Why do Maine taxpayers pay all those people in Augusta to sit there and figure out how to tax them more, instead of trying to figure out how to cut spending to take care of the deficit? It happens every year.

It’s amazing how candidates will say all those good things when they are trying to get in office. Once elected, they forget about everything they said. They should practice what they preach.

When the people ask for a cost-of-living raise on the labor rate, state officials set a certain amount and say that people should be able to live on that. Well, I say let those officials get the same amount for sitting in their fancy chairs in Augusta as those holding shovels on the road crews. That would save a lot of money each year. And then see how fast those officials change the labor rate.

On another topic, how one-sided is the new turnpike charge? Just because people don’t buy a pass from the state, they have to pay more? What kind of a ripoff is that?

Must be those people sitting up in Augusta, thinking again.

Freeman Lewis, Lewiston