Six of the seven worked for the same state agency during the administration of former Gov. John Baldacci and the seventh was a member of the System Board of Trustees during that period.

The current and immediately past chairs of the board both said that while they believe there was no improper influence in most of the hires, they also said a review of the process is warranted.

And the new chancellor of the System, James Page, said he will add the hiring issue to a review he is doing about recent questions involving System pay raises.

“I take the allegations and concerns very seriously, but I’m not prepared to say what the strengths of those allegations and concerns are,” Page said. “Everything will be looked at.”

For three jobs – two of which oversee multi-million-dollar budgets – the System hired the former state
staffers directly into the higher education positions, meaning there was no customary search for the best-
qualified people.

Each of those job openings, which pay more than $100,000, were given emergency status that allowed the System to waive a policy that requires openings be advertised and a search conducted.

In another case, a trustee resigned from the board and a month later applied for and was subsequently given a $137,000 job at the University of Southern Maine. Officials say this appearance of “impropriety” prompted the board to approve a new conflict of interest ethics policy requiring a one-year waiting period.

In other cases, administration officials were given jobs even though they did not have the college degrees the system listed as requirements or were not ranked as the top candidate.

Excluding benefits, the annual payroll for the seven positions is $898,000.

The use of the university system as a haven for high-level state officials did not occur under the previous governor, Angus King. Only one top King staffer went on to a system job, according to officials, and so far no one from the LePage administration has moved into a top UMS job.

Most of the seven positions were approved by the trustees, who are appointed by the governor.

Richard Pattenaude was chancellor of the system while six of the seven appointments were made, some of them by him personally. He relinquished the position earlier this year.

Pattenaude said the connections of the seven system officials to the Baldacci administration was a coincidence and that he was never asked to find them a job.

“I understand why you would ask that question,” he said. But, he added: “No job was ever created for anyone … all are performing at the highest level.”

The hiring questions come on the heels of another personnel controversy in the system. The Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News revealed that the system gave millions of dollars in discretionary pay raises in recent years, while facing multi-million-dollar budget cuts.

Page, who took over on March 20, has said the pay raise reports “troubled” him and new discretionary raises were suspended or require his approval while he looks onto the issue.

Lyndel “Joe” Wishcamper, who was chair of the System’s Board of Trustees when most of these appointments were made, acknowledged that “short cuts” may have been taken to hire people who were already known to the System from their state government work.

Although be believes none were the result of “inside baseball,” he added that the hiring processes “raise
legitimate concerns and those concerns should be aired and reforms and changes made to take them into account.”

The hiring pattern was discovered in documents provided by the System in response to a Freedom of Access Act request by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and the Bangor Daily News. More specific information on each hire can be found by clicking each employee’s name.

The seven are:

Rebecca Wyke: currently the System’s vice chancellor of administration and finance. She was hired without
a job posting or job search. She had been Baldacci’s Commissioner of Administration and Financial Services
(DAFS).

Ryan Low: hired as vice president for administration and finance at the University of Maine at Farmington
without a posting or search. He held Wyke’s position after she went to the System job. He has since been
promoted to be the System’s chief lobbyist after a job search limited to only other System employees.

Ellen Schneiter: named vice president for administration and finance at the University of Maine at Augusta. While there was a job search, her degree is not in the field required by the job description. She held the DAFS job after Low left.

Richard Thompson: chief information officer for the System, was hired without a posting or job search. He was hired despite having only a high school education and replaced a man with two degrees in computer science. He had been chief information officer in the Baldacci administration.

M.F. “Chip” Gavin: director of facilities management and general services for UMS, was hired despite not having a degree in any of the required fields, such as engineering, and despite a mostly critical report from the system’s own search committee. One of the finalists passed over in favor of Gavin had two engineering degrees and years of experience in facilities management. Gavin had been director of general services for Baldacci.

Elaine Clark: executive director for facilities and real estate at the Orono campus, was hired despite being rated No. 3 and No. 5 in search committee documents. She had been director of general services for the state. She has since left the job.

Margaret “Meg” Weston: vice president for advancement at the University of Southern Maine, was hired despite having no professional experience in fundraising. She applied for the job one month after resigning from the UMS Board of Trustees, prompting a new ethics policy requiring a year’s waiting period for moving from the board to a paid job in the system.

She was appointed to the board by Gov. King and was reappointed by Gov. Baldacci. It was during the Baldacci appointment that she got the USM job, which she has since left.

Only two of the seven responded to the Center’s request for comment. Low and Weston said they believe they were qualified for their jobs.

Former Gov. John Baldacci, responding to questions by email, wrote, “The men and women who serve
at the top levels of Maine government are some of the most qualified in the state and have numerous
opportunities for employment. I’m proud that members of my administration decided to continue public service when they could have found much more lucrative employment in the private sector.”

But a national expert of political patronage said the hires represent an “outrageous example” of using a
higher education system to provide safe jobs for those with the right connections.

Martin Tolchin and his wife, Susan, are co-authors of “Pinstripe Patronage: Political Favoritism from the Clubhouse to the White House and Beyond.”

Tolchin said the University of Maine System “is being used as a dumping ground” for friends and supporters
from the higher levels of state government.

Howard Segal, a professor of history at the University of Maine at Orono for the past 26 years, is a member of the Faculty Senate. He said the hires confirmed his belief that at the upper levels of the System “education is not the issue – political power is.”

“It’s terrible business-as-usual, and it’s outrageous,” he said. “These are my tax dollars, and I’m infuriated.”

Policies have leeway

The System’s hiring policy manual states, “It is impermissible to hire an individual who does not meet
the state minimum qualifications.”

Former Chancellor Pattenaude and Human Resources Chief Human Resources Officer Tracy Bigney said the rules allow leeway, even with the minimum standards policy.

“When you get to a senior level,” Pattenaude said, “experience weighs as much or more than a degree from years ago.”

And Bigney said, “We are usually quite careful to say relevant experience can be substituted for education.”

However, none of the job qualification documents provided to the Center by the System’s office state that experience can be substituted for the educational requirements.

Wishcamper, who is president of a real estate development firm, said, “I believe none was a political
appointment. I have had extensive experience working with governmental bodies and have seen many that
are populated with patronage appointments to high level jobs. I have seen no evidence of this in the UMaine System.”

He likened some of the System hires to his personal experience in business, where an applicant who you already know is a “lower risk” than other applicants.

(All of the six former state employees worked in the same department, Administration and Financial
Services, which was headed by Wyke. She also headed that department during the time period the other five
worked there.)

“To some extent, decisions were probably made here to take short cuts in the process rather than the full blown process the policy called for,” Wishcamper said. “My impression is there was probably someone available who we really wanted.”

M. Michelle Hood, the current chair of the UMS trustees, said she is confident the hires were made wisely, but did not recall details of any of the hires except Low’s.

“I personally have seen no evidence that there is an influence being applied from the governor’s office,” legislature or other policy makers in Augusta, she said.

But, she added, “I certainly plan to talk with the board and chancellor about some concerns some people might have about this to make sure we’re being as transparent as we can be.”

Bangor Daily News reporter Nick McCrea contributed to this story.

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting in a nonpartisan, non-profit news service based in Hallowell. Email them at mainecenter@gmail.com. 

University of Maine System job: Chief Information Officer

Salary: $160,000

Date of appointment: April 2011

Job advertised: No

Job search: No

Appointed by: Rebecca Wyke, System vice chancellor and treasurer

Education requirements: No minimum education requirements are listed, but an advanced degree in a relevant field is “preferred.” The previous head of technology had two degrees in computer science.

His degree: High school diploma.

His comment: Did not respond to request for comment.

System comment: The university system was “engaged in major facility and equipment upgrades” when the former chief information officer had to speed up his retirement due to an illness in the family. This justified waiving the usual search, according to Tracy Bigney, the System’s human resources chief. She said “relevant experience can be substituted for the educational” requirements for any job, explaining why Thompson was hired despite having no college degrees. “He was extremely well qualified,” she said, citing a national award he won from a technology group.

Background: The job description asks for “minimum” 10 years experience in information technology; Thompson’s resume shows eight years of such experience. Thompson was brought into the state government IT job by Gov. John Baldacci and Rebecca Wyke, the state chief financial officer, to fix the notorious Medicaid  billing problems due to computer problems in the state Department of Health and Human Services. CIO magazine investigated the controversy, including Thompsons’s role while head of state procurement in putting out bid requests for a new system to fix the billing problem. A technology expert quoted in the article calls Thompson’s handling of the bids “a big misstep” that contributed to lost time and money in solving the problem. Thompson was subsequently promoted to be the state’s IT chief.

University of Maine System job: Vice President for Advancement at University of Southern Maine

Salary: $137,000

Date of appointment: March 2009

Job advertised: Yes

Job search: Yes

Approved by: System Board of Trustees

Education requirements: BA

Her degree: BA in communications, Master in Fine Arts

Her comment: Weston said someone in the System, possibly in human resources, mentioned the USM job to her while she was a trustee. Her board term had expired but she had stayed on until a replacement was named.  When the USM job opened up, “I thought it was appropriate for me to resign before being considered for that” job. She felt she was qualified for the position because she had fundraised as a volunteer for other nonprofits and had attracted investments when she was an executive in the business world. She points out that her trustee position was unpaid, so she was not an employee of the Baldacci administration, only a volunteer appointee.

System comments: USM President Selma Botman said in an email, “It is my understanding that Judy Ryan, former Vice President for Human Development, may have called Meg Weston to inform her of the advancement opening” while Weston was trustee.

“I selected Meg Weston because of her long-standing work in Maine in business and philanthropy, her commitment to public higher education, and her knowledge of corporations, foundations and donors in the community,” Botman said. “I saw Meg Weston as a perfect partner.”

However, System Trustee Joe Wishcamper, who was chair of the board until recently, said, “In retrospect, that hire was not good judgment at all.”

Background: The report from the USM search committee showed that eight of the nine finalists had higher scores than Weston based on their resumes and applications. She had the highest ranking in the more subjective phone interview category.

Tracy Bigney, the System’s human resources chief, said that in response to the Weston appointment, the trustees adopted a new ethics policy requiring a one-year waiting period between leaving the board and taking a System job “to avoid a perception of conflict of interest or any impropriety.”

University of Maine System job: Director, Facilities Management and General Services, UMS

Salary: $97,000

Date of appointment: January 2011

Job advertised: Yes

Job search: Yes

Approved by: Rebecca Wyke, System vice chancellor and treasurer

Education requirements: BA in business, architecture, engineering, construction management or public administration

His degree: BA in psychology

His comment: Did not respond to request for comment.

System comment: Tracy Bigney , the human resources chief for the System, said, “The experience Chip had was very relevant,” and, she added, “the job included not only facilities management but also procurement, where he had experience from his state position.”

“We didn’t need an engineer for this job … The search committee must have looked at this and determined he met the requirements.”

Background: Gavin got into state government on the public relations side working for elected officials in Maine and Massachusetts. He had no experience in facilities management and only four years in procurement. The System’s search committee “work-in-progress” notes cite three strengths in Gavin’s application and four weaknesses. And one of the System’s employees who filled out a “feedback” form after meeting with Gavin wrote that he “should not be selected for this position since he does not have the required qualifications,” according to a confidential report obtained by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.

Among the finalists was John Furman, a former Coast Guard facilities commanding officer who held two civil engineering degrees and a Certificate of Facilities Management, the industry standard for the field.

The system’s search committee rated Furman strong in seven areas and noted only one “con”:  no experience in higher education, but neither did Gavin.

“It seemed like they were a little more comfortable with people they knew” and were “skeptical” of former military, Furman says now. He subsequently became facilities manager for Western Washington University.

University of Maine System job: Vice president, Administration and Finance, University of Maine at Augusta.

Date of appointment: May 2011

Job advertised: Yes

Job search: Yes

Approved by: System Board of Trustees

Educational requirements: A relevant master’s degree, preferably in business or public administration.

Her degrees: Bachelor’s in biology and master’s in health administration from University of Michigan, which states, “The program prepares students for management careers in the unique environment of health care, including careers in health systems, hospital, clinic, and emergency services management.”

Her comment: Declined to comment.

System comment: UMA Director of Internal Relations Bob Stein, who was on the search committee that reviewed candidates for the job, said Schneiter made up for a low score on her educational requirements “with everything else … she flew off the charts with everything except the master’s degree, which she had and we determined was relevant.” UMA President Allyson Handley said Schneiter “has exceeded my expectations. Very bright.”

Background: Schneiter replaced Mirna Kolbowski, a Certified Public Accountant, who had resigned. Kolbowski’s title was chief financial officer, and she was paid $85,000. The upgraded position Schneiter applied for combined two jobs and paid $110,000. The search committee rated a dozen candidates, including Schneiter, as meeting all the qualifications, but cited Schneiter and one other applicant as being preferred, although no reason was given. UMA President Handley selected Schneiter from the two finalists.

Disclaimer: President Handley is a former member of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting board of directors and a donor.

University of Maine System job: Executive Director, Facilities and Real Estate, University of Maine at Orono

Salary: $121,000

Date of appointment: January 2006

Job advertised: Yes

Job search: Yes

Approved by: System Board of Trustees

Education requirements: Law degree or Master of Business Administration preferred

Her degree: Law degree

Her comment: Referred all questions to the System office.

System comment: Richard Pattenaude, System Chancellor, said, “We felt very lucky to attract people with this much experience.”

Background: There were three separate ratings done for applications for this position. Clark was rated 3rd-best candidate in two of them, and 5th-best candidate in the third. Tracy Bigney, chief human resources officer for the System, said, “The specific number in a ranking is not important. In end, we look at the strengths and weaknesses and the overall picture of the candidate.”

Clark left the System this year for a similar position in the Connecticut university system, under former University of Maine President Robert Kennedy.

University of Maine System job: Vice chancellor and treasurer

Salary: $165,000

Date of appointment: August 2008

Job advertised: No

Job search: No

Approved by: System Board of Trustees

Education requirements: Master in public administration or Master in Business Administration

Her degree: Master in Public Administration

Her comment: Did not respond to request for comment.

System comment: “Financial instability” and the resignation of the previous CFO were cited as the justification for waiving standard posting and search process, according to Tracy Bigney, chief human resources officer. Joe Wishcamper, chair of the Board of Trustees when Wyke was appointed, said, “Becky was probably the best hire in the system in the 10 years I have been on the board.”

Background: In 2008, Baldacci had nominated Wyke to become CEO of the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) and leave her state budget job. If she had taken FAME job, her appointment would have expired in 2012, when she would have been subject to replacement by a new governor. When the UMS job came open, she withdrew her nomination and took the system job, which is not subject to gubernatorial appointment. In 2012, she was one of three finalists to be the new chancellor of the System. The job went to James Page.

University of Maine System job: Vice president, administration and finance, University of Maine at Farmington

Salary: $108,000

Date of appointment: May 2010

Job advertised: No

Job search: No

Approved by: System Board of Trustees

Education requirements: None were listed in the job description. The previous chief financial officer had a Masters in Business Administration.

His degree: BA, political science

His comment: Low said his experience and success in overseeing the state budget in two positions over six years more than makes up for not having the usual finance or accounting degrees. “I had a key role in that many billion dollar state budgets, so I’m probably qualified to manage the $40 million budget at Farmington,” he said.

System comment: UMF justified a waiver for a posting and search on the basis that there was an emergency situation from the resignation of the previous financial chief and from an upcoming reorganization of the university. UMF President Theo Kalikow said “reorganization” was what she called  her plan to retire in 2012. She said Low was qualified despite his lack of formal training in finance because he had run the state’s billion-dollar budget. “We knew the Baldacci administration was coming to an end and people would be looking for their next gig,” said Kalikow, and Low, a popular Farmington alum, was “our guy.”

Background: Low got his start in state government on the political side as chief of staff for the Democratic House leadership. Republican Gov. Paul LePage appointed him to his team to ease the transition from the Baldacci era and help with his budget when his own budget chief was out on medical leave. When Low’s interim position at Farmington was about to expire, he applied for and got a permanent job as the system’s chief lobbyist after a search limited to internal candidates. That job pays $125,000.

Disclaimer: President Kalikow has been a donor to the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.

A release from State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland said an autopsy showed that Dean Levasseur died from a self inflicted gunshot wound to his head early Sunday morning. He went missing at Chickenfest, an annual party held by University of Maine students, late Saturday night.

On Tuesday, Sgt. Ronald Dunham of the Maine Warden Service said Levasseur last sent a text message around 1:30 a.m. Sunday and it didn’t indicate he was in distress. McCausland wrote that a state police investigation found that the death happened around that time.

McCausland said a handgun, which Levasseur purchased earlier this month, was found with the body, which was found roughly a quarter-mile from the site of Chickenfest, off a logging road leading south from Lagrange Road approximately 3 miles west of Interstate 95.

Volunteer crews of friends and family, led by the Maine Warden Service, Down East Emergency Medical Institute and Dirigo Search & Rescue, searched the area Tuesday and Wednesday until a warden service canine unit came across the body. The Maine State Police searched the area briefly Monday.

On Wednesday, after learning of the death, Josh Hunnefeld, a friend and band mate of Levasseur’s, said a conversation he had with him before he disappeared now concerns him. Hunnefeld said he last saw Levasseur before 10:30 on Saturday before their band, Roots, Rhythm and Dub, was supposed to play at Chickenfest.

“I don’t know,” Hunnefeld said Wednesday. “I don’t know if he was depressed and just said f— it and walked off into the woods, or if he went off to use the bathroom and disappeared, I don’t know.”

Hunnefeld said Levasseur, a guitarist, didn’t make the scheduled 11:30 p.m. gig. When Hunnefeld didn’t hear from him all of Sunday, he said he reported him missing to Freeport police.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Billed as “the world’s largest paint party,” the buzz surrounding Dayglow prompted ticketholders to line up hours before the doors opened at about 7:30 p.m. Near the line were a fleet of porta-potties and 200 pizzas for those waiting.

Partygoers were out in full force, the men primarily wearing white T-shirts and shorts while many women were scantily clad. Many were equipped with glow sticks, goggles and, for one man, a strange, colorful suit with a fake, lit-up butterfly perched on his shoulders on poles about 10 feet high.

Everybody was ready for an unforgettable night: People were heard saying things like “I should text her, ‘Where are you? Get over here and grind with me or something,’” “You don’t have a light, do you? I managed to sneak in two doobers, right here” and “There are about 4 sober people here right now.”

Outside, the scene was at times chaotic. Around 9:30 p.m., a University of Maine police officer was seen chasing two males from the Dunn Hall parking lot and between Dunn and Corbett halls. He walked back toward the Field House huffing and puffing. They got away.

“We just had a guy cold-cock someone,” said University of Maine Police Chief Roland LaCroix, explaining the reason for the chase. “He got away.”

The man who had been punched laid in front of closed Field House bay doors. Personnel from the University Volunteer Ambulance Corps picked him up on a stretcher and whisked him through the building. The mall side of the Field House was where UVAC, Orono, Old Town and Bangor ambulances picked up attendees for transport. LaCroix said on Thursday that his department is investigating the assault.

“There were two arrests, both for criminal trespass, both nonstudents,” LaCroix said Thursday morning, adding there had been 16 medical transports from the Field House and “another 60 or 65 treated and released [for] real minor stuff.”

Dillon Hough, 20, of Yarmouth and Brandon Bell-Colfer of Farmingdale were arrested for criminal trespass in separate incidents at the Field House, LaCroix said. Further information about the two arrests was not immediately available.

Paul O’Connor, a physician assistant on duty Wednesday night into Thursday morning at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, said staff there were “just short of calling [Dayglow] a disaster.”

By 10 p.m., O’Connor said nine college-aged people arrived at the hospital. Between 12 and 14 showed up by night’s end, “all underage, all heavily intoxicated,” with blood alcohol content ranging from .30 to .35, around four times the legal limit for those over the drinking age.

He said with three staffers treating patients and between 22 and 25 open emergency room beds, the hospital was cramped for space when new arrivals came.

“We had a full waiting room. We had traumas and the typical stuff we see anyway. You add 14 people,” O’Connor said. “Now, they’re vomiting on the floor everywhere, so we’re cleaning that up.”

LaCroix corroborated the urgent situation early into the concert.

“I think I heard at one time we were using eight ambulances,” he continued. “It was busy in the first hour and a half or so,” before the level of activity began to taper off.

“You have people starting to leave and everything, and maybe the energy tapers off at the end,” LaCroix said.

The police chief described attendees as energetic and excited.

“It wasn’t anything different from any other sort of concert,” LaCroix said. “The biggest difference between this one and any other since I’ve been here was the UVAC response.”

Some of the shenanigans outside were more innocent: Men who couldn’t find convenient toilets could be seen urinating on the Corbett Hall side of the building. Groups of young women shouted “YOLO,” short for “you only live once.” One man, a lady friend on his arm, called his roommate.

“I need the room tonight,” he said, “for a while.”

One particularly memorable girl talked sincerely to a friend, walking away from the Field House.

“I got peed on tonight,” she said.

As the bass-heavy dance music filled the large room so people filled the venue. Tickets were being sold at the door and Vice President of Student Entertainment Joseph “Pat” Nabozny said he believed they sold out. On Thursday morning, he clarified that to mean 2,850 tickets.

“We were at the building’s maximum occupancy,” he said, adding that the number of medical transportations was “unfortunate.”

“I feel like [on] Maine Day, there are a lot of kids consuming alcohol all day,” Nabozny said. “I don’t believe all the transportations occurred simply because of Dayglow.”

One drawback to the event, Nabozny said, was that Dayglow did not bring the VIP bags promised to attendees who purchased a higher-tier ticket for the event. He said a conference call was scheduled for later on Thursday to orchestrate a way for those bags to be delivered.

Since music was playing from the first moment ticketholders walked in, it was hard to say when the show started, but the volume and intensity of the show picked up at about 8:30 p.m. when the “Dayglow Countdown” was displayed on the video screens. The clock started at one hour and counted down to the first “paint blast,” when large quantities of paint and confetti were sprayed into the crowd.

Smaller bottles of paint were distributed to the crowd throughout the night, for attendees to splash on people at their own discretion. Few were left free of paint, and few were left without a partner to dance with provocatively.

Deejaying was LA Riots, a duo from Los Angeles who, according to their MySpace page, “are in the business of crafting straight-up, hot-as-shit club bangers and they’re not messing around.” They played a combination of originals and remixes of popular songs by Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gotye and others.

At around 11:30 p.m., after an encore song was played, the show wrapped itself up with the DJs thanking the crowd for their hospitality and asking if they wanted Dayglow to return next year.

That question received an enthusiastic response.

Style Editor Derrick Rossignol was among the masses at Dayglow. Editor in Chief Michael Shepherd observed from outside. This story was updated Thursday by News Editor Beth Kevit and Shepherd.

More photos from the event can be seen at The Maine Campus’ Facebook page.