| BDN

Plans for Popham Beach State Park include a resort casino and water park.

| BDN

Iconic Owl's Head State Park will most likely be snatched up by a wealthy private owner. Buy Photo

AUGUSTA, Maine - Governor Paul LePage has announced plans to sell off many of Maine's state parks, beginning with the property that many believe to be Maine's crown jewel - Baxter State Park. "These properties have outlived their usefulness and are a burden to Maine taxpayers. The sale of the parks will help us reign in state spending and to create more jobs and private wealth," said LePage.

"Percival Baxter was a communist, pure and simple," said LePage spokesman Dan Demerit. "The concept of 'the people' owning land? - I mean where is your hammer and sycle comrade? It is high time for the state to divest itself of all these money-sucking properties. The good news is that they are in some prime mountaintop and coastal spots. We expect them to bring top dollar."

Tarren Bragon, director of LePage's transition team and of the Maine Neocon Policy Center, was giddy as he described the plan at a Statehouse news conference. The Center's recent report Maine: The Way Life Used to Be details the drain Maine State park properties, employees, and maintenance have on Maine taxpayers. "The fees collected from Maine State Parks do not even come close to paying the lavish salary and benefit packages for the workers that staff them," noted Bragon, "and those ranger hats are nearly seventy-five bucks a pop."

The study estimates that the state parks combined are worth as much as two billion dollars. The study suggests a range of options for private development of the properties. There are thought to be substantial untapped mineral deposits on the east side of Baxter State Park and potential for a ski resort at the southern end of the park. Popham Beach State Park is in a prime location for the development of a casino and hotel complex, and dredging would allow cruise ships such as the Carnival Princess of the Sea to dock there.

The report also calls for other revenue generating ideas for the state. One is the removal of the wildlife dioramas in the State House. "We have heard that some people were made to feel uncomfortable by these life-like depictions of wild animals. Many Statehouse lobbyists have never even been in the woods before, and to force them to run a gauntlet of huge moose and scary bears hardly seems fair," says Demerit. The dioramas' contents will be sold off and the space will be used for vending machines. "Another win-win for taxpayers," he said.

Opposition to the plan is expected to be substantial, but LePage feels his 38% electoral mandate and Republican control of both chambers of the Maine Legislature will mean that the proposal will pass easily. When asked how he will deal with the opposition LePage commented "I will laugh at the idiots."

The Maine Statehouse wildlife dioramas have made some feel 'uncomfortable' and do not show both sides of the story. They will be replaced with vending machines.