AUGUSTA, Maine — Former Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Paul Violette has been charge with felony theft by the state Attorney General’s Office in connection with hundreds of thousands of dollars that were misappropriated during his tenure.
Violette has agreed to plead guilty to the charges.
Just last month, Violette reached a settlement with the turnpike authority to repay $430,000. Under the agreement, Violette is responsible for repaying $155,000; the rest will be split by two bonding companies, Travelers Casualty and CNA Surety.
On the criminal side, Violette was charged with one count of Class B theft, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to attorney general spokeswoman Brenda Kielty. The severity of theft charges is determined by the amount of money stolen. Class B theft involves more than $10,000.
Violette’s attorney, Peter DeTroy, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Violette has agreed to an eight-year sentence with at least three of the years suspended. A sentencing date has not been set.
Violette resigned last spring from a job he held for 23 years shortly after allegations of financial impropriety at the turnpike authority emerged.
A forensic audit of the authority’s finances, coupled with an investigation by the Legislature’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, revealed roughly $450,000 in expenditures between 2003 and 2010 that were undocumented or unauthorized.
Specifically, Violette is suspected of questionable spending practices, including the purchase of $150,000 in gift cards to posh hotels and restaurants, some of which he reportedly used himself, some of which were donated to other organizations unrelated to turnpike business.
On one day, Violette purchased more than $35,000 worth of gift cards to Hyatt hotels, according to the complaint. On another, $10,000 was spent on Hyatt gift cards. A few days later, $15,000 worth of Fairmont hotel gift cards were purchased.
In addition to the alleged abuse of gift cards and agency credit cards, the lawsuit filed by the authority claimed Violette was paid for $160,000 in vacation and sick time to which he was not entitled.
The Maine Turnpike Authority is responsible for management of more than 100 miles of interstate from Kittery to Augusta. The agency employs 470, collects approximately $100 million in tolls every year and is overseen by a seven-member board whose members are appointed by the governor.
Violette had run the turnpike authority since 1988, but the allegations of financial wrongdoing date back only about eight years.
Longtime lawmaker Peter Mills took over the Maine Turnpike Authority last year and a handful of new board members were appointed. Mills has said great steps have been taken to restore confidence and increase accountability.
“The board has taken a series of responsible measures to ensure that the turnpike now operates with the highest standards and fiscal integrity,” Mills said last month. “Our goal is to continue improving the operational efficiency of the turnpike and to maintain its strong financial rating.”
See this is the difference between a bad politician, CEO, etc and a good one. They don’t do anything different, the bad ones just get caught.
What else has gone on in the state for the last 30 years? More of this is uncovered daily…..One party rule has its drawbacks. This being one.
Blaming one party rule? Do your research, Violette was appointed by a Republican.
Who has had the most control of the house and senate over the last 3 decades, including the Governor?
I’m pretty right, maybe a little right of right and I don’t blame this on the dems or the pubs, this is the fault of violette. He was in a powerful position and saw loopholes in the system where he could steal almost a half a million dollars. You can bet he has it all justified in his mind so the trial should be interesting. I can assure you he wasn’t the only one cashing in on this dime. This might be a house of cards. Watch and see who else gets thrown on this list.
That is the original point of my post. The culture of corruption that has been cashed in on for many years, and tolerated by those in charge, legal or not. Thank thank you.
House of Cards is right! Did you ever see the BBC series from the 90s? They’re about to make an American version and is the timing ever right.
I’m not arguing the merits of the “one-party ” theory with you.
But, blaming Violette on “one party rule” does NOT apply. Mckernan, the Republican 2-term (that’s 8 years out of your 30) governor of Maine appointed him. As Bushfan points out below this wasn’t the fault of Democrats or Republicans, it was the fault of one man being in a position where he was in total control of a lot of money for too many years with not nearly enough accountability. A knee-jerk reaction to blame the other party serves no good.
And Angus King, an Independent, also had an eight year stint.
So Dems account for less than half of the past 30 years
Sorry, I like Angus King and served in the Legislature during his tenure.
No, Ol’ Angus was far more a Democrat than a Republican. Other than digging his heels in on Worker’s Compensation, he allowed the likes of King John Martin to have his way with Maine laws…
old angus was in independent regardless of how you wanna cut it.
at’s why eliot cutler should be our governor – he is a shoe-in next time
Are you saying Angus wasn’t an IINO?? (That would be Independent In Name Only).
LOL
my mistake.
rick santorum for president.
peter mills for governor
but if you would have a true commander in chief like lepage, instead of spaghetti head and angus the windmill man, they would have had the smarts to find this mess.
A crook is a crook.
he might have been appointed by a republican but who was supposed to be looking after him and his cronies like lepage is doing so now?? huh tell me. good thing lepage came along cause all this corruption would still be going on. violettes parents must be rolling over in their grave. elmer a high judge and marcella a very accomplished teacher, shame on you paul.
As I mentioned in a separate post, the report that brought down Violette was done at the request of a Democrat and was started during Baldacci’s term. So to answer your question it was a democratic Senator and a democratic Governor that found him out. LePage’s administration has done a good job of going after him after the report was published. Why is it so important to you to blame one party or the other?
To quote jimbobhol, “a Crook is a crook” and both parties have plenty of them.
Sigh. But was a powerful, longtime Democrat politician, just like his father.
You sure picked a tough scandal to try to downplay. But hey, good luck.
illegalsout, how about you stop putting words in my mouth? I’m not trying to downplay the scandal, Violette deserves every bit of punishment we can give him, but I just don’t see how this is a Democratic or Republican scandal. It seems to me that both parties let him run the Turnpike Authority as his own personal fiefdom and both parties need to have a hand in cleaning up the mess.
And to be honest, if you’d like to have a further conversation with me about this, how about using your real name?
If Violette was a republican, how many times would Eric Russell have mentioned it !! Based on Russell’s track record of just reporting the news {sarcasm}, I think we’re due at least several Democrat lackey Paul Violette.. ..
His sentence should be to shovel the turnpike.
Dig deeper into this quasi-governmental agencies. Recent developments at Maine Housing Authority are also shedding light on malfeasance as well.
Exactly right: quasi-governmental agencies are stuffed with political hacks all over the country because there is a lack of accountability. Look at Mass: the turnpike and lottery are rife with corruption. We should disband the turnpike authority here and wrap it up in our general highway maintenance program…
Amen!
Bad thing is, we can’t put it in the general highway maintenance, unless we do away with the toll. Best thing would be to do like so many other states did to get rid of the qausi-governmental turnpike agencies and sell the turnpike to a private firm. Then who cares if the CEO fleeces it, it is their money.
Why not? Why can’t the general highway department have tolls?
Not that taking the tolls down would be a bad thing…
They make $1,000,000 per mile per year. That would help out all Maine roads and bridges. After all, the people who pay the tolls do not just drive on the pike.
“Recent developments at Maine Housing Authority are also shedding light on malfeasance as well.”
But, but Democrat Senator Margaret Craven said there was no evidence of wrongdoing at MSHA. So, it’s all good.
Oh, and there’s no evidence of voter fraud either. Wait, I’m detecting a pattern here..
Dig deeper into this quasi-governmental agencies. Recent
developments at Maine Housing Authority are also shedding light on
malfeasance as well.It had be said again!!!
“Violette has agreed to pay the authority $155,000 of his own money to settle a civil lawsuit.” Excuse me…..I do believe that was our money!!!
Exactly Mainer. See how perspectives have changed in society. Ever since Clinton and Lewinsky….nah, I wont get started.
Seriously though, well said. If he pays it back it sure is our money. My guess is now that our money will be used on his legal fees and this promissory note was nothing more then a cry out bribe to the powers that be not to charge him. That money is gone.
I am surprised they charged him because my sources tell me he is going to bring down many with him. He wasn’t the only one getting massages and living vationtions of luxury.
Good!!! Clean out all of the roaches in government. Remember this the next time a legisvermin tells you they need to bond more money to maintain roads and bridges.
Huh. The story states $161K, plus $115K, plus $143K in abusive or outright fraudulent “take” this miscreant stole, that’s $419K and he’s (maybe) paying back $155K ?
He still owes us $264K …… but I’d rather seem him pay us with his next 10 years in gaol.
Do you read much? The story says the insurance companies are paying the other money.
And who pays for that in the long run???
The insurance was paid for by us. If there’s any justice the insurance company will sue him for the payments.
I am willing to bet he is found guilty, and given a 5 year suspended sentence. This guy will not see a jail cell… well until a few years from now when we have forgotten his name and some future governor makes him a warden.
The article says it is a plea deal with three of eight years suspended. There are minimum mandatory requirements for serving time.
This is the first of Baldy’s henchmen to fall, many more to come. Lets start looking at these money funneling schemes the democrats set up and get this guy some cell mates! BTW lets get rid of Maines “clean” election fund, what a scam that is.
Baldy’s henchmen? Violette was appointed by a Republican(McKernan), served for 14 years before Baldacci was even elected and let’s not forget how the ball got rolling on his house of cards coming down. “The report, requested by Democratic Sen. Dawn Hill of York, questions travel and meals, lobbying, sponsorships and donations among other matters.” The results of that report were delivered on January 29, 2011, the same month LePage was sworn in. So, unless it was the fastest govermental report ever done, the investigation for that report began under Baldacci’s administration. I’m very glad LePage’s administration has actively pursued the case against Violette, but can we at some point stop trying to make this into one party or the other’s fault? It was a man allowed to head an organization with too much money in it’s coffers and too much power placed in its director’s hand.
I might agree with you were it not for the fact that Violette (like his father before him) was a powerful, longtime Democrat politician.
Just saying…..
remember that much of this theft happened on Baldaccis watch – the governor is the overseer.
Where was the board of directors when all this was going on? Hopefully they are gone also. Why was there not better oversight? This is pure incompetency on their part.
you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours………….that’s how this stealing continues here and in the federal gov agencies. Everyone steals a piece of the pie…………money I mean.
Way to go Maine Attorney General’s office. Now finish the job and don’t accept any plea deals. You need to send a message loud and clear to both Dems and Repubs that the law is the law and it has to be obeyed by EVERYONE.
I hope the MTA cancelled his retirement payments The POS should get all 10 years too plus pay the MTA bac
He will not serve a day for this. AG doing a good job chasing him, but judges will undo all the hard work of the AG
Selfish, narcissistic jerk. He was conveniently & totally oblivious to his actions, so caught up in being a big shot he likely would have been insulted if someone accused him of stealing/misuse. Did he really think he would never get caught? Yeah, he really did.
Good now don’t mess this up. Let’s make an example of this guy and make sure he gets what he deserves. He was a corrupt power monger.
The pay should have been greater than the $125000 for the job. Maybe he thought he was entitled to more. Be that as it may, Violette is the scapegoat. Yes, he deserves what he gets, but these kinds of problems are not created by one person.
If he had wanted more pay, he should have got another job.
If he didn’t like the pay, he should have moved on.No one made him keep the job.
of course not! the whole board must have been telling him to steal right!!! so they should all go to jail with him!!!
His actions show that he wasn’t worth anywhere near what he was paid.
he deserves to pay for what he did–but so many do the same thing.
No wonder out state is broke…he’s not the only one I’m sure.
And yet, ROBert Nutting romps around freely as Speaker of the House after ripping off taxpayers for $1.25 MILLION. ‘Tis a shame when political winds decide who the crooks are or aren’t. Viloette wouldn’t have been charged with a Dem. in the Gub-nah’s mansion and Nutting won’t be charged with a rep. in the Gub-nah’s mansion either.
just shows how stupid the people in Oakland are, and how stupid our house is for electing him to such a prominent position….
doesn’t matter what party they are from they should both be charged
You have to admit, though drinky that if the DHHS had been on the ball that Nutting’s stunts would have been stopped a lot earlier…certainly before he’d racked up over $1 million in false claims. Or, alternatively, if they’d caught it earlier they would’ve had an easier time prosecuting him before he had a chance to file chapter 11(assuming, of course, that DHHS *wanted* to prosecute him – remember that it’s been the Dems who ran DHHS that have been insisting that there was virtually no welfare fraud).
So he wants to buy his way out of trouble? Too bad the average citizen can’t do that. I want him in for ten years, straight up, PERIOD. THEIF
Ok let’s take a vote…..how many people think he will see one second of jail time??? Me either what a joke pffffffft.
Dale McCormick must be shaking in her boots right now…
I doubt it, she seemed to be pretty self-righteous from the Channel 13 report today @noon. Of course Ch. 13 only touched on several things. Apparently the luxurious trips, spas … were for the “health of the staff”, they have been healthy employees with all these perks, and apparently use less sick days. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…thought this was an agency to help the poor people of Maine with adequate housing & to heat their homes? I guess I’m wrong.
One of my personal favorites is their payment or payments to the New Iowans Program, which “guides and prepares Iowa communities and businesses as they accommodate immigrant and refugee newcomers living and working in Iowa.”
Only a fool would fail to see how this helps the poor people of Maine gain access to adequate housing.
That is in my top 3, along with the San Fran Arts program and the Ritz Carlton.
Hard to decide!
I liked Equality Maine the best.
Dale’s sexual orientation had NOTHING to do with that, I tell you……….nothing at all! Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, I say……
She NEVER said they used less sick days in the report i saw. She claimed that it held down health insurance premiums. The drones get paid for their sick days anyway so not using them doesn’t save us any money.
So why not get rid of them all??? Yet we hire people who hire them back year after year while we sit back thinking everything is fine. It’s all going to hit the fan at some point…just a matter of time. The only good thing is, they will have to justify what they have done before our maker at some point.
What’s a “cap plea recommendation”?
I’m not exactly sure because I’m not a lawyer. It sounds to me like he’ll agree to plead guilty as charged as long as his sentence is capped at no more than ____ months.
I think you’re right. The article has been revised since I asked the question and now says that, according to Violette’s lawyer, “Violette has agreed to an eight-year sentence with at least three of the years suspended.” I take that to mean that Violette and his lawyer have agreed that the sentence shall be eight years, but they can argue to the court that most, or even all, of the sentence should be suspended and that if the court imposes a tougher sentence (less than three years suspended – the sentence “cap”), Violette can withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.
Do you believe he’d possibly “go to trial” based on all this?
He could end up with a lot worse than this deal…
No, I don’t think he’d go to trial, but you never know what a criminal defendant – or a judge for that matter – will do. Some defendants are gamblers.
Just a guess, but I think the judge will go along with the negotiated plea and Violette will end up with four or five years to serve. It’s not a bad deal for Violette, but not a sweetheart deal either. And he’d likely do worse if he went to trial, given the very large amount of money, the continuing thefts over a period of years, and the fact that he was a public official.
Doesn’t this just make you sick?! With the amount he stole he certainly had the mindset to do this every waking hour of his employ. He was looking for ways to take advantage of the system and then use it for his benefit to the highest degree. My hope is other agencies did not do this but a thorough examination should be taken from the top down in every organization that fall under the government umbrella. He should get maximum and put everyone else on notice! Root it out swiftly and never let it happen again!
Fraud is pervasive in government, same old same old. do not elect any one incumbent if possible.
While there were some good people in office or holding important positions under the Democrats, there were some real abuses of power. You literally could not say anything negative about some people. God help you if you were not PC on all issues. I also know a conservative Democratic legislator who did not get committee chairmanships etc. because he didn’t toe the party line. I’m glad the chickens are coming home to roost.
This just shows how broken our system is. In the State of Maine, you can steal,lie,murder and get away-maybe….You may not have to pay for it either. I’m not going to be surprise if he get a full pension with free medical. That’s the Maine way. Poor retired person. So what if he had to quit his job. He did spend 23 years working at stealing money from the MTA. Lets help him………………..
Anybody think maybe we should change the way we run state and federal government ? Many years ago we formed a government to work for us, the people. Now we are forced to work for our government ! If you dont think so just look at your pay stub. Its time to take our country back !
If you don’t care for the higher tax on wages then stop working for wages and become an investor like Mitt Romney and your rate drops to a mere 15%.
What’s not to like eh?
Trouble with giving him prison time is, He no doubt go to a white collar crime type prison. I think he should go to the Maine State Prison with the rest of the criminals. (Just a thought)
He is being charged for a state crime he committed and will be tried in a Superior Court of the State of Maine. Therefore if his sentence is more than 90 days in jail he will go to a State Prison. Perhaps not Warren which is the Maine Max Security Prison but Charleston or Bucks Harbor. But make no mistake he will be going to State Prison.
Don’t count on it!
Can you say PLEA BARGAIN !
I believe you are wrong. It has to be a sentence over 9 months before an inmate is transferred to the Department of Corrections.
I am wrong, it is nine months, not ninety days.
The same should happen to the legislatures that recieved millions from appropriations for their personal business.How many on the app committe knew this was status quo?.
At last the rotten core of the last thirty years of dem control is being brought to the surface.
MSHA director Dale McCormick will be next……….but you won’t read about it here at BDN until it is old news.
Go to
http://www.themainewire.com/2012/01/luxury-hotels-magicians-massage-maine-housing-vendor-list-reveals-questionable-expenditures/
Ugh……Gross……
Im gonna have to take a shower now after stumbling into Maine Heritage Policy Center’s Fair and Balanced News front group.
You’re afraid to veer from the drive-by media.
Your masters are proud of you.
Yeah, ok mr free thinkah.
Maine Heritage Policy Center, an offshoot of the Heritage Foundation, an extreme rightwing thinktank / tool of mega-multi national corporations and the ultra wealthy.
Who are my masters again? The only masters I see arnt the ones funding liberal causes or media.
Save your hot water.
You’ll never wash away the smell of thirty plus years of dem politics and insider deals such as the one at MSHA.
But our new governor and legislature is going to try…..
See?? They’re all crooks! I can’t believe these people!!
Do any of you think its time to take back control of our local and federal government ? Yet we just keep letting them steal from us and cram more ridiculous government control on us every day ! Our form of government does not work, Its time we took back our country and stop being so complacent ! The problem is , when you have to pay people to run the country they live in you will have greed. Greed is a product of paying someone for a job that believes he is entitled to more than we decided to pay him or her . Does the word entitled ring a bell ?
Yes, entitled rings a bell. It is the same reason an employee starts to sneak pieces of cake, or takes a bottle of beer from the restaurant they work at. They feel they are not making enough or dont get enough credit for what they do. Perhaps they realize no one is really paying attention to what they are doing or not missing what is getting stolen.
The founding fathers had it right. Our government was not something that was to be centralized in Washington. Not even the majority of goverment was to be in our state capitals, it was suppossed to be conducted on the town level, in front of all the citizens.
I couldnt agree more ! Well said
They only way i can fathom an official being so reckless with taxpayer money is to think he must have been snug enough in his position and he had a high enough level of confidence that his expeditures would not be vetted by his democratic administration. I mean who does this? gift cards? How could anyone be so stupid?
I think that you’re exactly right…he perceived that his chances of being caught were close to zero because he could snow his board and other financial oversight was essentially nonexistent. I’m glad that Peter Mills has restored some level of accountability to MTA employees/appointees.
He has been doing this from the second year he got that job Im sure.
What a jerk.
Think of all the pension,sickdays,benies,investments,tax write offs,fringe benies this JERK has pilfered from us hard working toll paying citizens!!!
We all know this isnt just a 1 time case of poor judgemnt, it is a criminal in a postion enforcement!!
POS big time!!
This was created by years of uncontrolled spending, by our past adminastration who acted as if funds grew on the trees, rather than the backs of hard working Maine people. When this adminstration is finished with the Housing Authority we will see the poor and reckless spending habits come from this Agency as well.
I am glad that this is going forward. He needs to be responsible for his actions.
It seems to me that the DOT should to take control of this road, why are they responsible for all the road in the state, but for whatever reason they cannot take on another 100 miles of road. Think of all the money we could save since the staff is all in place to handle this, 470 employee’s for 100 mile of road or 4.7 employees per miles, now there’s a bang for your buck.
Exactly!!
Bonding Companies are paying the rest! So what is he actually paying back?? What a crook!!
I’m sure your dad would of been proud of you coming into his court room for sentencing!!
IS there a written record available to the public regarding how/why/where/when this
$100 million is spent every year? A trail?
Dale McCormick is next!!!!!
This guy needs to go to jail….no doubt about it.
It is about time….. But with his buddies he will get off……
He’ll walk.
The AG’s office will assign some junior barrister, or someone who is about to retire, and instruct him to throw the case.
The party regulars (on both sides) have too much to lose if Violette starts talking about who’s been stealing how much.
That’s what AG’s are for — to protect the party faithful from getting jailed for their crimes.
I want to know why it takes 8 years to figure this stuff out. Seems an independent audit every couple of years could be quite handy. How do you get an Insurance company to pay for fraud when they dont pay basic hospital bills sometimes. That seem like quite a feat of creative accounting.
I see the update about his plea bargain. Maybe he’ll only get a year or two. Some of these judges surprise us at times.
While we are on the topic of thief’s in our government and running our quasi-agency’s, ( i love that word , translated that means unregulated divisions of a larger agency ). How many of us knew that our fine legislators have become filthy rich on writing a law that allows them to do what you and i , and Martha Stewart went to jail for. That would be INSIDER TRADING ! Olympia Snowe and the gang didnt become millionaires by being senators or governors !
it makes sense to go after people like this and he surely isn’t alone……….than to recoup 3,000-30,000 for some poor folks that may have misused their welfare card in the Lewiston Auburn area last week. come on folks………..let’s go after the greedy rich and let the poor people just live
Naw… Gotta’ go after fraud and abuse at every level. That’s the only way to return faith in our Government’s ability to dole out taxpayer’s money sustainably.
Kuddo’s to Peter Mills for taking the MTA on.
Now, it’s time to dig deeper to see if the Directors of the MTA fulfilled their fiducery obligatiosn to Maine taxpayers and Turnpike users; irrespective of Party affiliation.
Yeah, and continue to prosecute the couple who were found to be dumping their free water bottles out onto the ground in Bangor in order to pocket the oh so small sum of cash that recycling them generated.
I’m thinking it was a mistake, Gift cards to friends and family ??? I would have at the very least wanted favors.. If I was the deciding factor on awarding highway contracts I would be living in a manson with alot of pavement.. I’m sure my hidden swiss bank account would have millions in it by now… Which leads me to to question why does our government allow hidden bank accounts????
You assume they discovered everything.
“Class B theft, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to attorney general spokeswoman Brenda Kielty… Class B theft involves more than $10,000. Violette’s attorney, Peter DeTroy, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Violette has agreed to an eight-year sentence with at least three of the years suspended. A sentencing date has not been set.”
When did it become a choice for the accused to agree on a sentence?
They’ve agreed on the maximum sentence that the prosecutor will recommend to the court.
plea bargain, but this is so black and white, why would they? give him 10 years and pay it all back!
he will be out in no time and living large in Mexico off of his State retirement and what he stole.
So if I steal from a store, and their insurance covers it, I only have to give back the deductible???
Interesting point. The bonding companies ought to have subrogation rights so they can go after Violette for what they have to pay the Turnpike Authority on account of his thefts. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave that up in exchange for Violette’s agreement to pay $155,000 of the total loss.
Call me cynical, but I think that when all is said and done, Violette will have come out ahead on the deal financially. I’m guessing that he never paid income taxes on the money he stole and that the feds won’t be going after him for that.
Why is he not facing income tax evasion charges?
Fair question, but you’ll have to ask the US Attorney. It’s possible that he declared the income on his tax returns, but if he didn’t, the feds should look into it. The Verrill Dana lawyer in Portland who was caught stealing from clients and his firm a few years ago was prosecuted by the feds for tax evasion and by the state for theft.
While I do not condone Paul Violette’s behavior, I must wonder if he simply slipped into the abyss and just could not find an honest way to get out of it. He certainly is guilty as admitted; however, the BOD carries a large portion of the responsibility here. They not Violette were charged to oversee MTA. Gosselin, Connolly and others took their roles too casually. Many share blame here. Lest we all who serve on BOD (nonprofits or otherwise heed warning-WATCH the bookkeeping carefully, ask questions, do not be intimidated by Ex Directors and always have an audit done. Remember the ED works fr the BOD not the other way around.
I feel sorry for Paul Violette, hope he can be rehabilitated and is humbled by this. He needs to live the rest of his life simply honest.
He gets crucified for 10k. And the guy who steals $32,500 from Lisbon’s economic development funds gets off because the Chief of Police is buddies with the AG guy who was supposed to investigate. What a flippin joke!
He stole $430k.
When our government officials act like pigs at a feeding trough, we are in serious trouble. I hope the MHA is also subjected to scrutiny.
Why isn’t this thief being charged with income tax evasion? Did he declare his stolen money on his income taxes?
Lest we forget: before he was “hired” to run the MTA, he was a big-time Democrat hack pol, just like his dad……
How come it took this long to be discovered? Surely someone in finance/bookkeeping or whatever they call it saw this. WTF? And NO it is not any party’s problem…just a man who couldn’t resist. I’M just sayin.
Now let the investigation into expenditures at Maine State Housing begin. I think it will be interesting to hear the explanations into how monies were spent under Dale’s tenure. Check out the story at “The Maine Wire” concerning vendor payments at MSHA.
Our thoughts are with the Violette family. My husband used to work with his brother and I will be the first to say that the Violettes are a wonderful family that do not need this trouble. This is so unfortunate and sad for them.
If he was a memeber of the Maine Bar, he would be getting a great deal. I suspect with the plea bargain he will have less than 30 days in jail..
Now that they caught him lets look at every politician and government employee in the state of Maine, we can put all of them away at the same time and start over with a clean slate and honest people!
Oh, I cannot believe someone isn’t blaming Governor LePage for this one. For 23 years no one could see a problem with this spending. UNBELIEVABLE, and we wonder why this state is in the financial mess that it is. Maybe Governor LePage will investigate other departments, like he is with DHS. Good Job! Frivalous Government spending has got to stop!
Ok it’s LePlague’s fault…feel better?
Does this guy still qualify for state retirement benifits? I haven’t seen anything writen about that.
another loser with a good job the state sure can pick em
Let’s return to common sense here. Violette had opportunity, was tempted, and succumbed. Guess what? That makes human first. Stop blaming political parties, the governor, and others. He is responsible for his own actions. Period – end of story.