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Senate President was for collecting numbers before she was against it

Waterville, Maine — Senate President Libby Mitchell, a cosponsor of legislation granting authority to the Maine Department of Education to collect and report individual student social security numbers, told the Maine Sunday Telegram this weekend that she now opposes the collection of social security numbers on privacy grounds.

Senator Mitchell’s reversal on the matter comes weeks after the Maine Department of Education reported a database system error that allowed unauthorized access to restricted data. According to news reports late last month, the department took the step of deleting student social security numbers from its data systems and told school districts to stop submitting student social security numbers.

“Last year Senator Mitchell cosponsored legislation allowing the state to collect student social security numbers,” said Dan Demeritt, Press Secretary to the LePage for Governor Campaign. “Now that parents and school boards are expressing privacy concerns, she has come out against a bill she cosponsored just one year ago. The Department of Education has failed to protect private information, parents are outraged and Libby Mitchell is running for political cover.”

When asked if he supported collecting students’ social security numbers to help develop Maine’s longitudinal data system, Paul LePage responded,”No, I believe we should protect our children’s privacy.”

### End of Statement. Sources Linked Below ###

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/Insight-Gubernatorial-candidates-address-education.html

MST, 10/17/10: Do you support collecting students’ Social Security Numbers to help develop Maine’s longitudinal data system?

Libby Mitchell: No. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in our state and I would be hesitant about creating another reservoir of information for identity thieves. We must balance the need for accurate data with the privacy rights of our students.

An Act To Improve the Ability of the Department of Education To Conduct Longitudinal Data Studies, Public Law:

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/chappdfs/PUBLIC448.pdf

Sponsors of the Bill LD 1356: http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/sponsors.asp?ID=280032497

Portland, Maine — At a candidate forum this morning, Paul LePage, the Republican candidate for Governor, challenged that notion that the Baldacci-Mitchell Budget is balanced.

“It is easy to say your budget is balanced if you don’t pay your bills,” said Paul LePage.” And under the leadership of Governor Baldacci and Senate President Libby Mitchell, we have short changed our hospitals by $400 million dollars.

“Hospitals are major employers in communities throughout Maine and when the State does not pay its bills, working Maine families end up paying instead,” added LePage.

Recently reported budget woes and job losses directly tied to the state’s failure to pay its bills include:

·         A $1.4 million operating deficit at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth and an accumulated four-year deficit in state payments of $12.8 Million.

·         Central Maine Healthcare in Lewiston recently laid off 35 employees in Lewiston as part of a cost cutting measure citing $56 million the state owes in back MaineCare payments.

·         Pen Bay Healthcare in Rockport reportedly cut 19 positions in part because of the $7 million owed the facility in back MaineCare reimbursements.

“With the state not paying its fair share,” explained LePage, “Hospitals have been forced to put Maine people out of work and charge private payers higher prices to make up the difference.”

“For my opponent, balancing the budget with IOUs and gimmicks is just business as usual.  It is not how we do business in the private sector, and I will fight to change the practice in Augusta.  As Governor, I will get our fiscal house back in order.”

Paul LePage’s comments about Maine’s budget came at the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Southern Maine Chapter’s gubernatorial forum.   The event was at the Holiday Inn West on Riverside Street in Portland on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

Waterville, Maine -- Maine Candidate for Governor Paul LePage applauded today’s news that the Mitchell Campaign has pulled its false education attack ad off the Maine airwaves.

Yesterday, LePage supporters hosted a press conference in Augusta promoting the candidate’s strong support for education as Mayor of Waterville and his plans to put students and taxpayers ahead of the education unions.  Senator Carol Weston, who serves on the Legislature’s Education Committee, contrasted LePage’s plans to put students first with Libby Mitchell’s record of support for the education unions.

In its ad, Senator Mitchell’s campaign cited an August 18, 2010 interview with Paul LePage on Maine Web News as a source for its taxpayer-financed attack.   Speaking at the press conference yesterday the publisher of Maine Web News, Jarrod LeBlanc, set the record straight.

“That is a complete mischaracterization and distortion of Paul LePage’s and my conversation,” said LeBlanc referring to the interview cited by Mitchell’s attack ad.  “Paul LePage never said he would cut even a single penny from students and schools.  He never said it.”

WABI of Bangor is reporting today that the Mitchell campaign has stopped running the ad.

“I have lived a Maine education success story,” said Waterville Mayor Paul LePage.  “I have gone from the streets of Lewiston as a child to creating jobs in one of Maine’s largest companies because of the education I received in Maine schools.”

“I am pleased that Senator Mitchell has pulled her false attack ads from the air,” added LePage.  “Students need to come first.  That is my approach, and I urge anyone who may have been misinformed by Senator Mitchell’s false attacks to visit my website to see how I plan to advance education in Maine.