Augusta - Retirement benefits for state workers and teachers have been a point of contention since Governor LePage took office. Now one lawmaker is asking the governor to share the pain as well.

LePage has been a lightning rod since taking office. Some of his biggest critics have been state workers and teachers' unions as the governor and Republicans in Augusta have been scaling back their retirement benefits the past few years. "I don't think it's fair," said Aroostook County Democrat Troy Jackson. "The governor has certainly been playing fast and loose with their retirement and taking care of his friends, i.e rich people or family members, giving them jobs or creating new jobs."

Jackson says if the governor wants to cut retirement benefits of state workers, he should share in their misery.

Under Maine law, once a governor serves for a single day they're eligible for an annual $26,000 lifetime pension. Jackson says that's larger than roughly 80% of state workers. He's proposed an amendment to the Maine constitution that would require governors, including LePage, to be elected to a second term in order to receive benefits. "The governor and former treasurer Poliquin used the retirement system to pay back a lot of people who didn't support them in the election," Jackson said. "And took a lot of hard working people's retirement away for political reasons. I think when you're going to play that game you have to understand the same thing can happen to you."

Governor LePage did not want to comment on Jackson's bill, but Democratic Representative Brian Jones of Freedom and Independent Representative Jeff Evangeloos of Friendship have come out in opposition of Jackson's proposal.

Jones told the Committee on State and Local Government that the bill is nothing more than a distraction and "mere political tomfoolery, that will serve no purpose but to inflame unnecessarily the tensions between the legislature and the governor. I urge the committee to dispense expeditiously with this foolishness and focus on the real work we must do together for the good of the people."

Jones says it's political proposals like this that keep lawmakers in Augusta from concentrating on the important issues they were sent to Augusta to resolve. "Our citizens need property tax relief and they need real solutions to real problems," Jones said. "We've got serious work to do in the state house and these distractions really don't help us focus on the real issues."

Now it's up to lawmakers to decide whether the proposal gets rid of a double standard or is a case of Senator Jackson seeking political retaliation.

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