I find it interesting that the governor can and has received support to raise salaries for law enforcement officers, including troopers, game wardens, fire marshals and marine patrol officers and their supervisors, by 12 to 18 percent, yet cannot even gather support to raise the minimum pay for the rank and file citizens. That is just another example of taking care of his own and ignoring the rest of Maine citizens.
I am not saying that those people getting raises don’t deserve them and, as is well known, they are already earning more than the average Mainer. They qualify for a 12 to 18 percent raise? The average worker is left out in the cold, again.
The problem has been brought about by elected officials ignoring raising the minimum wage as needed in the past. Now it is a matter of catching up. Twelve dollars per hour still doesn’t catch folks up with what they should be getting paid and $15 per hour is considered too much. Yet officials still insist on $10 per hour? Compromise is a forgotten word.
It is just wrong for people to work full time and not make enough to meet their needs. Wages have simply not kept up with the cost of living, regardless of the rhetoric.
State representatives are simply not representing the average Maine citizen. I think most people know whom they are representing.
Marc Jalbert, Lewiston
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