Senate Democrats denounce LePage’s order to gut public health spending

AUGUSTA — Democrats in the Maine Senate decried Gov. Paul LePage’s executive order issued Monday, in which he pledged to gut public health funding, state mental health services and funding to help low-income seniors afford their medicine.

In his executive order, Gov. LePage said he would tap those funding sources instead of the ones identified by the Legislature to pay for several laws passed this year.

“These programs have been on Gov. LePage’s chopping block for a long time, and he’s using this manufactured chaos as cover to slash their funding,” said Sen. Alfond. “He wasn’t able to win support in the Legislature to gut these programs, so he’s abusing his authority to make the cuts by executive order.”

During the 127th Legislature, the governor targeted the Fund for Healthy Maine and Drugs for the Elderly for cuts or outright elimination. However, Democrats and Republicans alike came together to reject his cuts in the interest of public health.

“These programs have been on Gov. LePage’s chopping block for a long time, and he’s using this manufactured chaos as cover to slash their funding,” said Sen. Alfond. “He wasn’t able to win support in the Legislature to gut these programs, so he’s abusing his authority to make the cuts by executive order.”

Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, the lead Senate Democrat on the Health and Human Services Committee, criticized the governor’s order to institute a hiring freeze and other “cost-saving measures” at Riverview Psychiatric Hospital.

Ironically, one of the laws the governor would fund with “cost-saving measures” at the hospital is a pay increase for Riverview employees designed to address recruitment and retention problems that have left the facility understaffed.

“We know that understaffing at Riverview is creating poor working conditions for employees and jeopardizing the safety of staff and patients alike,” said Sen. Haskell. “Gov. LePage’s hiring freeze is sure to exacerbate the well-publicized issues at Riverview, not solve them. This hospital still cannot pass accreditation by the federal government. The latest maneuver by the governor serves no one’s interests — not the staff’s, and certainly not the patients’.”

Senate Democrats are looking into the Legislature’s options to ensure Gov. LePage follows the letter and spirit of the laws in question.

###