NOTES

Those able to tear their attention from the hypnotic image of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s social gamut (“It didn’t matter who your parents were. Your mother could be the head of a giant corporation – or a solicitor in Kew.”) and the ongoing disasters in Libya, Japan, Haiti and (add here) might have been paying attention to the anti-poor anti-labour actions in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Now let’s add quaint Maine where Governor LePage intends to cover or remove an 11-panel mural in the Labor Department, painted in 2007 by Judy Taylor to show “The History of Labor in the State of Maine.”

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According to LePage spokesman Dan Demeritt, the administration felt the mural showed “one-sided decor” not in keeping with the department’s pro-business goals.

“The message from state agencies needs to be balanced,” said Demeritt, adding that the mural had sparked complaints from “some business owners” who complained it was hostile to business.

In an interview, LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said “It is inappropriate for a taxpayer funded agency to appear to be one sided or the other,” she said. “The Department of Labor works closely with employees and employers.”

She said the Governor’s Office has received “several messages” from the public complaining about the mural. She released an anonymous fax dated Feb. 24 that apparently comes from someone who sat in the Labor Department lobby.

“In this mural I observed a figure which closely resembles the former commissioner of labor,” the person wrote. “In studying the mural I also observed that this mural is nothing but propaganda to further the agenda of the Union movement. I felt for a moment that I was in communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.”

The fax is signed “A Secret Admirer.”