Gov. Paul LePage is right to encourage Maine lawmakers to look for ways to cut taxes, but he is steering them in the wrong direction.

The governor is suggesting that eliminating the income tax on pensions would encourage more high-income retirees to move here and encourage retirees who already live here to stick around.

We think there is a better and fairer way . . .

The good news, a government watchdog agency tells us, is that no one stole any money from a $1.1 million federal grant given to a hastily organized but politically connected nonprofit.

The bad news, says the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA), is that there were no safeguards in place that would have stopped the officers of the Maine Green Energy Alliance from dipping their hands into the till, and even if they didn’t steal public money, they didn’t appear to use it very wisely. About $500,000 was spent on an energy conservation program that had signed up to retrofit only 50 houses.

The congressional reapportionment issue would appear to be simple: Draw a single line across the state in as direct a manner as possible with an equal number of people on either side – or as close to equal as population permits.

Then, call one side “1” and the other side “2.” Label them “congressional districts” and let the people in them select candidates and vote for one of them . . .