The managerial incompetence in the Department of Health and Human Services stands to cost Maine taxpayers several hundred million dollars; the Maine Turnpike Authority cannot account for more than $150,000 in gift certificates; welfare and Medicaid costs are running away; and there is a retirement system left severely underfunded by gutless past administrations and Legislatures. Yet, statewide news media choose to spotlight such things as the whoopie pie and a union propaganda mural that is more suited for a union hall than the walls of the Department of Labor.

Before this crisis, did anyone know that mural existed?Is there anyone out there who has viewed it?

Historical? Many people in Maine do not know the name of the current vice president of the United States. How would they know the history of each panel?

Its display at the Labor Department did serve a purpose. At the cost to taxpayers of $60,000 (that’s $1,153.84 per week or $28.28 per hour), it created a philosophical atmosphere that was anti-business.

With a new era in Augusta, the public is more aware of the fiscal damage done by the policies of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. The outrage over the mural is nothing but a smokescreen to divert attention from fiscal problems.

It is time for conservative Democrats, Republicans and the small group of weak-kneed Republicans to join Gov. Paul LePage’s effort to restore fiscal sanity to Maine.

Robert Macdonald, Lewiston