LePage has second thought about nonprofit bonds
The state said farewell to a controversial Rhode Island-based consulting firm in mid-June after finding multiple instances of plagiarism in a welfare reform study the firm produced for a $925,000 no-bid contract. And Gov. Paul LePage may be having second thoughts about a decision that has left many nonprofits without more affordable financing options.
Is plagiarism worth $925K?
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services terminated the Rhode Island-based Alexander Group's $925,000 no-bid contract after it found there were “serious problems with citations in the text of two reports,” the Bangor Daily News reported. The agency is penalizing the Alexander Group with $450,000 in fines, which amounts to nearly half of the contract's value and its remaining unpaid balance. The group will be able to keep the $473,760 it has already received from the state. In a prepared statement, Gary Alexander, leader of the Alexander Group, said, “So much as a comma out of place in a report, or in this case, missing some citations, is a failure on our part to live up to that standard. … But grammatical errors do not undermine the substantive analysis and policy recommendations offered by the reports.”
On second thought…
LePage said he will consider restarting a nonprofit bond program he essentially shut down three years ago that left many nonprofits without more affordable financing options. Adrienne Bennett, the governor's spokeswoman, told the Sun Journal that he was willing to start the program again last fall. LePage essentially ended the nonprofit bond program in 2011 after he refused to sign a pool bond package for eight colleges, hospitals and other nonprofits without the $31 million in lower-interest financing they were expecting to receive. At the time, the governor said he was concerned about the impact a loan default could have on Maine's bond rating.
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