The Sun Journal article (Jan. 18) about the Maine Heritage Policy Center’s list of the Maine State Housing Authority’s vendors showed how foolish the MHPC and LePage administration vendettas against the MSHA and Dale McCormick are.

It should come as no surprise that less than 100 percent of the list is contractors and landlords. Businesses have expenses; some of them are incidental.

The MSHA spokeswoman’s explanation of these vendors was ample. Moreover, she pointed out that the MSHA is “audited eight times a year by various groups, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury and an outside party looks at the books twice a year.”

Gov. Paul LePage and the MHPC believe in smaller government. Yet those audits do not satisfy their level of oversight. Should a new government agency be established for that task, adding to state bureaucracy?

Sen. Margaret Craven is right to assert that the financial status of an agency with a Republican leader wouldn’t be getting the same scrutiny that the McCormick-led MSHA has gotten.

The Maine State Housing Authority does a lot of good for working-class people of Maine, with little state tax money involved. It would be better to think of it as a bank, rather than a governmental department. It sells bonds to private investors, its operating budget is self-funded, and Maine taxpayers are not directly liable for MSHA debt.

MSHA officials should be praised, not made the target of a political witch hunt.

Shaun Riggs, Farmington