For the record:
After Lepages comments about his 'adopted' black son, I got to thinking it was kind of funny that I know nothing about this son. The Lepage daughter was constantly in the spotlights and family pictures from the night he won election and from his inauguration didnt' show a son at all. Ok, well the kid is young underage he's being protected, etc, etc.
Turns out that the adopted son was not really adopted. The now 27-year-old's father used to caddie for Lepage down in Jamica. The kid came to Waterville for high school to play on the golf team and stayed on to go to college. He's not a US citizen and hasn't lived in Waterville (the Lepage home) since he was 17.
So, the prison thing - reports from others about the request and refusal:
Channel 6 wrote:
LePage said he would have attended the forum if he would have been able to meet with all prisoners. But Rachel Talbot Ross, president of Portland's chapter of the NAACP told NEWS CENTER that the invitation, which went out to all candidates, did not specify the race of the prisoners. She went on to say, "We would not be allowed to have that kind of program at the Maine State Prison."
Talbot Ross said the event was part of a voter registration effort the NAACP had helped organize at the prison. She said that LePage was the only candidate who turned down the NAACP's request, and that he had cited a scheduling conflict.
Denise Lord, associate commissioner in the Department of Corrections, tells NEWS CENTER that she is not familiar with this specific invitation, but that she would be surprised if the prison had allowed an event that was only for black inmates.
While I'm raging let me also complain about how, before he was even swore in, he gave his 22-year-old daughter a lofty position in his administration (assistant to chief of staff)...making easily twice what the normal pro/tech entry level state worker would receive. To this day he evades paying property taxes to the state of Maine for his home(s). Of course he moved into the governors mansion with his grown child and wife (a legal resident of Florida) within days of winning the election (with only 31% of the vote). The fellow he's nominated to head up my agency (environmental protection) is a land developer whose firm just landed the bid for our first huge ugly giant casino. My agency is on the hook for no fewer than four permits for this project (is this not blaring/glaring/in-your-face conflict of interest??).
It's like he's going out of his way to make a mockery of our state government.
Edited, Jan 18th 2011 9:10pm by Elinda