Letter to Gov. LePage
Gov. Paul LePage, right, with Norman Olsen of Cherryfield on Olsen's nomination to the Department of Marine Resources. Olsen stepped down this month, alleging among other things that LePage told him not to work with the city of Portland. (Photo: Governor's Office via Bangor Daily News)
In light of numerous confidential discussions with representatives of Portland’s business community, talks with those impacted by the Department of Marine Resources, Ralph Carmona has sent the the attached and below letter to Governor LePage.
RALPH C. CARMONA, PH.D.
105 North Street, Unit 1
Portland, Maine 04101July 28, 2011
Honorable Paul R. LePage
Governor
1 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0001
(Sent via email: Paul.LePage@maine.gov)SUBJECT: Today’s Meeting with Portland Officials
Dear Governor:
Talking with Portland residents the last couple of days, as a candidate for Mayor of Portland, I found many who were frankly outraged by your failure to personally respond immediately to Portland officials or on camera to allegations that you did not wish to work with our city on port development and the enhancement of our fishing industry.
It was great to see you on television acknowledging that there was a communications breakdown and you are very committed to working with Portland. This is of course contrary to news reports that you had caved to special interests opposed to enhancing Portland’s fishing industry.
What will be critical in the days ahead will be the imperative for all involved to move beyond the Governor-Portland rhetoric of mutual support and respect. This will require specific city-state staff measures that will result in specific positive outcomes for Portland’s fishing industry — especially on the ground water issue.
Yesterday, I also received a response to my Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request. The Acting Deputy Commissioner, Joseph Fessenden, will be in touch with me soon to provide “any documents to date that have been discussed with regards to the future of the ground fishing industry and Portland.”
I am very thankful for his prompt response and effort to connect.
As Mayor, one of the first things I will do will be to meet with you. We will establish a relationship so whatever disputes that may arise, we will be able deal with them in order to avoid the big headlines like last week that only created ill-will and division among Maine people.
It was nice to see you at a recent forum, sharing your childhood background that is so similar to mine. I look forward to having you come to Portland and Lewiston to attend the two public forums you so kindly committed to during our April 12 meeting on state issues affecting those cities. I have talked with your staff about a possible December date.
Sincerely
Ralph
The Olsen situation heats up
Filed under: Articles by Ralph Carmona, Portland Issues
The controversy over former Marine Resources director Norman Olsen continues to swirl. I look forward to hearing more from DMR acting chief Patrick Keliher about an ongoing study of the department’s effectiveness. In the meantime, the Lewiston Sun-Journal’s Political Pulse blog has an update about Olsen’s meetings with Gov. LePage and video from WCSH of LePage’s response.
Carmona: Let’s see what Olsen said
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona, Portland Issues
Bill Nemitz: Frustrated with captain, marine chief bails (Bill Nemitz)
Norman Olsen’s statement on his resignation
CARMONA SEEKS OLSEN REVIEW OF DEPARTMENT OF MAINE RESOURCES
Portland, MAINE (July 24, 2011) – On Monday, Ralph Carmona, candidate for mayor of Portland, will request a copy of an all-agency review of Department of Marine Resources conducted by Norman Olsen, former commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources (DMR).
“In his astonishing words,” Carmona said that “former Commissioner Olsen claims that his ‘investigations uncover the fact that your supposedly well-run program doesn’t exist.’ In his resignation statement, Olsen has emphasized the need for ‘the publication of the review, as required by law, and reject the attempt, already under way, at a cover-up. I am confident that the report will reinforce my own findings that the Department is in need of major overhaul.’ ”
What the report will show, according to Olsen, is the influence of “a tiny fraction of industry members seeking to protect their state-granted monopolies over a public resource – perhaps 150 out of some 12,000 marine resource license holders.” This is why Olsen resigned, alleging that the LePage administration is “more interested in pacifying special interests than in responsibly managing Maine’s marine resources for the benefit of the entire state.”
A member of the Maine Natural Resources Council, Carmona will request that the organization do likewise and will ask key Maine legislators to also make that request and explore the possibility of scheduling a public hearing. Under the Maine Freedom of Information Act, as a citizen, Carmona will also make that request to acting commissioner of the DMR, Patrick Keliher.
As a citizen publicly committed to Portland’s economic development, Carmona indicated that equally as damaging is Olsen’s allegation that the Governor wants “no further collaboration with the City of Portland to develop measures to return our ground fish boats to Maine.”
“I hope the Governor, directly, not through his underlings, acts to put this allegation aside. Because it this does not make policy, economic, business or common sense and smacks of a political payback mindset,” Carmona concluded. “The people of Portland and Maine need to see the Governor exhibit a public show of faith. This is not about special political interests – it is about what is in the public interest, which is best served by a strong cooperative relationship between city and state.”
Ralph Carmona summary:
· Member, Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization Board of Directors
· Vice Chair of the Portland Democratic City Committee
· Advisor on the Portland Police Department’s Community Police Advisory Board
· President of the Portland League of United Latin American Citizens.
He is a certified Portland History Docent and has taught a course on “Portland’s Future Politics and Policies” at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine.
Carmona has 40 years of community, professional and business experience on public policy and politics at all levels of government. He has served as an executive in the private and public sector. He has a doctoral degree in political science and has been an adjunct professor for over 20 years at numerous colleges and universities. Carmona is also a member of the Portland NAACP, Portland Trail, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Maine Historical Society, Friends of Eastern Promenade and the Maine Audubon Society.
A member of the Portland NAACP, he and his wife, Vana, are members of the
Portland Trails, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Maine Natural Resources Council, Maine Historical Society and Friends of Eastern Promenade.
LePage’s Portland problem
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona, Portland Issues
(Thanks to Andi Parkinson at Maine Progressives Warehouse for picking this up!)
CARMONA CALLS LEPAGE—OLSEN SPLIT APPALLING AND CANCEROUS
Portland, MAINE (July 22, 2011) – Ralph Carmona, candidate for mayor of Portland, said that “the failure of Governor LePage to bring closure regarding allegations that he is an enabler of special interests and anti-Portland, is appalling and politically cancerous.”
“The tragic irony is that the Governor could have quickly put this behind him yesterday by talking directly by phone with Portland council representatives,” Carmona said. “He could have been meeting with them today and providing some concrete ways to put Portland on the rise in the face of economic challenges; like ways to help the ground fishing industry.
“Instead, the Governor lets his surrogates respond and push any possibility of a meeting with the city to some uncertain future. By avoiding responsibility for the issue, the Governor is fueling speculation that he is hiding something regarding charges by outgoing marine resources commissioner, Norman Olsen. Allegations, about the peddling of business influence and political payback public policies can undermine what any economist recognizes as the economic engine of Maine – Portland.
“As a person who has handled government affairs for a major corporation and publicly owned utility, there is no doubt in my mind that the kinds of statements the Governor is making can prove damaging for those seeking to do business in Portland. It turns on its head the Governor’s motto that Maine is ‘open for business.’ Privately jawboning state regulators like Olsen to undermine – in this case, ground water fishing – business with the city best positioned to enhance it, smacks of crony capitalism. It benefits certain industries – so-called special interests – not the public interest. Worse, it is a failure to acknowledge the reality that Portland’s success and Maine’s success go hand in hand.
?I hope the Governor seeks to resolve this today, if not tomorrow. He should do it for the sake of Portland and Maine.”
Mayor of Maine’s second largest city, Lewiston, and a supporter of Carmona’s candidacy, Laurent F. Gilbert, Sr. says Carmona is “right-on” on this issue. “He is a guy who has worked in the corporate world and understand business and markets and the political role of local and state governments affecting them in laws and regulations.” As mayor of Portland, Gilbert emphasized, “Ralph would have been pushing for a meeting with the Governor yesterday, and talking with business folks and concerned civic leaders, of all political leanings, who care about Portland. He would be organizing the city to force a resolution on this matter. That is why I believe he would be a ‘game-changer’ for Maine.”
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Carmona for Mayor
P.O. Box 15111
Portland, ME 04112-
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