In his “Jolly Roger” letter of Aug. 23, Joe Makley of West Paris states right out of the gate that the issue is “fraudulent welfare applications,” but then starts talking about the harm done to “an innocent person.” Where’s the innocence?

If individuals are committing a fraudulent act, then they’re not innocent, are they? If a fraudulent act is being committed, then the individuals perpetrating the fraud are the ones creating the scandal, not the individuals reporting it, correct?

If the two civil servants in question had displayed some common sense and integrity, the issue would never have seen the light of day. There was no “harassment” here, just investigative reporting — you know, the kind of thing professional journalists used to do.

If these civil servants wanted to avoid “embarassment or harm…” then they should not have committed what appeared to be fraudulent acts.

Regarding the “moral wrong” done to these “innocent” civil servants, what about the moral wrong any other Department of Health and Human Service employee may have committed at any point in time by giving taxpayer money to people who don’t deserve it?

These two individuals are indeed pawns, but they’re not being manipulated by the side of the board Mr. Makley thinks they are.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center didn’t raise the Jolly Roger, they turned on the Klieg lights, and the only obligation anybody with a properly functioning moral compass has is to make sure those lights continue to scatter the cockroaches.

ErikSandelin, Brunswick