I was appalled to read Bill Nemitz’s column “Child welfare is sad victim of Maine’s neglect” (Jan. 19). Nemitz hit the nail on the head, concluding, “Enough with the welfare cops. It’s time DHHS hired a few vigilant mothers.”

After the LePage administration fired the folks who knew the ropes in Augusta, they realized that they were left trying to run something that was far more complicated than they probably guessed.

It’s much easier to deliver on the “government is the problem” message than actually govern. This administration has invested in the “failed government” message.

Spending $700,000 to find welfare fraud that won’t amount to much keeps the welfare fraud story alive. Spending a million dollars on a study done by a failed consultant also makes sense, since the goal is to publish a report that will outline how MaineCare won’t work.

Putting effort into grading public schools on a bell curve so as to ensure that only 20 percent of the schools get As and Bs is done to show how bad public schools are. (I disagree, by the way, but they could use more money.)

Rather than lead like Vermont did to create a ride share system that works, this administration took the contracts away from perfectly capable people and created a system that failed.

If something is failing, they leave it alone. Overpayment to nursing homes has been taking place since 2006.

But not shutting down a day care center where children were getting hurt demonstrates that the lack of leadership and vision has gone beyond dollars to impacting the lives of the very people the Department of Health and Human Services is supposed to protect.

Tamara Risser

Portland