Legislator's Complaint Prompted Congdon Resignation
The resignation of Phillip Congdon from his position as commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development came after Representative John Martin (D - Eagle Lake) sent a letter to the governor informing him of remarks allegedly made by Congdon while at a local event in Caribou.
Martin characterized Cogdon's comments as "out of character for a public official, racist in nature for some of them, and some were anti-Aroostook."
Martin heard about the meeting and Congdon's remarks from several constituents last week, during the Legislature's April break.
"Everywhere I went, people were coming up to me telling me the comments this guy made and people were really upset," said Martin. "People asked me if Governor LePage would approve of those kinds of remarks and I said I don't think so."
On Monday, Martin sent a letter to LePage requesting that he look into the issue and says the governor's staff then made calls to people in the County with knowledge of the incident to confirm that it had occurred.
On Wednesday, the LePage administration put out a press release announcing a number of staff changes including the resignation of Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Darryl Brown, which included the sentence "On Wednesday, the LePage Administration released that Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Phil Congdon resigned. Commissioner Congdon took the post in January." No further information was given.
Martin says he's glad that the innapropriate remarks led to Congdon's resignation.
"I thought the public and Aroostook County should be treated a little better than that," said the veteran legislator.
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- Mike Tipping
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Good Congdon is gone
I for one am thankful that Philip Congdon is gone. Every proposal I had submitted to his office got cold water thrown on it. No resources, to busy etc., can't afford the idea. To me Maine needs jobs...good jobs and the economic development commission is paid to attract businesses and build existing ones. To develop or build our economy. It is a sad day when you have someone running an office who is utterly pessimistic, lacks any original thought, especially when our state is down and out. We need someone who is aggressive and optimistic. Someone who will signal that they are out beating the bushes for companies to locate in Maine as well as making partnerships to keep existing businesses in the state and up and running. If I had been in Congdon's shoes, it would have been a priority to make the Kathadin Mill an employee owned operation. I would have requested Maine Banks to finance the operation and submitted to the legislature a request to guarantee said loans which is allowable under the constitution of Maine. Again thank goodness he is gone.
Next question is, will anyone better replace him?