The Legislature’s majority Republicans are doing their job responsibly.
They inherited unaffordable Department of Health and Human Services programs from the previous eight years of Democratic majority. Those programs have run out of money.
There are no more one-time federal stimulus grants or withholding-hospital-payments tricks, which the Democrats used to balance the budget and pay for those programs.
In order to keep all of those DHHS programs, the Legislature must raise taxes or rob other departments of their funds. Maine’s benefits are already well above the national average, and so are the taxes. The solution is forthcoming.
The Republicans are now peeling back the protected layers of the Maine Housing Authority budget. The expenditures for personal pleasure and other unrelated items are astoundingly large, as well as the excessive cost of each housing unit. The previous Democrat majorities created this agency, made it accountable to no one, and have chosen to look the other way.
The previous Maine Turnpike Authority director (a Democrat) has confessed to the misuse of funds and will serve prison time. The previous Democrat majorities chose to ignore his expensive expenditures for personal pleasure.
Fiscally responsible Republicans found the problem and exposed it.
If the citizens of Maine want responsible, honest government, they should support Gov. Paul LePage and elect a Republican majority. The Republicans’ track record so far has proven their worth, and much more needs to be done.
Maine people deserve proper care of their tax dollars.
Thomas F. Shields, Auburn
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