It's official — Maine has an oaf for governor, and a hypocritical one at that.

Paul LePage ran for office on an austerity platform, but among the first things he did once in office was to hire his daughter (with no job experience) to be an aide. He called it an entry-level position (at $41,000 salary). Where in Maine state government is there an entry-level job that even comes close to $41,000?

I guess austerity is just for the rest of us, but not his family.

And there is more. A respected civil rights group requested his presence several times at events it was holding. His reply? "Kiss my butt." His staff asserts it was just his usual directness. They, and he, don't seem to know the difference between being direct, which is good, and being crude, which is not.

Mainers, like the rest of the country, are looking for civility in political discourse. Gov. LePage doesn't seem ready to deliver. He claimed that he had other commitments and, moreover, didn't want to spend time with "special interest groups." The news that evening featured LePage meeting with small business leaders. In what universe would that not be a special group?

One consolation here is that I'm in the majority, given that in the last election 62 percent voted against LePage. So, after all this, I have to say that if his administration were a book, I'd be afraid to turn LePage (sorry, it was there, I had to use it).

David Dawn, Auburn