Opponents of the TABOR 2 tax cap unleashed a firestorm of criticism today against the 2009 Maine Piglet Book that has been released by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. The conservative think tank maintains its book contains more than $2 billion dollars in wasteful government spending over the last five years. But opponents say there are numerous examples that were never funded by state taxpayers, and in other instances, never funded at all.

When the Maine Heritage Policy Center published its 2009 Maine Piglet Book detailing wasteful government spending, it was trying to prove that Maine has more than its share of pork.  But critics say so many of the report's numbers are wrong that the book more closely resembles a pig in the poke.

"When you take a look at this report and you see the press conference they held yesterday, it's highly misleading to the public," says Crystal Canney, of the No on 4 campaign.  Canney takes issue with the Piglet Book because she says the policy center is using its facts to increase support for Question 4 on the November ballot -- the so-called TABOR 2 citizen initiative that would place spending caps on state, county and local government.

Examples cited in the book include $16 million in renovations to the state Department of Health and Human Services building in Augusta, $45,000 for a new playground and $40 million for a cultural museum. The problem, according to Canney and others, is that the state never funded those projects.

On top of that, the Policy Center lists $102,000 for a photo-mural at three of the Maine Turnpike Authority's rest areas as taxpayer-financed waste -- and that really irks Donna McNeil, Director of the Maine Arts Commission.

"First of all, it's not Maine taxpayer money, so they're dead wrong on that score," McNeil says.  "Being who I am, of course I don't think that putting art from one of the foremost artists in the world on view for Maine artists, for Maine travelers, for Maine visitors and Maine residents is a waste of money, no I don't.

Instead, McNeil insists the murals were paid for privately by the Maine Turnpike Authority from revenues derived from the tolls Mainers pay to drive on the turnpike. Tarren Bragdon, CEO for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, says that's a distinction without a difference.

"So they're trying to have it both ways," Bragdon says. "They're trying to say, on one hand, it was purchased with private money, and then today they're clarifying, 'Oh no, it was purchased with toll money, but somehow tolls are not taxes, not fees."

Some of the other items listed in the book by its critics were never funded, according to Ryan Low, the governor's chief of finance.
"So they took that list of programs that weren't funded and threw it in the book to create the impression that somehow the state spent $45,000 on a playground, that we spent $40 million to renovate the cultural building," Low says.  "I've been over to the cultural building recently -- we have not spent $40 million over there."

Bragdon says his organization clearly stipulated that the projects listed in the booklet are priorities of state government and not intended to be included in the $2 billion dollars of wasteful spending.  However, that point is not included anywhere in the booklet.

Bragdon says the list is intended to show how government guages its own spending priorities. "It's important for people to look at not only expenditures, but also the process for how certain capital expenditures are made and the different categories that they fall into, and that's what we present, and that's what we explain there," Bragdon says.  "It's a comprehensive lising.  It covers $2 billion in questionable spending and also highlights some other things that have goen through the consideration process in state government, and clearly presents them in that way."

State Sen. Richard Rosen, a Bucksport Republican, says the Piglet Report should be required reading for the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, where he serves  as a member.  "I think it's constructive, because it brings an outside-of-the-statehouse prespective."

"I wouldn't want to disagree with Senator Rosen -- if he finds it instructive, that's fine," Canney says. "I just hope that they're digging deeply enough to look at what is factual and what is not.  I'm sure they will."

At the No on 4 campaign, Crystal Canney wants lawmakers to reserve some skepticism when viewing the report. And that's just fine with Tarren Bragdon, who says readers should draw their own conclusions.