Real Time: A Community Building Blog

While I am often not my usual perky self when the 5:30 a.m. news awakens me, a recent item captured my full and focused attention in spite of the early hour. I swear I could detect a hint of a snicker when the reporter said that earlier in 2011, Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina instructed the directors of her cabinet agencies to change the way their employees answer the phones. In an effort to boost morale and sell the state to employers, state workers had been directed to say: “It’s a great day in South Carolina. How can I help you?”

The reaction from the opposing political party was swift and biting. The chair of the state Democratic Party (Haley is a Republican) was quoted in the local paper, The State, as saying, “She believes that if you say the lie enough, people may begin to believe it. But we know the state is in the toilet.” Two Democratic members of the House filed legislation dictating that no state agency can force employees to answer the phone in such a manner as long as unemployment levels are five percent or higher, all people in the state don’t have health insurance, and benchmarks on education funding and rural infrastructure remain unmet.

I wish the people of the Palmetto State well as they struggle with partisan bickering and economic problems that many of the rest of the nation faces. At the same time, it is my fervent hope that Maine state employees are not asked to follow suit. If I were a state worker, I cannot imagine having to answer the phone with that line -- or having to hear it when I call a state agency -- even if it is a great day in Maine, or especially if it really isn’t a great day.

At times like these I am reminded of why we live where we do. As the sign in Laurie Lachance’s office at the Maine Development Foundation puts it: If You’re Lucky Enough to Live in Maine, You’re Lucky Enough. That about sums it up. Or does it?