Senator David Trahan (R-Waldoboro) has reported Gov. Paul LePage has decided to reinstall the plaque in the Dept. of Labor headquarters in Augusta honoring former U.S. Cabinet Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” Trahan said. “It was the right thing to do.”
Perkins, a former Newcastle resident, was the Labor Secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was also the first female cabinet secretary in American history.
In March, the Frances Perkins Conference Room was one of eight designated to be renamed at the same time LePage ordered the removal of an 11-panel mural depicting Maine’s labor history from the Dept. of Labor headquarters.
LePage claimed the mural and room names presented a perception of bias in favor of workers, a perception at odds with his pro-business agenda.
In an April 22 letter to the Governor, Trahan and Rep. Jon McKane (R-Newcastle) called on LePage to “reconsider changing the name of the Perkins Conference Room at the Maine Dept. of Labor.”
“I don’t want to speak for the Governor, but I think he read the letter we sent him about it, understood what we were saying and realized that this issue didn’t really fit with his concerns about a pro-labor slant in the Dept. of Labor,” Trahan said.
Barbara Burt, the executive director of the Frances Perkins Center in Newcastle said she was pleased to hear of the Governor’s decision.
“I think that is great news,” Burt said. “She definitely is someone who Maine can be proud of and I am pleased that the Governor has seen fit to place her name back on the conference room. I would add we really appreciate the efforts of Sen. Trahan and Rep. (Jon) McKane in making this happen.”
McKane said he never spoke to the Governor directly on the matter but did address the issue several times with the Governor’s chief of staff.
“I am glad we were able to get the plaque back up where it belongs,” McKane said, “It is very fitting that Frances Perkins’ name is in a state building in Maine. It is honoring the individual, not necessarily the labor movement. She was a very unique and very impressive individual and we should be proud of her. She should be a role model for young men and women. She was out there and she wasn’t afraid. That was one of the reasons she lasted so long with FDR.”
A call to the Governor’s office seeking comment was not returned by press time.
