The budget impasse that the governor has created with his heavy-handed bullying could have been predicted.
About a year ago, my husband and I were two of the hundreds of people who gathered in Capitol Park in Augusta to protest Paul LePage continuing as governor. The outrage of the day then was the governor’s obscene phone message to state Rep. Drew Gattine. Once again, Maine was negatively featured in the national news, thanks to the governor.
Failure to hold him accountable in some meaningful way then only emboldened him to be even more outrageous in the future, in the same way a child who’s never held accountable for his or her actions will only behave in more and more unacceptable ways until someone pays attention.
He needed to be escorted out the door last spring. Because he wasn’t, and because his draconian budget desires weren’t met this spring, he’s going to shut down the state right before the biggest tourist week of the summer. Never mind the economic hit to state workers and the ripple effect of that. And so what if the state parks are closed and child protective services take a hiatus? He doesn’t care.
Sadly, this was predictable, folks.
Mary Ann Larson
Portland
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