AUGUSTA – Walter Whitcomb, a Waldo dairy farmer, is Gov. Paul LePage’s choice to lead the Department of Agriculture.

Whitcomb, who served 12 years in the Maine House, has owned Springdale Jerseys Inc. for 32 years.

“He’s been an industry leader in herding cows, and now he’s going to come to Augusta and work with the Legislature,” LePage said during a news conference. “He’s been a good steward and leader in this industry.”

Also Wednesday, LePage nominated lawyer Paul Sighinolfi as executive director of the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board.

Sighinolfi currently heads Rudman & Winchell’s workers’ compensation practice group. In 2002, he was appointed to a three-year term on the Board of Overseers of the Bar. He was reappointed in 2005.

Both men face legislative committee review.

Whitcomb, 58, said Maine’s short growing season, geographical isolation and high business costs present challenges to farmers.

“This administration recognizes that rural communities and the entire state need a strong agricultural economy,” he said. “Maine really can be and should be the market basket of New England.”

Sighinolfi, 62, of Brewer, said he wants to make sure the workers’ compensation system is “fair and evenhanded.”

“It has become a system of form over substance,” he said.

 

MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:

scover@mainetoday.com