Gov. Paul LePage says he wants to make Maine business-friendly. Almost everything he has done in recent months does the opposite. No business executive in his right mind would want his business in a state where the governor:
• blocks economic development by withholding bonds that both the Legislature and voters have approved;
• causes contracts to be “renegotiated” with energy companies he does not want in Maine, causing them to leave;
• says he wants to do the right thing, but the “wrong” thing is anything he opposes;
• interferes in a private organization’s hiring negotiations, writing an unsolicited abusive letter about a candidate (Eves);
• “investigates” “compliance with the law” by a quasi-independent agency that reports to the legislature (Land for Maine’s Future);
• vetoes legislation just because it has Democratic sponsors;
• orders withholding of jail funds due counties, who then cannot pay jail bills;
• attacks his allies and supporters, calling them “my enemies” and criticizing them publicly;
• mislabels and misrepresents;
• withdraws 21 board and commission member nominations because another nomination was held up for inquiry (Maine Public Utilities Commission);
• threatens to lead a “citizens” initiative if the Legislature — the citizens’ elected representatives — don’t meet his demands;
• is known as “vindictive;” and
• has turned the state capitol into a poison patch of partisan politics.
LePage behaves like an alley-gang leader who needs to control, dominate and defeat. He bullies, intimidates, manipulates and tries to silence opposition. His methods are the methods of totalitarianism and of dictators, not a democracy.
Langston Snodgrass, Lewiston
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