As I watch the Legislature and governor try to cover the huge budget deficit of nearly $200 million in Augusta – one, by the way, they created – I am struck by the many special interest groups and organizations that grovel and whine that they just might have to get their funding the hard way: earn it.

This thought came to mind; who speaks for the taxpayer?

That is the group pulling the wagon as more and more special interest groups get on and strive to stay on. Where are the spokespersons who speak for us doing the heavy pulling? It certainly isn’t the legislators, for they have shown repeatedly they are the problem. The Democrats for nearly four decades have been tax and spend. The Republicans have been one of compromise and capitulation, so who speaks for those who pay and pay and pay?

A grassroots group called Maine Taxpayers United has been formed and is trying to stop the constant Augusta fix of increased taxation. They can be viewed at www.mainetaxpayersunited.org.

Since no one in Augusta is willing to lessen the load on taxpayers, and apparently listen to the special interests rather than the groans of those pulling the wagon, it is up to those of us in the trenches to rise up and say “enough!”

Remember the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

George A. Fogg, North Yarmouth