reader of Boston, MA When i worked for the State of Massachusetts years ago, i use to have a position where i reported to work in the morning,then i could go home 30 minutes later to work at home.

Many of times i would go downtown Crossing in Boston,walk around,window shop, go to the movies ANYTHING but go home and work.

Never got caught, eventually i went to work elsewhere

Boy i miss that state 'puff' jobreport abuse

Govt2Big of Disgusta, ME And a few more...

9. State Managers/Directors should no longer be allowed to “work from home” (with no accountability), especially since it happens on so many Fridays and Mondays;
10. Highly questionable allocations and ongoing management of both State and Federal grant programs/monies (e.g., HUD, CDBG and more!);
11. Finally, for that small but very wasteful percentage of State workers with a non-working moral compass, they should no longer be allowed to use state/taxpayer resources for both excessive and inappropriate personal uses (e.g., long distance telephone calls on-state-time/dime, hours surfing the internet/emailing/texting/PMing, arriving late & leaving early, 2-hour lunches, 30-minute “breaks” that are supposed to be 15, sleeping at the desk on-state-time/dime, balancing their home checkbook, out playing tennis or working out, loud and disruptive personal conversations in the aisles of office cubeland (HUGE waste), speeding down the highway at 80 mph in state vehicles, personal use of state vehicles, insurance abuse/fraud by state employees, and more…

Unfortunately, it does seem like either our current Administration and State Legislators are willing to tackle these very real and wasteful actions.

How soon before a real leadership team will arrive in Augusta?report abuse

Govt2Big of Disgusta, ME 99dotter, Since you’ve asked for a few specific examples of current/past expenses that can and should be cut from the Maine budget, here they are for you:

1. We need MAJOR reform for Maine Welfare (stop the fraud), MediCare (stop the fraud), Education and Corrections;
2. Cut all programs/departments which do a job that could be done by the Private Sector (e.g., Fleet Services - car rental company within state government, Dirigo Health Plan, state police on construction/traffic duty, snow plowing and mowing grass along the highways and on all state properties). Government should stick with governing;
3. Inappropriate legislative junkets at the taxpayers’ expense to places like Nashville and Quebec Winter Carnival (a.k.a., “Drunk Festival”);
4. Stop the “padding” of legislator expense accounts;
5. Stop the inappropriate use of state/taxpayer resources by management for the apparent political benefit of certain Maine democrats and their pet projects (e.g., Dirigo, Governor’s race, anti-TABOR and more!);
6. Inappropriate use of state/taxpayer resources by representatives of the Maine democrat’s favorite union/PAC (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989) for anti-TABOR meetings in a state building, pro-Democrat meetings and campaigning in state buildings;
7. Cut all of the 100% purely political appointments to friends and family, and those expensive pet projects (e.g., Dirigo Health Plan and all of those infamous and overpaid “Governor’s Special Assistants”);
8. No more laughable and expensive projects like the $3M water fountain and landscaping project at the State House;

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Pondtowner of Mount Vernon, ME Let's see, my parents who live on a fixed income, do not pay income taxes, drive their 1992 Buick to a local restaurant for breakfast once a week, dad has a haircut every three weeks, mom goes to the salon every other month, I think they will see a definite tax increase.report abuse