Maine people know that, in the end, state government is our institution. We expect it to serve the people’s interests and to operate in a manner that earns the people’s trust. That is why Mainers expect their government and public officials to conduct their business openly and honestly.

When the public, the media or anyone else illuminate issues that raise questions about that public trust, one of the best tools available to us is the Government Oversight Committee, or GOC, on which I serve.

GOC’s duty is to evaluate government operations and ensure accountability in state government. We oversee an independent investigatory agency, the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, or OPEGA. That agency conducts inquiries, performs audits, evaluates compliance with laws, regulations, policies and procedures, and makes recommendations to improve government programs and services.

When the public’s trust is in jeopardy, legislators turn to GOC and OPEGA. Together, they are are Maine’s watchdog for state government.

As part of this important group, I want to discuss several recent revelations in the media that have raised questions about accountability and transparency in the executive branch. I know I join many other Mainers in being concerned about these recent news stories.

First, Mainers learned that the Department of Health and Human Services, during the tenure of Gov. Paul LePage, has left critical public health nursing positions unfilled. These positions were funded by the Legislature to carry out vital tasks such as infections disease containment, vaccination, home visits to new mothers, local-level health training, disease detection, and emergency preparedness. By leaving those positions unfilled, the governor is putting Mainers’ health at risk.

Then, we learned that the state had silently handed off program and financial oversight of a $23 million infant health program to an outside group. DHHS cited a phoney “emergency” of its own making to justify handing the contract to a pre-selected group without opening up to the competitive bidding process that ensures the best deal for taxpayers. The Department also used the executive authority of the governor so that it could skip a review of the contract by the Attorney General’s office — a key safeguard in the state procurement process.

Contracting out state services is normal. The provider involved in this contract is a well-regarded nonprofit in our state. But no matter how well conceived the idea, or how worthy the contract recipient, the process matters. Due diligence, due process and transparency exist to ensure good government. Their absence creates an environment where abuse is possible, such as when the state signed a sole-source contract with the Alexander Group, only to later break the contract after Gary Alexander was caught plagiarizing other people’s research. To add insult to injury, the state couldn’t even get its money back.

Taken in isolation, we might assume there were perfectly good reasons behind both of these incidents. But yet these are not the only recent examples of the administration abandoning due process or shunning transparency:

• DHHS has quietly, and potentially illegally, transferred millions of dollars of federal aid for low-income children into other programs -- all without alerting the Legislature or the public.
• Gov. LePage and his staff locked members of the media and the public out of the first meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on education, a clear violation of the state’s open government laws.
• The Department of Education is currently leaderless, after the governor bypassed the confirmation process and installed a shadow commissioner who has been neither vetted nor approved by the Legislature as required by state law.
• The Department of Transportation signed a first-of-its-kind contract with a Florida-based company to take over management of the Casco Bay Bridge, a drawbridge in the state’s busiest port. The deal was made with no input from locals or legislators, at no apparent value to the taxpayer.

As a member of the Government Oversight Committee, I fear this administration will continue to choose secrecy over transparency, to ignore the due process inherent to good government.

That’s why, in the coming weeks, I will ask my colleagues on the GOC to consider an inquiry into the neglectful hiring practices at DHHS that have jeopardized the state’s ability to react to a public health crisis, and into the potential for abuse in the state procurement process that allows the executive branch to hand over control of important government programs without anyone knowing about it until it’s too late to weigh in.

I hope they’ll agree to close whatever loopholes allowed these incidents to occur, and to ensure effective safeguards against a government that would enact policy in the dark of night.