AUGUSTA -- Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, criticized Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday for not hiring more workers to process jobless claims.

He said federal money is available to hire help.

"Those people have not been hired, and it's making us look like idiots in Augusta," Mills said.

Mills and other legislators reviewing the Department of Labor budget said they have been getting calls from constituents who find it difficult to get through to the unemployment bureau.

"I am mystified by the situation, and I am not happy about taking these calls from my constituents," Mills said.

Baldacci's Deputy Chief of Staff David Farmer said the department has authorization to hire 24 workers to process claims.

"It's important to remember we have more than doubled the number of people devoted to processing claims," Farmer said. "We have a hard hiring freeze. That doesn't mean we're not hiring."

Farmer said the governor has the responsibility to be careful with all taxpayer money, whether state or federal.

He said some of the frustration stems from the time it takes to train new workers.

"What we aren't going to do is simply just hire folks based on the ability to hire," he said. "We're going to hire in a smart, coordinated way."

Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said the agency still is in the process of hiring additional people and that all 24 new hires should be on board by early February.

She said the number of "abandoned calls" varies from 12,000 to 20,000 a day.

An abandoned call can be one of three things: A busy signal; a message asking the caller to call back because there are too many people calling; or the caller hung up, said Adam Fisher, labor department spokesman.

Mary Anne Turowski, political director for the Maine State Employees Association, said the union wrote a letter to Baldacci before Christmas saying it was concerned about the workload at the department.

"We're grateful he authorized hiring 24 new positions," she said. "The great irony of the times we are in is when the economy is down, people need state services."

The issue of filling federally funded positions came up again later in the day when the director of the Maine Arts Commission said the state hiring freeze has prevented the hiring of two positions eligible for federal funding.

Sen. Elizabeth Schneider, D-Orono, said she wondered whether the state will be able to get future federal funding if it does not fill those positions.

Appropriations Committee House Chairwoman Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, said Commissioner Ryan Low of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services will discuss the administration's hiring policies with the committee on Thursday afternoon.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com