Where are leaders?
The greed and selfishness of those folks at the top, that our state’s chief executive chooses to represent, screams out from the page as it did with the Feb. 13 article, “LePage’s to-do list over next 2 years.” Gov. Paul LePage talks about how the voter-approved small 3 percent surtax on wealth is going to hurt Maine’s high earners. We’re going to become an economic wasteland, he says. Why they may even pick up and leave the state.
What’s with these so-called leaders of society refusing to pay a small percent extra to help our schools and those less fortunate? Where are the philanthropists and large-minded benefactors? Where’s the concern for our communities by those at the top of the economic pile?
It’s easy to imagine the majority of people following suit. With no morally sound role models to emulate, it’s now up to each individual to formulate his or her own ethos. For these folks to imagine they can live in a Maine bubble of regressive Republican policies and rising economic injustice has got to be a folly of the highest sort. Woe to those at the top if those further down decide that a more radical approach is the way to go.
Ron Poitras
Surry
Collins’ Pruitt failure
While many of my friends and colleagues are lauding Susan Collins for her rejection of Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, I am incredibly disappointed. I began calling her office a month ago, when the lines were jammed day after day because of the nomination of not only Pruitt, but the army of miscreants that our 45th president is surrounding himself with. Collins can capture a “moderate” label in DC for her vote, but it appears she waited until the votes were in for Pruitt anyway, and then threw her vote like a bone to her constituents.
Not everyone likes regulation, but we all like a clean environment. The Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and other landmark environmental measures were passed in the ‘70s and under Republican President Richard Nixon.
If Collins really cared about Maine people and our quality of life, and the legacy we want to leave our children and communities, she would have taken a stand sooner and louder and used her position and influence.
Lissa Widoff
Freedom
Minimum wage problems
Where is the discussion in Augusta regarding the progressive minimum wage structure that we are now facing? I am an employer in Biddeford and start people at 40 to 45 percent above minimum with flexible hours. In this town, that’s in high demand. The work is simple assembly for which I compete nationally and internationally.
I have been considering expansion and adding more jobs, but at $12 an hour and up as a starting point, I am either out of business or moving to New Hampshire. I compete against Chinese low-cost alternatives, not the guy across the street who is bound by the same laws. All the social outreach pushing the referendum did not consider competing out of state or country.
Likewise I’ve spoken with groups that place disabled folks back into the workforce. They have already seen hours cut for their existing clients and are struggling to place new ones. And that’s at the current $9 an hour rate, not the $12 required in 2020.
I agree with an increase, but this referendum as written not only causes the damage I mention, but also creates wage compression. If you pay $12 now, you have to pay $16 or more in two years to attract people with basic job skills.
A $10 cap with a lower rate structure for youth workers is not only fair, but manageable by a much larger group of employers. Our leaders in Augusta need to actually lead on this issue and not fold to partisan agendas.
Mike Lee
Saco
Thanks to Cimbollek
Regarding his May 6, 2014, BDN column “History shows Maine can compete successfully with Maine players” I would like to formally thank coach Bob Cimbollek for how he helped my son become a Division 1 basketball player. He advised my son to take a prep school year to get more exposure to Division 1 basketball programs after the coach at the University of Maine asked him to walk on without a scholarship.
I agree that Maine players need to be recruited as so many could bring back the winning spirit to a sport loved by all Mainers. Just look at The County and you will agree that basketball is alive and well. Kudos to Mr. Maine Basketball Bob Cimbollek.
Jonathan Kunz
Kennebunk
Monument support needed
I am delighted to see reports of great news from Katahdin region business owners and residents. With the designation as Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, this beautiful natural area is finally acknowledged and now experiencing much needed economic development, and is even receiving international recognition.
Maine’s new monument exhibits the same trends seen by other areas after such designation. Local businesses now consider investments. Real estate interest and sales begin to grow. Tourism interest is expanding. More people visit the area, shopping locally, enjoying our hospitality. Tourists come from our state and around the country, as well as from other countries. Our gratitude goes to President Barack Obama and the vast majority of Mainers and Americans who support this natural resource and its contributions to our economy.
Millions of people plan vacations and trips around visiting our national monuments and parks. Maine now receives additional benefits that accompany and complement Acadia, originally created as a monument, now bringing millions of dollars to Maine.
The idea that Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Bruce Poliquin have not yet joined Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree in endorsing this monument, let alone the possibility that they may actually be working against our national parks, defies comprehension. Their lack of enthusiastic support is especially disturbing, since wilderness and tourism are the catalysts that will help revitalize rural Maine and benefit businesses throughout the state.
With pride in this new monument, we deserve a delegation that protects and promotes it for the very benefits it offers to Maine.
Penny Dunning
Rockport