Governor Janet Mills’ (D) Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future (GOPIF) announced on Friday thirteen new appointees for the 24-member Office of New Americans Advisory Council, which the Mills administration created by executive order eighteen months ago.
At the time it was first introduced, the council came into being without direct legislative approval, and was rolled into the state budget on a party line vote.
Its goal, the establishing order stated, is to demonstrate that Maine is a “welcoming and inclusive state that recognizes the value of people of diverse backgrounds to enhance the vibrancy of Maine’s communities, the strength of our workforce, and the growth of our economy.”
[RELATED: What to Know About Maine’s “Office of New Americans”]
Currently, the council exists within GOPIF, which is headed by former Democrat House Speaker Hannah Pingree, the daughter of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who represents the state’s First Congressional District.
Earlier this month, current House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) and Senate Majority Leader Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) named eleven other ONA members. The governor’s recent appointments round out the council, which has yet to schedule its first public meeting.
Pingree’s office hired Tarlan Ahmadov last December as the ONA’s first executive director. Previously, Ahmedov worked as the Director of Division of Programs at the Bureau of Employment Services at the Maine Department of Labor. Presumably in his personal capacity, Ahmadov has been sharply critical of Armenia and in 2020 posted on X (then Twitter) that Armenians “occupy” the Western seaboard of the United States.
Ahmadov posted that same year a message suggesting that celebrity and activist Kim Kardashian is a terrorist because of her support for an Armenian organization.
Given the ONA’s stated goal of advancing inclusion and tolerance in Maine, Ahmadov may be less likely to continue to advance such policy views.
ONA has also recently hired Ekhlas Ahmed as its Policy Analyst.
New appointments from the Governor include:
Senator Rick Bennett (R-Oxford): Originally Senator Jim Libby had been listed as a Senate appointment to the ONA Advisory Council. That was a clerical error. Bennett was named to the Council in the latest session of the Senate. A former Republican Senate President, Bennett is the co-founder and CEO of ValueEdge Advisors. On their website ValueEdge lists ‘Assisting public pension funds in crafting ESG integration policies and practices’ as a core component of their mission. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance and these are non-financial factors that are used influence decision making for a company. DEI or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are often core components of the ‘Social’ sector of ESG. According to his financial disclosure, Bennett has a compensated seat on the Board of Great Works Internet (GWI) where he serves with fellow ONA Advisory Council member Kerem Durag.
Kerem Durdag, GWI: Durag serves as the CEO of GWI. The company is based out of Biddeford and is a certified B-Corps business. B-Corps have a mission that focuses on business while trying to build an inclusive and sustainable place in the economy. Durag is also an advisor to the Capital Advisory Committee of the Maine Asian American Community Center where he serves with fellow ONA Advisory Council member Rotha Chan .
Julia Trujillo Luengo, co-chair, Maine Community College System: Trujillo Luengo is the Director of Strategic Planning Management for the Maine Community College System. According to realtor Heather Shields’ website, Julia was born and grew up in the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa and would like to see Portland changed to reflect ‘the diversification of options and broader cultural manifestations of who lives in Portland would be refreshing so that our city reflects our diversity in all aspects of city life’.
Marwa Hassanien, Northern Light Health and Bangor School Board: Hassanien is Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at Northern Light Health. She has also served on the Bangor School Board where she was an advocate to address systemic racism and racial equity and helped create the board’s DEI Committee.
Nawar Alobaidi, Engineers Auto Service: Alobaidi owns Engineer Auto Services in Westbrook and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was born in southern Iraq and previously spent four years working for Catholic Charities Maine as a Resettlement and Employment Case Manager.
Rotha Chan, TD Bank: Chan is a Vice-President for Commercial Credit for TD Bank. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Immigrant Welcome Center of Greater Portland. Chan also serves on the Maine Asian American Community Center Capital Campaign Advisory Committee with fellow ONA Advisory Council member Kerem Durag and freshman Maine legislator Ellie Sato (D-Gorham).
Juana Rodriguez-Vazquez, Mano en Mano/Hand in Hand: Rodriguez-Vazquez is the Executive Director at Mano en Mano, a Downeast Maine non-profit organization. The Mano en Mano website lists their mission as, ‘We envision a stronger, more inclusive Maine where the contributions of diverse communities are welcomed, access to essential services, education and housing are ensured, and social justice and equity are embraced‘.
Olesya Shkut, Bluetriton/Poland Spring: Olesya is the Plant Human Resources Manager at Primo Brands in Poland, ME. Primo Brands is a distributor to Poland Spring and many other well-known bottled water companies. (BlueTriton Water merged with Primo Water to become Primo Brands in November 2024). Shkut, originally from Russia, is a former New Mainers Resource Center student and is listed as a success story on their website.
Orlina Boteva, University of Maine: Boteva, a Bulgarian native, is the Director of the Office of International Programs at the University of Maine. Boteva is also on the Steering Committee of Inclusion Maine. Inclusion Maine is a membership-based education provider. Interestingly, Office of New Americans Director Tarlan Ahmedov and Advisory Council members Julia Trujillo Luengo and Marwa Hassanien are also on the Inclusion Maine Steering Committee.
Joe Baty, MaineHealth: Baty is a Workforce Development Manager at Maine Health. In 2024 Baty was a featured speaker in the Maine Department of Labor’s Speakers Series. He presented a workshop with Office of New Americans Director Tarlan Ahmadov on recruiting and supporting new Mainers that can be heard here.
Dana Totman, Prosperity Maine: Dana Totman retired as President and CEO of Avesta Housing in 2022. Avesta Housing is the current employer of Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau. Totman has also served as the Deputy Director of the Maine State Housing Authority. On his LinkedIn page Totman describes his current work as a self employed Consultant/Interim Director. He was not accounted for on the Prosperity Maine website that listed their team and Board of Directors.
Claude Rwaganje, Prosperity Maine: Rwaganje is listed as the Executive Director of Prosperity Maine on their website. Formerly, the organization was known as Community Financial Literacy and its focus on education continues today. A native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he holds an MBA from the University of Southern Maine. He also serves as President of the Westbrook City Council where he chairs the Committee on Housing and Economic Development.
Ben Conniff, Luke’s Lobster: A graduate of Yale University, Coniff is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer for Luke’s Lobster which is a certified B-Corporation. Ben’s bio can be seen on the company website. In addition to Luke’s Lobster, Conniff has spent three years on the Board of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition. In 2022 he was interviewed by NPR on the racial make-up of Maine’s lobstering industry. His only words in the interview were, ‘when you think about that most prized job in the industry, getting to go out and catch and sell those lobsters yourself, you don’t see any diversity. You see a sea of white’. The entire segment may be heard here.
The Maine Wire will be monitoring and reporting on any updates to the council’s calendar as a well as any bills funding the ONA or any tax dollars that may be appropriated or granted to the organizations reflected in the membership of the ONA Advisory Council.
I got a creepy feeling about this, we’ll see
I can’t wait to see how much this is going to cost us and I am not talking just about money.
Office of Aiding and Abetting the Invasion of our Homeland would be a more accurate title.
who is paying for this. Does Maine need this??? no. This HAS to stop!
More people with names you don’t know how to pronounce , who all come from NGOs and “ Non Profits “ all snuggled up at the food trough serviced by Maine taxpayers . We are counting the days until Janet Mills gets the f**k out of Augusta and gives Maine back to the people who are really from here . How many days left ?
I don’t recall my grandparents needing an Office of New Mainers/Americans. They relied on the Church and relatives in the community if they needed help. Most were too busy working back-breaking jobs, not whining for handouts and subsidies from the government.
First Americans Counsel or private army for corrupt politicians?
When Kristie Noem was governor of South Dakota , she ran ads on Maine TV , to try to recruit plumbers , electricians , and skilled trades people, to move to her state .
Janet Mills runs ads to recruit unskilled welfare queens , habitual criminal offenders, and Muslim malcontents , from third world shit holes to move to my state .
You can’t make this stuff up .
DOGE is dealing with fraud and wasteful spending and we’re piling on the waste department. Will the gaslighted Mainers ever wake up to what the democrats are doing to our State?
Will our next governor have the courage to eliminate such special interest departments?
Is there any hope for Maine? The working middle class is dying. We have welfare queens, bums, immigrants and wealthy liberal retirees.
The idea of Greater Idaho is moving forward and gaining steam. Anytime, would be a good time, to start the same concept here!
This office is needed. My white first generation mother had everything handed to her and her family as they grew up in Lewiston. Growing up a white minority in Maine meant everything was free. Her father didnt need to work every job he could, he did it as a hobby. Her mother didnt need to work nights after the children were asleep, she just liked to keep busy.
GO PIF your tax dollars away.
Maine is a dead state! The worst schools in the country, it’s two major cities are trashed with illegals druggies and layabouts! All on the taxpayers backs! It’s unsustainable but Mills just doesn’t care! C’mon man!
Why is Mills destroying this state?
Write a report about them or any government over reach and send it to: doge@mail.house.gov
How many Somali dishwashers and waiters does it take to make a “ Luke’s Lobster Roll “ ?
Long Live Red’s Eats ….A Maine tradition for people from away .
You are now paying for your own Genocide , This group of people want all WHITES DEAD….
I think it’ll be hard to fill all the seating….
So DEI corps of bullies
Bennett should just come clean as a Democrat
He’s helping chase working citizens out to usher in a permanent, third world peasant class
Then there’s this posted on X by Steve Robinson.
They have no intention of assimilating and don’t like white people.
https://x.com/BigSteve207/status/1891931535328092178
I LOVE MUSK!
Wait…….No Rachel Talbot Ross involvement? These democrats learned nothing from the elections on November.
For those who are not aware GWI sent out this notification to its customers a month ago.
GWI will no longer offer residential DSL and phone services in your area. DSL Internet and Phone service will be discontinued on March 31, 2025. As a result, your internet and phone services will no longer be operational after this date. This means that you will need to transition to an alternative provider or technology prior to this date to avoid any disruption in your services.
As a now former customer because of this change in service I can tell you that GWI will no longer provide DSL internet access in Maine. No explanation. To see that 2 members of this Council are on the board of, and CEO of GWI is disturbing.
I couldn’t put a more complete list of unproductive people if I tried. Great job Janet. You proceeded to find the most qualified people to squeeze and extort other hardworking people’s money and put them all in one useless department to scheme and imagine ways waste money.
Membership of the Council:
The advisory council consists of 19 members as follows:
A. At least 10 members who are immigrants, 8 appointed by the Governor, one appointed by the President of the Senate and one appointed by the Speaker of the House;
B. Three members appointed by the President of the Senate representing the following: (1) A school administrative unit; (2) An adult education program; and (3) A small business;
C. Three members appointed by the Speaker of the House representing the following: (1) An organization providing refugee resettlement services; (2) A provider of legal assistance to immigrants; and (3) A municipality; and
D. Three members appointed by the Governor representing the following:
(1) A large business; (2) A provider of housing assistance; and (3) An organization with demonstrated expertise in workforce development.
In making appointments of members to the advisory council, the appointing authorities shall make a good faith effort to ensure that the members of the advisory council reflect geographic, gender, ethnic and racial diversity
I can’t wait fir our next Governor to abolish this BULLSHIT!
In the meantime; It’s a big state, they will never be found!
Meanwhile, inbred racist rapist je w idiots try to kill other inbred racist rapist je w idiots in the zion capital of Florida.
They just love spending other people’s money trying to be social engineers.
Liberalism is a mental disorder. People this crazy used to be institutionalized.
Anyone remember voting for this? I sure as hell don’t. Augusta is apparently unaware we are shipping these New Americas back to the hell hole they came from.