Gov. Janet Mills has decided that a controversial mural depicting the state’s labor history should stay in the Maine State Museum and not be returned to the Department of Labor building.
Not long after he took office, former Republican Gov. Paul LePage ordered the 11-panel, 7-foot-tall mural removed from the Labor Department lobby. He said it presented a one-sided view of history that bowed to organized labor and overlooked the contributions of entrepreneurs responsible for creating jobs.
Several Mainers filed a lawsuit claiming the removal violated the mural artist’s First Amendment rights. A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that LePage was within his rights to remove the work of art.
The mural was put in storage and, after about two years, made its way to the Maine State Museum.
In an email Tuesday a spokesman for Mills said Mills believes “the Labor Mural’s home in the Maine State Museum, where it is widely available to the public, is a fitting tribute to the history of labor in Maine.”
