3,880 Maine State Government Jobs Should Be Eliminated
We haven’t seen it yet – the demonstrating in the capital, the Jesse Jackson led parades through the Statehouse, and van loads of democrats fleeing the state (although one of them is getting a head start). But it is coming soon.
The unions, the professional left and myriad other taxpayer funded entities are gearing up to oppose the the Governor’s new budget. My question is – why?
They got off easy.
As the Kennebec Journal pointed out the other day, LePage’s budget is only going to eliminate 81 state government positions. And, of those 81, only 12 are filled by actual people. To put this in perspective, there are 27,660 state government workers (including Maine’s public colleges).
A quick recap – LePage is looking to cut 81 out of 27,660 positions. And the unions are gearing up to stage their beloved “solidarity” protests.
As you can see from MHPC’s most recent study, we really could have, and should have, cut 3,880 state government jobs. We don’t need 27,660 state employees. We are way above the national average, and all other New England states manage to get by with a leaner workforce, with the exception of Vermont. Why do we need 3,000 more state workers than New Hampshire?
I know we are going to hear protests from the unions about the pension reform proposals in LePage’s budget. They will say that not having an increase of up to 4% every single year will be “devastating” and “unfair”, and that asking them to contribute more to their own retirement is “wrong”. But LePage’s reasonable reforms are A) desperately needed to start reducing Maine’s $4.4 billion unfunded liability and B) not nearly as drastic as they could have been (think 401k for all public workers like they did in Utah).
So when you see the purple-clad union bosses march on Augusta and the paid operatives from Maine People’s Alliance leading chants supporting more pay raises for government workers, remember – 81 positions should have been 3,880.
They should be marching to Augusta to thank the Governor.
Skip Sunnell
Posted on Feb 24, 2011
I would prefer to think that our governor and legislators would focus on creating 4000 new jobs which would take the place of the roughly 4000 public jobs we are upside down according to the national average of 5.5 government jobs per 100 private sector jobs. If we had 4000 new private sector jobs to go along with the 4000 government jobs eliminated, the private sector would thrive as would our government budgets be balanced and manageable.
agrandma13
Posted on Feb 24, 2011
Skip, the only jobs the state government creates, are paid for with your tax dollars. Creating them in the private sector requires just what the Governor is trying to do :cut taxes by cutting state spending . Also his stream lining of the regulations is necessary for the private sector to create jobs, and a lot of the progressives and liberals are going after him for that, too.
Michele
Posted on Feb 25, 2011
Yes, let's create more jobs. So what if those 3,000 state employees are given walking slips. They are useless anyways! Who needs educators and state workers. Let's just start with cutting 3,000 teachers, so what if there are 30 students or more in a classroom. No worries there, with 30 kids. Times have not changed at all from 70 years ago. 30 kids is a walk in the park in a classroom. Get rid of IEP's for kids they just get in the way. So what if there are higher numbers of kids with ADD, ADHD, Autism, etc. Let's continue to not take a strong look at the lack of parenting going on and keep focusing the blame on educators. Maybe a focus should be to cut down on the number of legislators Maine has compared to our population. Maybe, Maine legislators should barely have to pay in any money, but get very nice benefits.
Cynthia
Posted on Mar 02, 2011
Yes, lets not forget that teachers are state workers. Lets also not forget that the GOVERNMENT of Maine is bigger than other New Enlgand states. Lets face it, Maine has big government not because of its good education system, or exceptional state environmental agencies, but because of its politicians. Is putting known toxic chemicals into baby bottles creating any jobs???
brad
Posted on Mar 07, 2011
What you you talking about, Maine has less public employees than Vermont, which has half of the people of Maine. Also, the idea that the government doesn't create private sector jobs is a complete fantasy. What do you call road spending, military protection of our boarders, education and research. Without government involvement, read creation, of the economy there would be no economy. Read a book sometime.
Anaturalace
Posted on Sep 15, 2011
While the real income producing sector of the State( the real working force, the private sector who pays the wages of the State workers) remains unemployed at a rate of 15%(counting those who cannot draw unemployment), and the non producers of real income(State workers) remain at nearly 100% employment. Cutting only 81 positions is a joke. Drastic times demand drastic measures. If your going to get all this backlash from the unions and disgruntled democrats anyways, why not do what NEEDS to be done. Balance the unemployment ratio. A 15% cut in State workers wouldbe a be a realistic starting point.
Anaturalace
Posted on Sep 15, 2011
Maine people do not need every aspect of their lives and businesses regulated by, then watched over by the State and Federal governments. Eliminate most of these regulations and then you could eliminate the watchdog employers. Then the private sector will thrive and will regulate itself. It worked for years.
Bobby
Posted on Jan 22, 2012
Many of us. who were former "public" employees, but are fiscally conservative sre in really good positions to help point to very specific areas of waste & poor policies that are not needed....of which there are many that are only designed to perpetuate the bureaucracy.