Jobs and politics

Even in a friendly state like Maine, politics can play rough with a person’s career. While those who keep quiet in do-nothing jobs stay forever, people who really care about the state, who stick their necks out to make things better, sometimes find they are lucky to escape with their heads — but their jobs are gone.

Such was the case of Charles Mercer, until June the director of external affairs for the Finance Authority of Maine. Mr. Mercer chose to leave FAME several weeks ago; he wasn’t fired. And yet his departure, after a bloody fight in the Legislature over the politically well-connected Maine Education Services, makes him look like the victim of an insider’s hit-and-run accident. That is, unless you consider it ordinary that a man who devoted 14 years of his life to FAME, who drove the length and breadth of the state countless times helping students get grants and loans for college, who was known for his dedication and energy, suddenly decided that he would rather stay home and watch television.

So unusual was his departure that his former boss at FAME, Tim Agnew, sent out a four-page letter describing just how important Mr. Mercer was to the authority and to Maine students. “Charlie Mercer played a vital role in FAME’s expansion into the field of higher education,” Mr. Agnew wrote. “He helped FAME make the transition from promoting financial aid to promoting the importance of higher education. … Charlie knew from his own life experience growing up in Caribou and East Millinocket that higher education was important for reasons that had everything to do with building a brighter future for people and families.”

Coincidentally to Mr. Mercer’s departure, his former place of employment released a study showing that, though there have been improvements, Maine continues to be plagued by low numbers of students going on to college. The numbers are worse, generally, as one goes north.

So here Maine has a problem with getting high-school graduates to go to college and it has a talented, high-energy resident with an intimate knowledge of the state who happens to be an expert at getting students to go to college. He also happens to have gotten a lousy political deal. If the University of Maine System and the Technical College System can’t find a way to employ him to Maine’s advantage, particularly in Northern Maine, they aren’t trying.

What an opportunity.