DOGE – For Every State

Every state – starting with Maine – should have a “department of government efficiency” or DOGE – a permanent, 24/7, oversight operation, much like an oversight committee, state auditor, or inspector general – but always open, eager, and welcoming for whistleblowers. Why?

Because, as the old Catholic historian – Lord Acton – said, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If there were ever a case in point, it is Democrat-controlled Maine.

As a five-year oversight investigator for Newt Gingrich’s Congress, my door was always open for whistleblowers. I was relentless – conducted hundreds of investigations, Waco disaster (100 witnesses), and immigration corruption under Clinton-Gore (ditto, 100,000 documents), to counter narcotics failures in 52 agencies and defense overspending. It can be done. What is the secret?

The secret to assuring honest and efficient government is political will. Plain and simple, you need to have a leader – at the state level, a seasoned and unafraid governor – who will prioritize limited, efficient, and trustworthy government.

You need someone unafraid to do the digging, and to keep digging, then to institutionalize high integrity government and open practices, creating a culture within of honesty, where whistleblowers are rewarded, not ignored or persecuted.

This is what the Founders envisioned and also practiced. From Washington, Adams, and Jefferson to Madison, Monroe, and Quincy Adams, later Lincoln, TR, Truman, and Reagan – today Trump. This is what real, accountable, limited, trusted government means – and what the People deserve.

If citizens lose trust in their State government, because a governor is arrogant, unaccountable, dismissive of people’s concerns – from drug crime, taxes, and affordability to education, energy prices, and dishonesty – things go south, then accelerate. Anger grows, as it has to a boiling point in Maine.

Integrity in government is not too much to ask of our public servants, like Maine Governor Janet Mills, whose ties to drug issues are front-page news, or the three government Democrats elbowing to follow her. Democrats model what Mainers do not want – and should not suffer – regular deception and denial with a smile.

That is not integrity, not efficiency, not accountability. In a relatively poor state, these Democrats have proved Lord Acton’s adage. Controlling things for almost 30 years, they have institutionalized corruption, normalized it, think no one notices, or cares, or has the energy to stop them.

A recent – unusual – audit found $2.1 billion in sole-source, non-competed, questionable contracts for “friends and family,” given out by Democrats. That is your money.

They spend $1.6 billion on solar energy subsidies, demand prices for energy be set by politicians in Augusta through the PUC, utility competition is blocked, so Maine’s majority, non-solar users, pay added taxes for the richer solar users – an eye-popping fee each month. What could be five cents per kWh is 25 cents.  

Democrat leaders dishonestly push unending, unfunded mandates on towns and counties, twisting schools until unrecognizable, driving property taxes to the top in the nation – absolutely immoral.

Then, as if all this were not enough, Democrats just raised income taxes on people and companies, 99 percent of which in Maine are small. They say $61,600 is “rich,” so two higher brackets. They run businesses out, just raised corporate taxes to 10 percent.

This madness is wholly unchecked, just as police are gutted, underfunded, and underappreciated, and agency leaders get away with stunning waste. These whistleblowers now call me regularly – implicating countless Maine agencies.

So, what can be done? Lots – investigations opened, light put in dark corners, abusers brought to account with firings, criminal referrals, prosecutions.

Here is the solution: The next governor must set up a permanent DOGE, directly accountable to the people through the Governor, flip on the lights, and flip the rocks. It will be manned 24/7 by phone, linked to a hundred on-call investigators, able to receive documents, keep confidential, and protect whistleblowers.

The new Governor and AG should prioritize ending public corruption, at every level, making this as high a priority as ending drug traffickers, since both cost trust and lives. These cases should be prosecuted fast, restoring efficiency and trust.

Bottom line: Expecting integrity in public service, enforcing it with determination and consistency changes the culture of a state. We did for years under Gingrich. It is not hard. Maine is overdue.

So, every state – starting with Maine – should adopt a “department of government efficiency” or DOGE – a permanent, 24/7, oversight agency, like an oversight committee, state auditor, or inspector general – but always open and eager for whistleblowers. The question is not “why?” – but “why not?” Time is now, another reason you find me running for Governor. Like most Mainers, I am sick of it.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!