NEW CONTROVERSIAL ALEXANDER REPORT MORE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FODDER

LePage continues to waste taxpayer dollars to bolster election

AUGUSTA — Democrats released the following statement in response to the release of a new report from the controversial Alexander Group.

Governor Paul LePage awarded the controversial consultant Gary Alexander the $1 million no-bid contract last September despite Alexander’srecord of mismanagement and failed policies in Pennsylvania. As the head of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Alexander cost state taxpayers $7 million and took healthcare away from 89,000 children.

This second report from the Alexander Group follows the deeply flawed initial report, which contained a$575 million math error.

“This is nothing more than a political document. It’s a continued waste of taxpayer dollars meant to bolster the Governor’s election year rhetoric,” said Rep. Dick Farnsworth of Portland, the House Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, who introduced a bill to cancel the contract. “We need a Governor who is focused on  jobs and economic opportunity for everyone, if we are truly going to address poverty in Maine. Breaking the cycle of poverty means growing jobs, increasing access to job training, health care, and making work pay.”

According to a report from the Maine Economic Policy Center,  Maine ranks 49th in the nation for job growth. Long-term unemployment continues to remain a problem and prime aged workers from ages 25 to 64 continue to have a hard time finding work. There are nearly 100,000 Mainers who want more work but can’t find it or have stopped looking for work.

“The taxpayers of Maine should be outraged. Governor LePage has taken their money and used it to buy Tea Party talking points, not solutions,” said Senator Margaret Craven of Lewiston, co-chair of the HHS committee. “Maine needs jobs, not more fodder for the Governor’s attacks on the poor.”

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