Nuggets from the notebook while taking a look at Louis DiLorenzo, the labor attorney hired by the LePage administration to assist in collective bargaining negotiations with the state’s seven unions …

Democrats and union advocates have taken to calling him Gov. Paul LePage’s “New York City lawyer.”

In two press releases last week lamenting the breakdown of contract talks between the administration and the state’s largest public-employee union, the Maine Democratic Party and the Maine State Employees Association used “New York City lawyer” six times to describe DiLorenzo. 

Neither organization used his name. They rarely do.

Why? One can only speculate, but perhaps depicting DiLorenzo as a vague, anonymous embodiment of the New York lawyer stereotype — sinister, ruthless — is just a messaging strategy (simply calling him a Yankees fan may be a bit gratuitous).

Not that there isn’t some intrigue surrounding DiLorenzo. For starters, some have asked why a renowned Madison Avenue labor attorney is working for just $295 an hour.

According to his consulting contract, DiLorenzo’s standard hourly rate is $485. However, “in light of Maine’s current fiscal crisis,” DiLorenzo has agreed to cut his rate by $190 and cap his total consulting expenses at $125,000.

That’s $125,000 to advise and consult the administration on seven different collective-bargaining agreements. That includes negotiations for the MSEA deal, which is poised to drag on given last week’s news that talks had broken down and that both sides are stepping up the stand-off rhetoric.

DiLorenzo’s staff and travel time won’t count toward the cap. Travel expenses, however, will be billed separately, along with other expenses such as mailing, faxing and lodging.

DiLorenzo isn’t licensed to practice law in Maine. He’s been hired by the administration as a consultant. According to Dan Billings, LePage’s legal counsel, the agreement was approved by the Office of the Attorney General.

Other than his stated altruism, it’s unclear if there are other reasons why DiLorenzo has agreed to work here for less, or if he has made similar arrangements with other states.

He did not return calls to discuss his contract.

Nonetheless, DiLorenzo’s biography at his firm Bond Schoeneck & King depicts an accomplished attorney with more than 30 years of experience  practicing labor law.

Labor unions in New York have a different view of his work and of Bond Schoeneck & King.

In 1999 the Post-Standard in Syracuse published a photo of a 20-foot inflatable rat emblazoned with the firm’s name. The rat was accompanied by 60 union workers who were protesting a seminar sponsored by the firm which sought to teach nonprofit agencies how to remain union free.

Denis Hughes, then the president of New York’s AFL-CIO, told the paper, “Firms like Bond Schoeneck & King have made it their business to deny people their rights.”

If the firm has a particular political leaning, it has done a decent job hiding it in its campaign donations.

According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, BS&K has donated just under $500,000 to political campaigns since 2004. Republicans have received 57 percent of the donations, Democrats about 42 percent with the rest going to third-party candidates.

Bully bill fallout

The Legislature’s last-minute decision to send an anti-bullying bill back to committee has produced some post-session controversy.

The bill would have directed the commissioner of education to develop a model policy for the prevention of harassment, intimidation and bullying. School administrative units would then have to adopt a policy based on the model by Aug. 15, 2012.

The bill came out of committee with overwhelming support and easily passed the House and Senate during preliminary votes. However, the bill steadily lost Republican support when it came up for enactment in the House, which then voted to send it back to committee for the 2012 session.

Republicans who withdrew their support said it was because it came with a mandate to local schools. Democrats were skeptical of that reasoning and pointed to a June 27 action alert from the Maine Christian Civic League, which said the proposal was part of the “gay agenda.”

On June 30 the CCL posted a news story that was preceded by a message claiming that the action alert had stopped passage of the “gay agenda, anti-bullying bill.”

Rep. Terry Morrison, D-South Portland, the bill’s sponsor, is openly gay. He told The Forecaster that some Republican lawmakers came to believe that “this was a ‘gay bill’ and they didn’t want to vote for that, especially with me as the messenger.”

House majority leader Rep. Phil Curtis, R-Madison, wrote an op-ed piece defending the decision to send the bill back to committee. Curtis said his caucus was concerned about foisting a mandate and its associated costs on local schools.

Curtis also took issue with critics who said Republicans had simply done the bidding of the CCL.

“When casting my vote I am guided by what is in the best interest of my district and by my own conscience and values,” Curtis wrote.

When life gives you LePage …

… you sell bumper stickers and buttons that mock the governor. Well, that’s what you do if you’re not a fan of the governor and you’re politically connected in Augusta.

That’s apparently the story of the folks behind www.whenlifegivesyoulepage.com, a site that sells merchandise featuring LePage’s more controversial statements.

A reporter for the Sun Journal contacted the Web site to see about doing an interview for the paper’s Sunday b section. The respondent, who wished to be called “Paula Page,” welcomed the story, but only if the paper agreed to keep secret the identities of the site’s operators.

“Paula” wrote that the site’s creators knew a lot of people in the State House and that they were connected to a lot of political groups.

The Sun Journal passed on the story.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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