In an article on Dec. 15 describing how Gov. Paul LePage has released more (but not yet all) Land for Maine’s Future money, (“LePage to release $5 million in land bonds”), he was quoted as writing: “My position all along has been that if wealthy landowners and well-funded conservation groups are going to benefit from selling their often over-priced properties to the taxpayer-funded LMF program, then senior citizens and other low-income Mainers should get a commensurate benefit,” and that politicians “will give in to the environmental special interests to the detriment of Maine’s poor every time.”

I’m sad that he is so out of touch with reality, as well as the will of the people he purports to serve. Land purchased with LMF funds becomes available to everyone at no cost in perpetuity. That is a most excellent benefit to low-income Mainers who cannot afford to purchase a coastal estate for themselves — in fact, the whole point of the program.

When LePage characterizes interested sellers and nonprofits who broker the deals and manage the lands as “wealthy” and “well-funded” and the land as “often overpriced,” it sounds like he has a problem with wealth. Except he doesn’t. He loves wealth and continues to champion tax breaks for high-income individuals.

So what’s the problem? If the environmental groups in this state are well-funded, isn’t that a good thing? It means Mainers of all types see the value in preserving and maintaining Maine’s most important asset.

His continued hostility toward environmentalists proves again he does not have Maine’s best interest at heart, no matter how much he stomps and fumes. His trying to create an us/them world with poor Mainers on one side and “environmental special interests” on the other is pure nonsense. I wish he’d just stop it and do his job.

Alfred Lund

Winthrop

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