Dear Editor:

Gov. Paul LePage has again conducted himself as an autocrat, without regard to the legislative branch of government, liberally applying his perception of personal truth in defiance of any facts. His latest episode is the attempt to cut off General Assistance to what he calls "illegals." His initial action was to order DHHS to not reimburse local expenditures for these men, women and children. Then, because the larger towns where the situation exists, decided to continue assistance, our dictatorial governor ordered a complete cut-off.

Most of the people involved are not “illegal,” but rather undocumented with pending refugee status petitions. Under the rules, this process that can take six months to two years, does not include authorization to work, and must include a full evidence verified investigation before issuance of the requested refugee status. Anyone who has dealt with immigration authorities in this country knows well that legal representation must be used to navigate the bureaucracy. How are these folks supposed to live while awaiting a decision? They can not receive any federal welfare assistance and must rely on programs such as General Assistance and aid from organizations such as Catholic Charities.

Our governor states he is simply upholding federal law. That is false, since General Assistance does not include federal funds and is solely the province of the states. But as I have learned over the past 3.5 years, LePage will never let facts get in the way of his personal opinions and his "my way or the highway" approach to most issues. As with his personal selection of MaineCare consultants (wasting over $400,000 on a canceled contract), and near constant petty and often vulgar comments on anything and anyone who disagrees with him, LePage continues to harm this state, many of its people, and its reputation. What will occur in this instance is that LePage versus the world will end up in court and after thousands of dollars of wasted money, the decision will most likely be that General Assistance rules is up to the legislature and local governments — not our current one man rule that violates any concept of local control and ignores our representational form of government.

Mike Loewe

Boothbay