Predictably, the liberal news media and a few holier-than-thou politicians are clamoring to have charges brought against Governor LePage for the unpardonable sin of nullifying the appointment of another public official of the opposite party with questionable qualifications to head a charter school which owes its very existence to the governor himself.

Liberals have zero credibility for passing judgment on what grounds a public official should be removed from office. Let’s say that their standards are flexible, depending on which political party is involved.

A case in point: In 1998 former President Bill Clinton was impeached (charged) by the House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors” (Article II, Section 4, US Constitution) and then tried by the Senate for obstruction of justice, specifically (1) perjuring himself, (2) tampering with witnesses and (3) subornation of perjury — encouraging others to commit perjury. (For this summary see “An Affair of State” by Richard A. Posner, judge on the US Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He’s still on the bench.)

And who can forget that Clinton went on national TV, looked the American people in the eye and stated: “I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky”?

For these and other serious violations of federal laws, betrayal of the public trust and besmirching the Oval Office, the Democratic Senate gave Clinton a free pass, and an adoring public reward him with lucrative speaking fees and honorary degrees from prestigious universities.

What does this tell us about ourselves, our morals and our notions of justice?

And now the Pharisees want the governor’s head on a platter for doing, without lust in his heart or expectation of personal gain, what he believed was in the public’s best interest, knowing that he would incur the wrath of his political enemies.

In my view, that’s a profile in courage.

Walter J. Eno,
Scarborough