National crisis: Maine governor removes labor mural from state labor building

The left can’t believe he’d care about something so petty, even though they themselves seem to care an awful lot that he cares. Case in point: This self-parody by Clintonista Robert Reich, who plaintively wonders, “Are we still in America?” And so the next phase of the battle over organized labor is joined, my friends. Never mind collective bargaining; should a governor be permitted to relocate pro-labor wall art without being challenged?

That’s the first step to outlawing unions, after all.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage ordered a 36-foot mural depicting the state’s labor history be removed from the lobby of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Augusta, Maine, according to LePage’s office…

A statement from the Maine AFL-CIO said removing the mural is an “insult to working men and women” and is another example of how LePage is putting politics before people…

Laura Boyett, the acting commissioner for the Maine Department of Labor, in a letter to her employees, said the department received feedback that the building is “not perceived as equally receptive to both businesses and workers,” and is therefore removing the mural and renaming all of the conference rooms.

He’s renaming the conference rooms because they’re named after Cesar Chavez and other legends of big labor, which, he thought, might give people the krazy idea that the state labor department has a pro-union bias. What could be sillier than that?

Hmmm:

A Deer Isle artist angered by Gov. Paul LePage’s decision to remove a labor-themed mural from a state building is making his own political statement by yanking his artwork from the State House.

Other artists upset with the administration’s decision, meanwhile, are planning a media event on Friday at the Maine Department of Labor building where the mural hangs…

“It definitely is a slight to the artist that obviously spent a lot of time on this,” Kola said. “I don’t know this for a fact, but judging by everything LePage has done so far, I think he is very much opposed to unions and sees this work as one-sided.”

In related news, I’m inviting all major newspapers, magazines, and print publications to a negotiation on fair use in the Internet age. It’ll be held in the Glenn Reynolds Conference Room in Mickey Kaus Hall, right next to the big mural of Matt Drudge stomping on the New York Times editorial board.