Rep. Jeff Gifford’s recent column (Aug. 10) attacking Mike Michaud’s record on manufacturing jobs was out of touch with reality and a little revisionist history.

Like Rep. Gifford, I have spent my life working in the paper mill in Lincoln starting right out of high school. I agree with Gifford that manufacturing jobs are a priority for Maine and that we should elect leaders who will fight to keep these family wage jobs here in Maine

Mike Michaud is that leader. He has not for a single day forgotten where he comes from. He is one of us.

I have watched first-hand as Congressman Michaud has worked every single day in Washington to save our manufacturing jobs and keep our paper mills running. Mike worked on the shop floor at the mill for 29 years, and he remains grounded in who he is as a papermaker to this day.

Here are some examples:

• Along with Republican Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin, Mike created the bipartisan Congressional Paper Caucus to bring attention to the important role the paper industry plays in the economy.

• Mike founded and chaired the House Trade Working Group in the U.S. Congress, educating and leading hundreds of representatives to oppose new free trade deals that are nothing but NAFTA expansions.

• Mike wrote and sponsored “The TRADE Act,” a comprehensive bill that would have reformed our failed trading policies so American workers could compete on a level playing field.

• He led the charge to eliminate the exception for athletic footwear in the rules that military personnel must be clothed head-to-toe in American-made apparel, and hundreds of jobs will be created at companies like New Balance right here in Maine.

Rep. Gifford cited the situation at Great Northern Paper in Millinocket and East Millinocket. The bill that Michaud helped to pass in 2002 was needed at the time, and was a help to the region to keep the mill running. The bill was put into place so the owners could not curtail paper production to sell energy, plain and simple. It helped save jobs in those blue-collar towns.

The recent attack mailer sent by the Maine GOP on this bill was, like Gifford’s column, deceitful and hypocritical. Not only did that bill pass with strong bi-partisan support, but it helped save jobs.

LePage, besides providing great material for Stephen Colbert on a regular basis, blocked efforts to help manufacturing workers. LePage vetoed Buy American legislation that would have created more jobs here in the U.S. He is the one standing in the way of manufacturing job creation. LePage also attacked workers’ rights, gutted care for injured workers, weakened unemployment benefits and vetoed raising the minimum wages.

We need elected officials to remember where they came from. Mike Michaud has never forgotten his roots, and he has a proven record of fighting for us.

Jim Sutherland, Lincoln