Last week, Gov.-elect Paul LePage announced the names of 35 volunteers who would aid his transition.
Many names were well-known in political or business circles, from outgoing state Sen. Lisa Marrache, a Waterville Democrat, to Mary Adams, a conservative advocate and staunch TABOR proponent, to Peter Geiger of Lewiston-based Geiger Bros.
And while the LePage team provided descriptive, if brief, biographies for most named, there were a few names that resulted in more questions than answers, at least to one reporter.
“Bill has worked in the energy business for over 30 years, holding upper-level management jobs both in the United States and England. Thirteen years ago he started and ran his own energy brokering business, which he sold this last spring,” said the entire bio for William W. Boeschenstein.
Then there’s the trio connected to the small town of Bristol in the midcoast: Philip Congdon, Dana Dyer and Ralph Hassenpflug. All three are active in the local community, serving on local boards and committees, according to the release, which also provided these details:
• Congdon, who is retired, has an extensive background in management, primarily as director of Texas Instruments’ System Technology Laboratories.
• Dyer, a retired captain for United Airlines (flying primarily international routes to South America, the release said), has volunteered for Boy Scouts of America and served as a public affairs director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Florida.
• Hassenpflug is a registered Maine Guide and a homeschooling dad, with a background in “teaching at the college level and investment management.”
LePage spokesman Dan Demeritt later provided more context about how LePage came to know each.
“Bill Boeschenstein is a 40-year friend of Bruce Poliquin. They went to Andover and Harvard together,” said Demeritt, referring to Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
Poliquin, a former Wall Street hedge fund manager, is LePage’s former Republican primary opponent and current pick for state treasurer.
Boeschenstein, a former Conoco executive, has extensive experience in the energy field. After leaving Conoco in 1994, he served as a derivatives broker for energy markets, helping companies such as BP hedge their exposures in the commodities market, Demeritt said.
As for the Bristol big three, a tipster who said he knew Dyer and Hassenpflug said they were “members of the Constitutionalists,” referring to the Constitutionalists of Maine, which describes itself on its website as “a nonpartisan political discussion group promoting freedom and small government.”
Demeritt said the trio — Congdon, Dyer and Hassenpflug — were all early supporters of LePage before the primary whom he met on the campaign trail.
“They are constitutionalists, and I think they prefer you use that more as an adjective than a noun,” said Demeritt. “I talked to (Dyer) and he said it’s kind of serendipitous that they live in the same area, but that’s kind of how they all connected, the three of them anyway.”
Dyer also teaches classes for the National Center for Constitutional Studies, Demeritt said. The National Center for Constitutional Studies is a conservative think tank based in Idaho.
“He’s met with them informally many times during the course of the campaign,” Demeritt said. “They have a lot of great contacts and just insight from the business world.
“So that’s why they are on the committee, because they have been kind of informal advisers to Paul; just smart guys he likes to talk to, is what they are. They have a lot of experience and they don’t want jobs in government, they just want to help Paul do a good job.”
All of which is to say, LePage’s transition team is diverse and loyal to his core supporters.
SPEAKING OF TRANSITION
The LePage transition has also begun soliciting donations to help defray costs of the effort.
The team is provided just $5,000 in General Fund dollars, as well as office space.
It is tradition for incoming administrations to raise funds privately. The money is completely unregulated.
In 2002, the incoming Baldacci team told The Associated Press that it hoped to raise about $400,000.
In 2004, when Gov. John Baldacci was re-elected, he raised about $300,000 from 50 donors, according to a Sun Journal account. Baldacci voluntarily disclosed some of the largest donors, one of whom gave $20,000.
The LePage team, which has promised to be the most transparent in Maine history, said it has organized its fundraising arm as a nonprofit 501(c)4 and placed a self-imposed cap of $9,500 on donations.
Demeritt said the team is not accepting contributions from political action committees and will make the first public disclosure of donors and spending in early December.
WEDNESDAY’S THE DAY
The members of the 125th Maine Legislature will take the oath of office Wednesday from Gov. John Baldacci.
Swearing-in day is full of ceremony, where families get a chance to see their loved ones take the oath and the new presiding officers give speeches to set the tone for the coming session.
Then in the afternoon, the House and Senate meet in joint convention to choose the three constitutional officers: attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer.
After that, the Legislature adjourns until January, when a new governor will be seated and the real work will begin.
BLAINE HOUSE HISTORY
Ever wonder who was the 24th governor of Maine? (Anson P. Morrill of Readfield, 1855-1856)
Whether he was a member of a party? (Know-Nothing)
Or anything else related to Maine governors?
Wonder no more.
Maine State Historian Earle Shettleworth and the Friends of the Blaine House have launched a new website — blainehouse.org/governors — to fill you in on all the details.
“As Maine prepares for a new governor in 2011, we can learn from the accomplishments of those who have served in office during the past 190 years,” Shettleworth said in a statement.
SPEAKING OF HISTORY
The Maine State Archives will host Civil War historians Ned and Diane Smith at 2 p.m. Friday for a reception and book signing at the archives.
“The 22nd Maine Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War” is the first book for Ned Smith, a history professor at Husson College in Bangor.
Diane, his wife, is the author of “Fanny and Joshua: The Enigmatic Lives of Frances Caroline Adams and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain” and “Chamberlain at Petersburg.”
MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:
scover@mainetoday.com
MaineToday Media State House Writer Rebekah Metzler can be contacted at 620-7016 or at:
rmetzler@mainetoday.com
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