I was very offended by Gov. John McKernan’s letter to your paper, in which he invites our admiration for his “charity” in returning a week’s pay, as his part of solving the $210 million budget crisis he created.

Jock McKernan and his wife, with their top salaries and investments, earn more than $200,000 a year. I’m sure that must be in the top one-half of 1 percent of incomes in Maine. Most state employees, and most Maine families, struggle to get by on one-tenth of that income — or less.

McKernan may be a nice fellow, but maybe it’s easy to be nice when you’ve had everything handed to you. He obviously doesn’t have the slightest understanding of what it’s like for the overwhelming majority of Maine people.

I don’t have $1,300 to give to Gov. McKernan, but I plan to do my bit to solving the state’s financial mess. I plan to vote him out of office in November. Robert A. Thomas Jr. Bangor