I am writing to make it clear that I do not agree with, nor endorse, recent comments made by Gov. Paul LePage to the effect that state employees are corrupt.

Those comments are untrue, no matter how one defines “corrupt.” The comments are disrespectful and hurtful to the thousands of people who work hard in state government, whether designing or fixing our roads, doing custodial work in our public buildings, testing streams for pollutants, helping tourists and Mainers at state parks, or processing paperwork for business licenses or MaineCare applications.

I appreciate the hard work of the many public employees in House District 79, including Farmingdale, Hallowell and West Gardiner. I know that state workers have made significant financial sacrifices in the past several years. Like employees in the private sector, pensions have been cut and pay increases frozen, not to mention the shutdown days that public employees have endured, which not only cut pay but also made jobs harder. Again, thank you for your work.

Rep. Sharon Treat

House District 79

Hallowell

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