Blaine bully can't take it

In an August 17 welcome back letter addressed to Brunswick School Department staff, Superintendent Paul Perzanoski fired off a vitrolic salvo against Governor Paul LePage.

"Our illustrious Governor has been in the news again, singing the praises of public education," Perzanoski writes, undoubtedly referencing LePage's remarks in July that Maine's education system is "dismal," "failing," and "stagnant."

"I don't care where you go in this country," LePage declared. "If you come from Maine, you're looked down upon."

LePage's argument that Maine schools are failing students has upset many teachers and school administrators – it clearly upset Perzanoski – and rightfully so.

LePage apparently made that statement up. According to an assortment of published and broadcast statements from those in higher education, no student from Maine is looked at any differently than any other student.

"Remediation is on the Governor's mind and I agree, he needs remediation in civility, public speaking, telling the truth, diplomacy and following the law," Perzanoski writes. "I think we should challenge him to take the SAT and then make the results public."

What a great idea.

The letter set off the typical firestorm from the governor's office.

Adrienne Bennett, the governor's spokesperson, called the letter "defamatory" and "wildly inappropriate."

She further suggested that Perzanoski wrongfully "decided that taxpayer dollars were best used to personally attack the governor."

And while we agree – tax payer dollars shouldn't be used for deeply personal attacks on individuals or groups – and while Perzanoski is entitled to his opinions and is free to express them, perhaps a welcome back letter to employees was not the best platform to make his argument, even though it seems he did so as a way of supporting his staff and his district.

On the other hand, maybe we, as taxpayers, deserve a rebate for all the times LePage has used his official capacity and taxpayer-paid salary to launch into an offensive diatribe, like when he told the NAACP to "kiss my butt," or declared middle-management public workers were "corrupt as can be," or, most recently, when he demonized the IRS as the "new Gestapo."

Governor LePage has no problem using his public platform to deride, criticize, debase and insult anyone and anything he doesn't like.

But, when someone deals out the same medicine to the governor, it is "defamatory" and "wildly inappropriate."

Perhaps to use a better example, after Democratic State Senator John Patrick criticized the governor's decision to freeze voter-approved bonds in an email to his constituents, he received a hand-written letter, on official stationary, in which LePage called him "a bald-faced liar and a cheat" and told the senator that "character eludes you."

We can hardly wait to see what livid, off the cuff, unbefitting a governor response Perzanoski finds in his mailbox.

Unfortunately, the governor is incapable of receiving criticism – one gets the feeling he would much prefer to be an autocrat; ruling by decree and gut feeling, surrounded by frightened yes-men and shielded from criticism.

Like all bullies, our governor has no problem dishing it out.

But he can't take it.