Millett: LePage flouts accountability, Constitution with DoE games

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage continues to flaunt accountability, transparency and the Maine Constitution with his refusal to submit his choice to lead the Department of Education to the Maine Senate for vetting and a confirmation vote.

The Department of Education has been without a commissioner since late 2014. On Thursday, the Bangor Daily News reported that Debra Plowman had been given the reins on a temporary basis — the latest in a succession of “acting commissioners” to have been named since Commissioner Jim Rier retired two years ago.

On Wednesday, the governor told an audience in Bangor that he would continue installing figurehead leaders at DoE, who would “delegate” their authority to an unvetted bureaucrat, Bill Beardsley, making him the de facto commissioner of a more than $1 billion state agency despite never having been confirmed by the Senate as required by Maine’s Constitution.

“Our students, teachers and communities deserve vetted, qualified leaders at the helm of DOE. Instead, the governor has pledged to continue selecting political patrons for short-term stints as acting commissioners, all while Bill Beardsley pulls the strings from the behind the scenes,” said Sen. Rebecca Millett, the lead Senate Democrat on the Education Committee. “

“If Gov. LePage believes Deb Plowman, Bill Beardsley or anyone else is the right person to help our students succeed, he should be willing to put them in front of the Education Committee and the Senate, the same way every other governor has done. He is not above the rules,” Millett said.

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