AUGUSTA – Gov. Paul LePage nominated three men Friday to lead Maine’s environmental, marine and business agencies.
LePage, who was sworn in this week, has now announced seven of 15 Cabinet nominees, all of whom require legislative committee review and Senate approval.
At a State House news conference Friday, LePage announced that Darryl N. Brown, 66, of Livermore Falls is his pick to lead the Department of Environmental Protection. Brown is the founder and president of Main-Land Development Consultants, which was hired recently as lead developer for the Oxford casino site.
As part of that contract, the company will be responsible for local, state and federal permits, including those issued by the DEP.
LePage spokesman Dan Demeritt said attorneys for Brown are working on a plan to ensure that there’s no ethical conflict with regard to the casino project.
In introducing Brown, Le- Page said business leaders around the state have told him that the No. 1 issue they deal with is the “attitude and culture” in the DEP.
“I will accuse the department of being deliberately slow in giving answers,” LePage said. “They are adversarial to the private sector.”
Brown served in the Maine House of Representatives from 1978 to 1986. He has degrees in soil science and agronomy from the University of Maine.
House Minority Leader Emily Cain, D-Orono, said Brown has a “track record as a moderate Republican legislator.”
But she said she’s concerned about the criticism of the DEP. “We have to be careful not to build policy or law around anecdote and speculation,” she said.
A development consultant since 1972, Brown led the opposition last year to a proposed state law that would have put limits on developers.
Brown said he will work to create a partnership with businesses.
“It will be my goal to cut the time for permitting in half,” he said. “I know it’s a major goal, but it can happen.”
To lead the Department of Marine Resources, LePage nominated Norman H. Olsen, 59, of Cherryfield.
Olsen was a commercial fisherman from 1973 to 1981, worked as a reporter at The Portland Press Herald from 1976 to 1978, and was the first executive director of the Maine Fishermen’s Cooperative Association, in 1979.
He also has an extensive background in international diplomacy, working at embassies in Tel Aviv, Geneva and Moldova. His resume also shows that he trained in U.S. special operations forces and counterterrorism.
“Norman Olsen, who comes from a fisherman background and a diplomatic background, that’s a good mix to keep those lobstermen in shape,” LePage said.
LePage cited the two years that Olsen worked for a seafood harvesting company as key to his leadership of the Department of Marine Resources.
“We cannot be sending our lobsters to Canada and coming back as Canadian lobster,” he said. “We need to have the Maine brand brought back to life.”
For commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, LePage nominated Philip A. Congdon, 69, of Bristol.
Congdon is a licensed professional engineer who spent more than 20 years with Texas Instruments in Dallas.
He lists more than a dozen patents on his resume, from the United States, Europe and Japan.
“I’m going to ask him to restructure DECD so that DECD becomes the most active agency in the state, both in attraction of business and in getting our current businesses the licensing and permitting,” LePage said.
Congdon said his priority will be speeding up the process.
“I’d like to see if we can go from an interest expressed by a company that would like to come to Maine, to the permitting process completed, ultimately, in a 10-day period,” he said.
LePage named two other staffers Friday.
Mary Mayhew, formerly of the Maine Hospital Association, will be senior health policy adviser and counsel LePage on issues in the Department of Conservation.
Stephen Bowen, a former teacher, legislator and policy expert for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, will be senior policy adviser on education.
MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:
scover@mainetoday.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
