To the editor:
I attended two of the three meetings in the county arranged by the director of the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging for seniors to discuss with their legislators the effects of proposed budget cuts to Maine Care. When Governor LePage heard about these meetings, he invited himself to attend, to put it politely. At the meeting in Fort Kent, when asked to speak first, he said he would prefer to give his remarks at the end of the meeting. And then, he got up to answer the first question and didn’t sit down until the end of the nearly two-hour meeting.
One of the first things he said was that the Directors of the Aroostook Agency on Aging ought to fire Steve Farnham for arranging such a meeting. Really, Governor, you would fire a citizen for arranging a meeting between citizens and their elected representatives?
That remark set a tone for the rest of the meeting and there wasn’t much discussion between seniors and their representatives. After the meeting, the governor’s press secretary said that LePage was being baited, but no comment was as incendiary as the statement that Steve ought to be fired and many of the other comments made by the governor. The audience did ask difficult questions and made challenging comments, but none that I heard were inappropriate for the situation. In fact, they were mostly in the nature of constructive criticism, such as that made by veteran legislator, Judy Paradis. She spoke about the need for the governor to set a positive tone about Maine and its people, and she urged him to learn from past crises to see how former administrations resolved budget shortfalls. The Governor responded, “Lady, what planet are you from?”
Instead of firing Steve, the governor ought to commend him. We need more such meetings between legislators and their citizens. I would like to see legislators themselves regularly arranging small, informal meetings to talk directly with constituents about the issues they will be voting on. Such meetings would promote better understanding about issues, about citizen needs, and about the character of representatives.
Alice Bolstridge, Ph. D.
Presque Isle
