It may be true that hostility is the reward for speaking certain truths. A wise man learns to accept this; a partisan, to embrace it. John Frary wrote a piece July 24 that truly paints an interesting portrait of our governor, but wraps it in partisan loathing that all but ensures the message won’t get through to non-believers.

Had Peter Mills (a bona fide conservative and a skilled legislator) won the Republican primary and the general election, he would have had a perfect choice in Paul LePage to be interim director of the MTA (the job Mills now holds after being appointed by Gov. Paul LePage). The managerial mess there would be “as good as a Christmas present” — real inefficiency for him to sink his teeth into.

I also read with interest Frary’s anecdote about the unnamed liberal authors on LePage’s bookshelf, and wished that (rather than taking a potshot at generic liberals) he had unmasked these authors. It was a missed opportunity to show us some of our governor’s less conservative influences.

Frary’s problem is that he is always looking to pick a fight. Partisan agitators do not make good congressmen, and the voters of Maine’s 2nd District recognized this. Frary would do well to abandon his oppositional attitude.

In a positively skewed character piece, there is no need for a line touting that “the loathing of LePage’s enemies will be confirmed.” No need to belittle “impeachment-freaks and recall fantasists.”

Conservatives will always have vocal detractors, just as liberals do. Frary misses the point that LePage’s salient problem is not one of policy or philosophy, but mindset.

The governor needs to distance himself from partisan apologists like Frary, and Frary should contemplate the nature of governing if he plans on ever running again.

Michael Emery

South China


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