Just when you need another reason for a recall option with constraints, Gov. Paul LePage hands it to you on a silver platter.
“If you don’t give me the cuts I demand, I’ll close the schools.” He didn’t say exactly that, but, close enough. He did say he’ll close the schools unless the Legislature dances to his tune.
That’s called blackmail.
We now have even more proof that being a business person is not a guarantee the individual knows how to govern.
But for the cowardice of politicians on both sides of the aisle, we’d have the recall option. Cynthia Dill proposed it with statewide support from voters. It would not have been aimed at LePage as conservatives claimed. The process of amending the Constitution would have taken longer than LePage has left in office. It would also have had constraints so that it could not be used lightly — simply to reverse the outcome of an election.
But, Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, majority leader in the Senate, would not even let it get into committee; not even be talked about. That’s how much she feared it. She claimed it was a waste of time, unlike the decision to make whoopie pies the state fat pill.
Talking to politicians about this issue is a bit like tilting at windmills. But, if we keep nagging, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get their attention.
Accountability is not a dirty word.
Tony Nazar, Wilton
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