As I read David Emery’s op-ed piece in Wednesday’s BDN, I wanted to cheer – “Right on, Dave!”

Our state is teetering on the brink. Fiscal and programmatic chaos abounds. Communication between departments and within departments is reportedly broken. Ask anyone who works with the state, for the state and contracts with the state to be honest and you will be told just how out of control Maine state government is.

The recent well-documented and well-publicized fiscal and program chaos in Maine’s largest Department of Health and Human Services says it all. Emery’s platform [as a Republican candidate for governor] of honoring the independent Office of Program Evaluation and Accountability – OPEGA is timely as is his proposal to contract an independent auditor for the state books. Prudent fiscal management is the foundation upon which a bottoms-up reform of Maine government must depend.

Peter Duston

Cherryfield