is opposed by someone.
The hostile takeover of our government by corporations. It's not just happening, it's almost done.
Have fun America.
The murals will be replaced by art extolling the virtues of capitalism, corporatism, and banking.
So the Department of Labor has a mural depicting labor history and that is the wrong place for it? Because one doesn't want to actually think the Department of Labor would welcome anything that helped the labor movement, correct? That just makes perfect sense.
Since when is the Labor Movement not part of history? This is just another example of the GOP's agenda of eliminating the Middle Class. People take note: The GOP wantsto turn us into a third-world country where the top 2% control and own everything, there is no Middle Class, and the vast majority of us toil in poverty for the ruling class.
Wake up and come 2012 – vote Democratic!
Why is this so important to take down this artwork? There is no good reason other than it MIGHT show support for workers. That is all it seems to do.
taking down a salute to hard honest work because it shows prejudice against business – now that is a Republican mantra
Wow... What a spiteful right wing, anti-American, loser.
62% didn't vote for him. Time for a recall effort.
WTH, Maine has decided to wage a class war against the working class?
Perhaps this is an argument in favor of our two party system. With just 38% of the vote, this man is insulting a majority. Having a third candidate just dilutes the will of the people. As unfortunate as it might be, I believe choosing the lesser of two evils is better than having the favorite of one third.
it's funny that whenever the left feels "offended" (which is constantly) by something (check out the latest with the gay cure app) they have it removed... what goes around comes around
Maine – SOLD to the highest bidder !
War in the middle east continues.
War on the middle class continues.
As the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" widens, America is due for yet another uprising when hunger erases color lines and poor whites, blacks and hispanics(a former middle class) soon realize the enemy is not each other, but the elite class r@ping them of their wages, benefits, freedoms and opportunities, to make the top 5 percent even richer.
Yet here we are on ticker message boards arguing over Left Right Palin Obama Dem Repub Libya and Labor laws.
Obama has an uphill climb ahead of him to get this country back on its feet and the more Congress opposes EVERYTHING, the less gets done, the more WE all will suffer. Yet here we are, on our computers, while the rich are out having 5 star dinners and we are busy distracted by the smoke screens.
Good luck America, we finally elect an intelligent leader and its a shame WE dont know how to deal with it.
Idiocracy at its finest.
Is LePage going to remove the child labor laws from the State Code ? Women shouldn't vote either. Maybe only property owners get to vote. Got any gun laws ? They are gone soon. Is it too late to join the Confederacy ? Can you shoot Canadians on sight yet ? Damn, you Maine "citizens" are going to have more fun than we are having in Aridzona. You betcha !
This insulting, petty, anti-Labor snub by Maine Governor Paul LePage is further proof that the GOP, at both the state and Federal level, is out to wreck organized labor as a political favor to their wealthy Corporate supporters. Blue-collar working folks who vote Republican are truly undermining their own best interests
What a joke! as if tearing out these murals will do anything but infuriate the common sense of hard working, intelligent, blue collar mainers. stupid, petty moves like this will simply insure the election of someone with a bit of intelligence to the governorship next time around. at least they'll be done with dimwit!
And so the GOP war on the working class marches on.
I truly do not understand why this mural needs to be removed. I don't buy this notion that it makes some people feel unwelcome. Additionally, I thought that these nes Republican governors were going to focus on the economy. Instead, they are pushing their political agenda, putting politics ahead of solving problems.
AFL-CIO: (engage whiny voice)"Whaaaahhhaaa. You're taking away our advantage in negotiations in the rooms where we hold hearings because we use the art to make the management side feel uncomfortable. Whaaaaahhhhaaaa." (end whiny voice).
Good for Gov. LePage. It's high time that the Governors started standing up to the union THUGS that have waltzed into town and demanded that the executive branch kiss their boots in order to avoid labor issues. Between Gov. Walker, Gov. Kaisch and a few other LEADERS, the states will finally be able to get their fiscal houses in order and bring down the RAMPANTLY high wages and benefits that are paid to unionized state workers (which, incidentally, their NON-union co-employees do NOT partake in). Unions pushed the golden goose too hard, and killed it. It's time for them to join the rest of us in the real world where we have to negotiate on our OWN merits, and not on the backs of our co-workers by threatening to all leave at once. The time has come to tell them "Fine. Go. Be our guest. If we're closed so much as ONE day from a work-stoppage, we're CLOSING the facility and you can EAT your 'unfair labor' signs." NLRB rules be danged.
More GOP Tea Party Revisionist, going "back in time" and trying to erase /change history. Texas State Board of Education has eliminated all their party's embarassing episodes in history and slanted events that place their party in a better light. Miniimized LBJ's Great Soceity legislation (discouraged students from govt. expectations), eliminated references to "Jim Crow", down played US treatment of early immigration, Japan interment camps, embarassing segregation history of Texas, to many distortion of history to list here. Conservative educational review groups are critical of these removals of history from proposed educational textbooks.
Why do these GOP Tea Party want to change / eliminate these sad periods in our history? Why hide our country's historic imperfections? We need firm grasp of our past mistakes, so we do not repeat. Also, future generations can study and understand that America has made progress on all fronts in our life.
Maine's Governor appears to be a member of the American Taliban: wiling to destroy art that does not fit with his world view. The Taliban destroyed the thousand year old giant statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan to show their distain for another religion. Here, a republican governor is destroying a mural in a public office to show his distain for the working class. Nuff said.
Thank you George Orwell. What a great example of trying to rewrite or bury the past in order to support a current conception of the present.
Yes! And remove all those murals of MLK as well, because they show favoritism towards one group while ignoring the HUGE plight of the rich white protestant American.
I love how republicans claim to tout the 'values of working class America' only to trump that very same working class at every possible opportunity they get!
Hey republicans! Why don't you also repress the United Auto Workers union as well! They are overpaid and over-benefited too you know!
Oh wait, that would cost you votes and campaign contributions... Nevermind! (In case you haven't noticed, republicans too kiss up to unions... when it suits them. It's not just democrats. Republicans seem to have NO trouble whatsoever with the UAW and the benefit package that puts military veterans to shame!)
What a piece of crap this guy is. This is exactly the kind of thing Hitler did in suppressing all things related to labor and unions. It is quite clear that the new "wave" of Republican governors are the new wave of Nazis, unwilling to brook any differing opinions or political ideology. As for the people of Maine who voted for this cretin, you get what you pay for.
GOP Tea Party Revisionist going "Back in Time" and trying to erase / change history. There is no shame to recognize that American Workers are the foundation of your state and continue to be so today, pay them a little respect and leave the murals alone.
Yeah that'll get the job market booming. RECALL LEPAGE!
Another Tea Party fool ensuring heavy sweeps by Democrats come 2012.
Thank you Governor LePage...between you and the Governor of Wisconsin the lack of political acumen is truly apparent.
Wow. Talk about revisionism! How did these nuts get in the statehouses?
"Of the litttle people, by the little people, and only for the Rich Republican Corporate People"
Well, if the Maine AFL-CIO is consistent, then they should have no problem with me painting a mural right next to it glorifying rich people, because they also played a role in making Maine what it is today. However, something tells me that the Maine AFL-CIO is not criticizing the Governor's action on any consistent basis other than expediency.
It is a labor mural, not a religious one. There's no reason to remove it. Typical Republican. The world is in economic crisis and all the Republicans think about is quashing that which offends them.
Everybody has to be so politically correct lest they be hurting someones feelings! thats a bunch of garbage. so what if someone gets their feelings hurt or gets offended! GET OVER IT! i did!
To anyone that bought the GOP propaganda last election , I bet you're feeling ashamed right about now ! This is utterly ridiculous ! This is what happen's when you elect extremist's to public office , you get complete nonsense ! I'm sure there are far more pressing matter's in the state but this Idiot is fixated on a painting ! Republican's have shown their true color's as of late and they are not very pretty ! This will teach you to vote in your best interest's ! The republican's are showing them selves once again to be corporate vampires !
I hope the voters remember this on election day!
What a waste of time and money. This is conservative political correctness at its most annoying. I own a business and I would have no problem meeting with government officials in a building with a mural that honors working Americans. Why does the minority-elected governor feel that he has to respond to the complaints of a few whiners?
New Speak. Please change title of Governor to Ideologue in Chief.
The building in which he announced the decision was undoubtedly built by union trades and the desk at which he will sign the edict was probably made in China. He was elected with 38% of the vote. That about says it all
Let's see Paul Lepage the village jester spending more money to go backward with no respect to the history of Maine or the rights of it's people. Let's take down pictures of working people because you respect them so much! Really your showing how well big money has bought the village and the jester!
The class warfare heats up – it's not a war against government workers, it's a war against ALL workers and their unions. The GOP was always the pro-business party, but now it's going crazy.
If the Dems are smart, they will seize this issue and nationalize it. Every worker should understand what happens when you sit out an election and let the other side win.
Is this CNN or "The Onion?" What's next, changing "Main Street" because it sounds like the Mainstream media? Enough already – make jobs your number one priority rather than politics, governors!
These tea-party/Republican idiots get dumber by the minute. I thought their mantra during the election was "jobs, jobs, jobs." Well, what are you people doing about it other than blaming others? What are your plans? The truth is nothing and nothing. When morons like LePage are elected this is what we get.
I must agree that it is inappropriate. Take it down.
Whats next for the republican / tea party jackbooted thugs.....repeal of womans right to vote?
Wow lets name them the pro business, anything goes for jobs, no matter what rooms. I am sure that will satisfy some people that seem to have a lot of influence, I mean money.
This has got to be the dumbest thing I've heard yet. The Tea Party is the worst thing that has ever happened to politics in this country. Nothing but a bunch of ideological lunatics who want to dismantle our society piece by piece until there's nothing left but state-run anarchy. This is not 1776. We can't return to a 13 colony nation. We have many more states now, many more people, and a much more complicated system that needs to be reformed, not undone.
Great Deal, communism in America has begun! Maine is such a Awsome place to visit. To bad the people of Maine vote for the new Mafia,Gop and their Fledglings,The "Teadrinkers". American voters, Scare the hell out of me!!!!!! Don,t let the "Rich" own this country,or were DOOMED.
This is just beyond insane. The GOP creates the classes as workers and business, which shouldn't be. When convenient, they praise the "hard working" people. In this case, they despise them. Truly disgusting.
Are they going to allow that incompetant idiot to do that?
Put it in the broom closet where it belongs. *cough* The Governor of Maine is a bigot!!! Also an idiot!!! This reminds me of the Taliban when they blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. No matter what you hang on the walls there will be one group or another who will find it offensive in one way or another.
Now they are removing all signs of labors achievements. It reminds me of the Soviets doing the same thing every time a new leader was to take power, but then isn't that the way the republicans and the Party of NO seem to be going!
This is reminiscent of the Taliban destroying the ancient and historically significant Buddhas of Bamiyan carved into the hills of Kabul Afghanistan. International communities rebuked their actions, as an extreme example of intolerance. The destruction of irreplaceable antiquity, on a scale commensurate with the Sphinx in Egypt, made the world aware of just how dangerous they really are before they took down the Twin Towers.
The Tea Party strikes me as a Christian derivative of the same ignorant following as their Muslim brothers. They have the same disdain for women and children and stubbornly shove their brand of religion down everybody' s throat. Their real religion is greed, and the Christian pretense is but a Union that they manipulate to stay in power and keep their pockets full. They are intolerant of any body else's Union.