In my previous column (“Mayor Rollins is providing leadership,” March 12) I saluted Augusta Mayor Dave Rollins’ leadership, commended the City Council for their war on drugs, called the city planner “excellent,” and congratulated the mayor for his new committee on economic and workforce development.

However, some of my comments concerning economic development were apparently questioned inside city government, so allow me to expand on this issue with more specificity: *There is no longer any department in Augusta called the Economic Development Department, and no employee called the economic development director.

*City Planner Matt Nazar has no qualifications to act in that capacity.

*A deputy director and associate developer operating under the radar screen in Nazar’s department of Community and Development Services are no substitute for an economic development director.

*Funds from deputy and associate positions could be used to return the city to the organizational chart that worked so well under former economic development directors Belaire, Roundy and Dugay.

*The capitol city needs a designated economic development department and an aggressive, visibly active, outstanding economic development director. Furthermore, no economic development professional should report to a city planner as his boss. It’s almost a conflict of interest, since city planners are often called upon to draw lines, create regulations and establish barriers that can make development more difficult. Augusta’s organization chart is backwards.

As a citywide councilor, I chaired a large government/citizens economic development committee and in 1994 authored the committee’s 26-page “Augusta 2000” Economic Development Report, which outlined the blueprint for much of Augusta’s subsequently successful economic development efforts.

The current Community and Development Services department, introduced by the city manager a couple of years ago, is, I believe, a less effective way to promote economic development than the original structure.

Certainly, at the very least, a discussion is called for on the best approach to take in securing more new, well-paying jobs for Augusta. The mayor’s new committee on economic and workforce development presents that opportunity.

And, in November, Augusta has three council seats up for grabs as highly respected City Manager Bill Bridgeo nears retirement.

On to state politics …

Those who analyze the Maine presidential caucus results as a repudiation of Gov. Paul LePage’s endorsement of Donald Trump are missing it. Ted Cruz is the symbol of the conservative “tea party” movement.

Those who voted for Cruz voted for LePage in previous elections. Cruz actually got the LePage voters with an active Maine organization while Trump had no troops on the ground. On the Democrat side, no one should be surprised by socialist Bernie Sanders’ big win in Maine. After all, Maine Democrats gave Jessie Jackson a strong second-place finish when he ran for president in 1988.

The great divide that exists across the nation is currently mirrored in Maine, where the governor calls for legislation to allow withholding state funding to so-called “sanctuary cities,” which allow benefits to illegals.

Legislative leaders immediately scuttled the bill as “anti-immigrant.” The bill was declared dead on arrival. Assistant House Majority Leader Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, said, “We have no place for these blatantly racist Trump-like maneuvers in Maine.”

And, finally, national politics …

A television star, uniquely unqualified to be the next president of the United States, has captured the ugly mood of America today.

Donald Trump has proven that our political parties are becoming irrelevant. For some time now the unenrolled, independent voters have made up the largest segment of the electorate.

Trump’s positioning to follow Mitt Romney and John McCain as the next presidential nominee of the Republican Party results from two major events. Many traditional Republican voters have abandoned support for those to whom they have formerly given it. They want to punish those whom they feel have failed them.

The other element now added is the surge of new voters, many of whom have never participated before, now registering as Republicans so they can vote for their new hero, the tough guy, the outsider non-politician who “tells it like it is.”

To us in Maine we understand this, we’ve seen it all before through the emergence of Gov. LePage. Maine should serve as the lens of a political laboratory for the nation to understand the Trump appeal. Just ask how it has worked out for us.

If “disgusting Donald” is the Republican’s new hope, and Hillary Clinton isn’t indicted, we get to make an extraordinarily difficult choice for president.

A deeply divided state and nation hurdle towards an unpleasant future.

But in “the resurrection” can still be found eternal hope. Happy Easter!

Don Roberts, a former city councilor and former vice chairman of the Charter Commission in Augusta, is a trustee of the Greater Augusta Utility District.

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