The craziness involving the teabagger Governor of Maine, Paul LePage, continues.
From Mike Tipping at the Tipping Point:
Congdon, LePage’s commissioner for the Department of Economic and Community Development, is apparently alleged to have made a racist comment related to African Americans and higher education at a meeting in Aroostook County. Though the topic is being discussed in the halls of the statehouse Wednesday, full details have yet to emerge.Let's just say, I suspect Governor LePage doesn't have a problem with the behavior of either of these Commissioners. In fact, Darryl Brown was basically just reassigned to a position under the direct control of the Governor's office. Apparently, conflicts of interest are less of an issue inside LePage's inner sanctum.
Congdon’s nomination was controversial right from the beginning, with opponents faulting him for a thin resume on economic development and a perceived lack of interest in the portfolio. He admitted when asked about economic development in northern Maine during his Senate hearing that he hadn’t yet thought about the subject. Nine Democratic senators eventually voted against his nomination. Congdon’s professional background is in engineering and research and development.
Congdon was a member of the tea party group the Constitutionalists of Maine, which is how he first met the future Governor Paul LePage.
Department of Environmental Protection head Darryl Brown also resigned Wednesday and will move on to a new position as Director of the State Planning office. He had faced a federal probe into whether his appointment as commissioner was illegal under federal and state law due to a conflict of interest based on his work as a developer. The investigation was begun after a complaint to the EPA from the Androscoggin River Alliance.
LePage is shady. Really shady. My sense is that those pesky laws about ethics and conflicts of interest aren't really major concerns for him.
