Gov. Paul LePage has proposed new legislation to increase the governor’s salary from $70,000 to $150,000 per year. He is correct that Maine pays its governor a very low salary. And, after all, the current governor’s salary cannot be increased while he remains in office, so it appears that only the governors who follow him will benefit.

Seems fair enough, and it may be called for since the governor’s salary has not been raised since 1987.

However, if one takes the time to read other statutes it seems that LePage does benefit if the increase happens. A retired governor receives three-eighths of what the current governor is paid as the former governor’s retirement. Three-eighths of $70,000 is $26,250, while three-eighths of $150,000 is $56,250.

Not a bad increase in LePage’s annual retirement check.

It would not bother me so much if LePage had opposed, rather than supported, the reductions in state employees’ retirement benefits during the economic downturn, even though employees and retirees had been promised those benefits since they became employed with the state.

Perhaps the legislators could spend a little of the fleeting time they have left in this session to think about restoring those retirement benefits before they increase the governor’s.

Anne P. Schaad

Fayette

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