Greg LeRoy is known as one of America’s leading advocates for corporate and government accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families. He has been called “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies.” With Maine facing a $1.1 billion budget shortfall, MECEP believes that Greg will provide insight and ideas to help to inform the debate in the months ahead.

A discussion following the lecture will feature panelists Rob Brown, Co-director, Opportunity Maine; Stacy Mitchell, Senior Researcher, Institute for Local Self-Reliance; and Orlando Delogu, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Maine School of Law. The event is free to the general public and open to the media. Because of space limitations, attendees are asked to register in advance by visiting MECEP’s website or calling (207)622-7381. Parking will be available in nearby campus parking lots and garages.

Greg LeRoy founded Good Jobs First in 1998. For 25 years, he has written, trained and consulted on development issues for state and local governments, labor-management committees, unions, community groups, tax and budget watchdogs, environmentalists, smart growth advocates, and associations of public officials. A nationally prominent speaker, he is the author of The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2005) and No More Candy Store: States and Cities Making Job Subsidies Accountable (1994).

MECEP initiated the Shepard Lee Lecture series to honor the noted entrepreneur, civic leader, political advisor and advocate for justice who contributed to Maine’s public life for more than five decades.

On February 4th MECEP released a new report which estimated that cuts proposed to the state budget for health care and education would result in the loss of 7,000 to 10,000 jobs.  The response from the Maine media was impressive with front page stories in the Portland Press Herald and the Central Maine Newspapers and an extensive report on MPBN.  Rep. Anne Perry, House Chair of the Legislature’s Health & Human Services Committee, cited the MECEP study in a February 9th “op ed” in the Portland Press Herald asserting that MECEP’s projected job losses “would only keep Maine in a longer, deeper recession.”  (Brunswick) Times Record columnist Doug Rooks wrote “The reason the MECEP report is so important is that it frames the choices differently than has been done so far.”

On February 9th MECEP Executive Director Christopher “Kit” St. John joined Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree, Maine Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell, other legislators, business people and health care and education advocates for a State House press conference calling on Senators Snowe and Collins to fight for immediate passage of a new jobs bill pending in the U.S. Senate.  Kit stressed the need for federal fiscal relief for Maine and other states struggling to provide health care and education services to their citizens.   Video of Kit’s press conference statement is available on YouTube.

And finally, MECEP made its own contribution to job creation this week, hiring me as its new Communications Director.  I look forward to doing my best to support MECEP’s efforts to ensure economic and social justice for all Maine families.