To the Editor:
Governor-Elect LePage will be sworn Jan. 5 and I presume he would have us believe his order that there be none of the customary inaugural whoop-de-doo is a signal confirming he’ll be turning over every stone in his effort to cure the state’s budget woes.
However, it appears that hiring his 22-year old daughter right out of college for a key post in his administration at an “entry level” salary of some $41,000 is somehow exempt from the impending sweep of his fiscal scythe.
I find it more than a little interesting that, according to the website teacherportal.com, the average starting salary for a degreed educator in Maine is $26,643. That is a huge disparity and indicates there is something very wrong with this picture.
Moreover, I’m sure there must be many men and women in this state who need a job, are better qualified, and would have jumped at the opportunity to get that job. At the very least, if the intent were that there be complete transparency, as the LePage team insisted, others should also have been given the opportunity to apply for this position.
Nepotism, especially in government, has a rank stench, and it does not portend good things to come.
I was amazed to learn recently that it is perfectly legal here in Maine, and would applaud any efforts to reverse it. In fact, I believe that Republicans, who now control the State House, should, as stewards of the sound fiscal and moral policies they purport to espouse, be the first to step up to the plate and remedy this embarrassment.
Stephen Busch, South Bristol
