Communists Foiled As Governor Catches On

Trust me, I'm not putting in a picture of this mural but it is totally communist and pro-worker. There's no part of the mural showing the REAL work going on in the executive suite.

The communist artists and painters are still pretty easy to spot. Nothing much has changed in fifty years. You're looking for people who support the working man. At least that's what they say. But scratch the surface. Go ahead, scratch it. There's a commie under there.

I will also say it's great that Maine has a Governor that has time to address an "anonymous fax" so directly. Nothing penetrates my armor like an anonymous fax. Those scare me, so I know how he must have felt.

These unions have had their way for awhile and now it's time for them to get in line like everyone else. A little teamwork please. There is no "I" in team. There is an "I" in union though so I think that's where it gets confusing.

Clashes at state capitols over organized labor have become commonplace this year, with protesters throughout the country objecting to proposed limits on collective bargaining and cuts in benefits. Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, has opened a new — and unlikely — front in the battle between some lawmakers and unions: a 36-foot-wide mural in the state’s Department of Labor building in Augusta.

The three-year-old mural has 11 panels showing scenes of Maine workers, including colonial-era shoemaking apprentices, lumberjacks, a “Rosie the Riveter” in a shipyard and a 1986 paper mill strike. Taken together, his administration deems these scenes too one-sided in favor of unions.

A spokeswoman said Mr. LePage, a Republican, ordered the mural removed after several business officials complained about it and after the governor received an anonymous fax saying it was reminiscent of “communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.”

“The Department of Labor is a state agency that works very closely with both employees and employers, and we need to have a décor that represents neutrality,” said Mr. LePage’s spokeswoman, Adrienne Bennett.

The mural was created by Judy Taylor, who won a 2007 competition overseen by the Maine Arts Commission to commission artwork for the department’s lobby.

“I don’t agree that it’s one-sided,” Ms. Taylor said. “It’s based on historical fact. I’m not sure how you can say history is one-sided.”

Ms. Taylor said she consulted with historians to do the mural, for which she received a $60,000 grant. “It didn’t intend to be pro-business or pro-labor,” she said. “By default, it’s honoring the working man and working woman.”

[The New York Times]