Supporters of Gov. Paul LePage and Rep. Mark Eves, D-North Berwick, are quarreling about Good Will-Hinckley board of directors rescinding the offer to hire Eves as the school’s president. Both sides should shelve their legal papers. Arguably, Good Will-Hinckley’s board is “the skunk in the wood pile.”

Good Will-Hinckley school operates a charter school program. The board hired Eves as president despite Eves’ repeated legislative efforts against Maine charter school interests.

LePage got involved after the board hired Eves, not before. Eves’ charge of “blackmail” against the governor seems a reach. Yet, dictionary definitions can be instructive here.

Assume, for example, directors of the Good Will-Hinckley school were instead members of a nursing home board that employed an administrator who had repeatedly worked in the Legislature against nursing home interests. Reasonable people might be prone to open the dictionary to the word “hypocrite”: “a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.” (Merriam-Webster’s School Dictionary). Generally, board members take oath to advance the purposes of their entity.

Some folk fault LePage’s talk of withholding taxpayers’ money from the school for hiring Eves, though it appears on its face the board was acting against the school’s purposes. And some fault Eves in accepting a high-paying salary as president of the type of entity he’s fought against in Maine’s Legislature.

Little has been said faulting the board for starting this ball rolling. What in heaven’s name was the board thinking in regards to Good Will-Hinckley’s mission as a charter school by heading it with a vocal adversary?

Years ago, close friend Garth Chandler, former assistant attorney general and successful Bangor attorney, was legal counsel for Good Will-Hinckley school and worked fervently for its survival. A straight shooter; Garth led a class of equals. I sense his stance on this issue; what about you?

John Benoit

Manchester