There are many things that can be said about Gov.-elect Paul LePage’s decision to hire his daughter for his office staff.

She isn’t even six months out of college and will work at a pay rate that would be the envy of other new grads in this state, $41,000 per year. For that matter, it would be an appealing salary to many Mainers who have worked their whole lives.

And, yes, she is essentially without job experience. Other than a scant few months working on the campaign, combined with some short stints working in retail and in a restaurant, she has no professional experience at all.

She clearly is not the most qualified person for the job unless, of course, you consider the one highly valued quality of knowing her father’s mind.

Finally, in a period of tight budgets, cutbacks in government services and furlough days, her appointment does seem a little out of touch with the mood of the electorate.

It doesn’t just seem like “business as usual,” but business worse than usual.

On the other hand, LePage supporters say she “earned her stripes” during the campaign and deserves the job.

Clearly, if this is the worst and most controversial decision Paul LePage makes over the next four years, he will be remembered as a miracle worker.

We will only raise one cautionary point at this time, and it’s about a word we have heard repeatedly during this appointment process — loyalty.

More so than any governor we can remember, loyalty seems to have become a key qualification for this administration.

LePage himself has explained several times that he expects reforming Maine state government to be contentious and that the battles ahead will not be for the faint of heart.

The new governor is devoted to changing the way state government works, and much of that agenda no doubt will be vehemently opposed by Democrats and state employees.

So, LePage does need decisive people who can stand up to the pressures that will result from his ambitious agenda.

At the same time, the state does not need a governor surrounded by a group of yes men, yes women and yes daughters.

Loyalty is necessary, but sometimes the most important form of loyalty is an adviser with the courage to tell the boss he’s dead wrong.

In 2005, Doris Kearns Goodwin published a book about another Republican, Abraham Lincoln.

“Team of Rivals” outlines Lincoln’s “political genius” of appointing to his cabinet three men who had run against him for president.

Lincoln felt that conflicting opinions and personalities provide a commander and chief with the widest range of advice and opinions for making decisions.

None of which means that Paul LePage should have appointed Eliot Cutler or Libby Mitchell to his cabinet, nor does it suggest they would have accepted such an appointment.

But a governor needs to hear all views, whether he wants to hear them or not.

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