Gov. Paul LePage had the artwork removed from the lobby of an Augusta building last month. Battle over Maine mural

The U.S. Department of Labor wants its money back if Maine Gov. Paul LePage won’t return the mural it funded to the state’s Labor Department headquarters.

The federal government provided part of a $60,000 grant to pay for the creation of a mural detailing Maine’s labor history. But since LePage had the artwork removed from the lobby of an Augusta building last month, a senior Labor Department official is asking for the the mural to be put back on display or the cash to be returned.


The grant funded a public project, but “we understand, however, that the mural is no longer on display in your headquarters,” said Gay Gilbert, administrator of the U.S. Office of Unemployment Insurance, in a Monday letter to Maine’s acting labor commissioner. “Thus, it is no longer being used for an administrative purpose permitted by the Reed Act. Accordingly … the state must … return to its UTF [Unemployment Trust Fund] account the amount of the Reed Act funds represented by the mural.”

In all, that might end up amounting to far more than $60,000. The state would have to repay the 63.8 percent contribution that came from the federal government — $38,280 — as well as 63.8 percent of the fair-market value of the mural.

The only other option, Gilbert said, would be that the state department “could again display the mural in its headquarters or in another state employment security building.”

Maine Labor Department spokesman Adam Fisher told the Kennebec Journal that the agency had “reviewed the letter and [was] assessing what it may mean for the agency moving forward.”

LePage, a Republican, ordered that the mural be taken down last month, and it was removed sometime between Friday night and Monday morning a week ago.

“I’m trying to send a message to everyone in the state that the state of Maine looks at employees and employers equally, neutrally and on balance,” LePage said soon after he ordered the mural’s removal. “The mural sends a message that we’re one-sided, and I don’t want to send that message.”