When he talks about the events of the past week, the emotional toll is apparent in the voice and body language of former Maine Dept. of Economic Development Commissioner Philip Congdon.
At various times during a lengthy interview at his Round Pond home May 2, Congdon’s voice shook with emotion and tears occasionally welled in his eyes. “What do you do when people say things about you and there is no proof?” he said.
Congdon resigned suddenly April 27 following allegations of racially and culturally insensitive remarks he is said to have made in the course of two meetings during a visit to Aroostook County April 1.
The allegations were outlined in a letter Rep. John Martin sent to Gov. Paul LePage last week citing concerns, Martin said, that were brought to his attention by multiple constituents who attended the dinner.
The governor’s office has refused to release the letter calling it a “personnel matter.”
Congdon, 69, who was confirmed to the post in January, said he first found out about the letter around 4:30 p.m. April 26, when he returned to his office Tuesday afternoon. He submitted his resignation early the following afternoon after verbally informing the Governor of his intention to resign.
Congdon said he did not resign out of guilt, but rather to avoid creating a distraction from the governor’s pro-business agenda. “I still support what they are trying to do and I felt I was going to become a liability,” he said.
Regarding the substance of the comments he is alleged to have made, Congdon said what he actually said was either taken out of context or deliberately distorted. Congdon said his impression of both meetings was that discussions were positive, adding he felt he was well received.
His most inflammatory remarks, allegedly made during a private meeting at the Northern Maine Community College, theorized the national education system has eroded due to Affirmative Action.
During the April 1 Caribou Chamber of Commerce annual awards dinner at which he was a keynote speaker, Congdon is alleged to have told people attending to “get off the reservation” and questioned their parenting skills.
“What I said was not what Mr. Martin attributes to me,” he said, discussing the Chamber of Commerce dinner. “Rather we were talking at some length as to what has happened to the quality and the volume of the workforce over that last 10, 20, 30 years.
“The quality of education through high school has declined, the workforce has declined; half in my view because of teachers, but also because of parents. Parents need to take a larger role in education, but that statement could be applied to all 50 states, not just Aroostook County.”
During the interview with The Lincoln County News at his Round Pond home, Congdon played part of a tape-recorded conversation in which an individual who claimed to have attended the awards dinner, said they could not recall Congdon making any such remarks and that as far as they were concerned, those remarks “never happened.”
When contacted May 3, the individual declined to go on the record with The Lincoln County News.
Attempts to reach individuals in Caribou who attended the awards dinner were unsuccessful by press time. Messages were left with the Chamber’s office and members listed on the Chamber’s website. Members contacted did not want to speak on the record.
Discussing the remarks made regarding Affirmative Action attributed to him, Congdon said he may have been discussing his experience visiting his former college campus in Texas following his graduation in 1963. Congdon is alleged to have made the remarks during a meeting with Northern Maine Community College officials, also on April 1.
In the 1960s, Congdon said, some of his former professors bemoaned the fact they had to lower the standard for entire classes to ensure that a ratio of minority students were able to pass, due in part to regulations attached to federal monies the college received. The problem was not unique to his alma mater, Congdon said.
“I would sit and listen and listen to them as they talked about the decline of their standards so that they not flunk out minority students,” Congdon said. “It is not because of minority students, it is because of federal standards signed by [President] Lyndon Baines Johnson, which dictated not to treat everybody the same way. Mr. Martin takes issue with the fact I said it was the students. That’s not true. It is because of the standards.”
Regarding the allegation that he told attendees at the Chamber of Commerce meeting to “get off the reservation,” Congdon said he does not specifically remember using the phrase that night. He said that he has used the expression, often in reference to himself, and may have done so that night.
“I did not say what Mr. Martin so cleverly put inside quotation marks,” Congdon said. “If I did say that, what I was talking about was me going off into areas not aligned with the administration… discussion of energy policy and so forth.”
Another allegation cited by Martin, that Congdon told Chamber dinner attendees, they “may as well heat with light bulbs,” Congdon said, that is an example of a paradigm change he arrived at by applying simple math.
Far from being an insult, Congdon said it was an example of thinking outside the box.
The perception has long been that electricity is more expensive than fuel, however, Congdon said. “Per unit of energy, a gallon of gas priced at $2.49 a gallon gives you just as much heat as electricity at .15-cents a kilowatt hour.
“If you drop that to 11.5-cents, that’s what the Lincoln Home pays. If you drop that to 8.5-cents, which is what most people pay in off peak hours, well we are there. We need to change the whole paradigm. Guess what? Electric heat today is cheaper than oil.”
Generally speaking, Congdon said, the experience has soured him on the media. “I have been indicted and convicted,” he said. “I have read so many newspaper accounts and so many TV accounts that have never carried the words ‘allegedly,’ just a straightforward ‘he did.’
“It seems like this whole flipping crowd wants nothing but sensationalism. They want nothing to do with truth or fact,” said Congdon.
Congdon lays the blame for the furor on the desk of Rep. John Martin, the long time Eagle Lake Democrat and former House Speaker whose tenure in Augusta dates back to 1964. Congdon said he had no idea who Martin was before he received a copy of Martin’s letter.
“I have a letter here from John Martin that at best contains some untruths,” he said. Regarding press reports that Caribou’s Republican State Rep. Peter Edgecomb claimed to attempt to contact Congdon multiple times, Congdon said he never heard from Edgecomb, but would have been and still is more than happy to talk to him.
Edgecomb did not return a phone call seeking comment by press time.
John Martin has never attempted to talk to him, Congdon said.
Although Congdon said he is still a supporter of LePage, he expressed disappointment the Governor apparently accepted Martin’s letter at face value. “At a time like this, to say I am disappointed is not an understatement,” he said.
Congdon said he has not determined his next move yet. Currently he is adjusting to the life change of being a busy executive logging long days to a currently unemployed man with more time on his hands than he knows what to do with.
“One other thing that has happened is my Christmas card list has gotten much, much shorter, but the ones who are on it are priceless,” he said.
Congdon’s resignation coincidentally happened the same day former Dept. of Environmental Protection Commissioner Darryl Brown was forced out of his job over allegations of conflict of interest.
While supporting the administration, Congdon declined to speculate publicly on the performance or future prospects of the LePage administration.
