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Maine Gov. Paul LePage is removing a 36-foot mural that includes images of worker strikes from the Labor Department's lobby. (Courtesy: Artist Judy Taylor)
Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who ignited a storm of protest by removing a labor-themed mural from a state office building last month, is now facing demands from the U.S. Department of Labor to restore the artwork or repay the $60,000 federal grant used to create it.
In a letter to LePage on Monday and obtained by FoxNews.com, the department said the Republican governor violated the terms of federal laws governing money used to pay for most of the mural's price tag when he removed it over concerns about the message it sent.
Gay Gilbert, administrator of the U.S. Labor Department's office of unemployment insurance, said LePage would have to return the money to the unemployment trust fund states use to pay jobless benefits. The federal government manages the funds, which are financed through unemployment insurance taxes that employers pay.
Under federal law, states have limited discretion on how to spend that money, which includes paying for furnishing public employment offices.
About 63 percent of the mural's cost came from money in Maine's account in the federal unemployment trust fund. Gilbert's letter said the state would have to return 63 percent of the fair market value of the mural to that account.
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