Gov. Paul LePage said middle managers in Maine state government are “corrupt.”

He also said he has control over only his commissioners. Who are his commissioners? One is Pattie Aho, head of the Department of Environmental Protection. According to her spokesperson, “Pattie had done outstanding acts for the environment.”

According to Nancy Oden, member of Clean Earth Farms and former candidate for governor, 22 years ago Aho, as a lawyer for Pierce Atwood, was on the losing side of a dump fight in Washington County that took three years to settle. Aho’s side spent $3.5 million; Oden’s side spent $75,000.

Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, was a lobbyist for Equafax, a credit rating company and financial analyst company in Georgia. A former Maine state representative, Mayhew was hired with no experience in the fields (health and human services, the budget or appropriations for health and human services).

The big question is did LePage know who these people were before he appointed them as commissioners?

If LePage would like to investigate corruption, how about why the Maine Department of Environmental Protection removed information from its website about the levels of hydrogen sulfide releases at Juniper Ridge Landfill? Or, why the 1998 or 1999 study of an east-west highway was removed from the Department of Transportation’s website?

Might not some people question these actions as corrupt and shouldn’t the governor look into it? If he doesn’t, does that inaction at the management level mean he’s corrupt? If that information isn’t reposted, then there’s the answer.

Douglas Papa

Gardiner