Grateful for Governor Mills’ leadership

As printed originally by the Boothbay Register on August 15, posted with permission of the author.

Dear Editor:

Before Janet Mills took office, I avoided Maine news.  When I did tune in, what I often encountered was a drum beat of scorn for any of us who might need help delivered by a government agency. When Mills took over the leadership in 2019, I felt an enormous sense of relief. And that was before the pandemic struck.

Right out of the gate her administration was faced with rebuilding the network of people that make up Health and Human Services and the Maine CDC. In my experience, no government agency works perfectly. I have participated in railing against what appears to be red tape and complication as often as the next person. I do not want to imagine what it would have been like when Covid struck had these important Maine departments been in the sorry state (stripped of funding and staff) that they were in at the end of the previous administration.

In February of 2019 Governor Mills appointed Jeanne Lambrew commissioner of Health and Human Services. In May 2019 She appointed Dr. Nirav Shah to lead the Maine CDC.  When the pandemic hit, like many others, I was caught in a bewildering panic about what to listen to. Information was all over the map. I began to know that the voices of Jeanne Lambrew and Dr.Nirav Shah came to us truthfully, with humility and humor in the midst of the shifting understanding of how to deal with Covid. Behind the scenes were the actions of Governor Janet Mills. Just take a look at the list of Executive orders out on the Governor’s website to understand how much give and take was required to navigate the worst of our state’s pandemic woes. She has filled her administration with competent and caring people.

I am grateful for Janet Mills and to the people that have come together under her leadership.  I voted for her in 2018. She has my vote again in 2022.

Janet Thompson
Westport Island