The governor is being criticized about his statement that state government middle managers are “about as corrupt as can be.” Oh, is this new?

Newsflash: I don’t care what level of government you’re speaking of — local, country, state, federal — they all have levels of management that are useless.

It is not just government, but the business community also. They all have a level of what is called the “Peter Principle,” having reached their personal level of mediocrity.

We’re not talking about people working in the trenches every day but, rather, those who by one means or another get paid but don’t have to do any real work.

These are people who, by one means or another, reached a level where they have a title and position, but no real job. Just go to www.maine.gov and pull up an organizational chart for any department and you can find them.

The citizens of Auburn recently saw the city manager fired behind closed doors. Why is that so? Where is the transparency?

The city manager saw that cuts needed to be made and wasn’t able to make them as they involved these people with titles and positions and no real job, treading water until retirement.

Millions of dollars, if not billions, could be saved if these people were either let go or told to retire.

Some retire and come back as consultants, making even more than they did when they “worked.”

This is where our tax money goes.

Alan Elze, Auburn