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Watching Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate was like being in “Alice in Wonderland.”
Former Gov. Paul LePage, without any apparent irony, tried to make the case that he was someone who could bring people together to make Maine better.
“We need to find a way to start working together and meeting each other more in the middle,” LePage said in his closing remarks at the end of the hour and half long debate, the first among the three candidates for governor.
His assessment of our divisions was spot on, but suggesting that he is the man to bridge these gaps left me scratching my head.
Does LePage, who is seeking an unprecedented third, non-consecutive term as governor, think we have forgotten the eight years that he was governor? The 642 vetoes, more than all the other governors in the previous century combined? His threats to veto every bill sponsored by Democrats? He even vetoed bills sponsored by Republicans.
Does he think we forgot how he threatened a Democratic lawmaker with vulgar slurs? He then said he wished he could have a duel with the lawmaker and said he’d aim his gun at his head.
He also made graphic and offensive remarks about Democratic state Sen. Troy Jackson. He said he wanted to shoot my colleague. He joked about wanting to blow up the Portland Press Herald building.
His behavior was so out of line that he, and Maine, became a national punchline. He was publicly rebuked by members of his own party for his threats and behavior. One of those lawmakers, former state Sen. Roger Katz, now appears in an ad, along with a current and former Republican officeholder, supporting the reelection of Gov. Janet Mills. The trio talk about LePage’s “tantrums, districations, fighting.” Katz said he voted for LePage, but won’t do so now. “It’s just bad behavior that costs Maine,” he says in the ad.
So, when LePage said during the debate, prefaced with the charge that the media has treated him unfairly, that he’s more laid back than we think, I don’t believe it.
Beyond his words, there also are his actions to consider.
LePage refused to issue bonds for senior housing and land conservation that had been approved by Maine voters. He refused to implement Medicaid expansion, also approved by voters, and he vetoed it numerous times after it was passed by lawmakers. The health insurance extension is a major reason Maine had the largest drop in the percentage of people without health insurance in the country over the past two years.
These actions are not the sign of someone who will build bridges and bring Maine together. It is the behavior of a bully who doesn’t care what others think or want.
During Tuesday night’s debate, LePage criticized Mills for a “majority budget” passed without Republicans. He was right that Democratic lawmakers, in March 2021, passed a state budget without Republican support, which Mills then signed into law. But LePage didn’t mention that a year later, Democrats and Republicans worked together to craft a supplemental spending plan that had broad support from both parties. LePage also left out the fact that he presided over a state government shutdown in 2017, the first one in 27 years, when he refused to sign a budget bill that had been negotiated by the Republican Senate president and Democratic House speaker. That is not the sign of working with people and meeting in the middle.
On abortion rights, LePage said he did not understand a question related to fetal viability. Has he not been paying attention to the national debate since June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and many states banned abortion after a certain number of weeks? If he hasn’t been paying attention and doesn’t “have time for abortion,” as he said earlier this year, that’s a nice luxury for a man but a red flag for someone who wants to lead our state. Instead, given LePage’s attendance at pro-life events and previous comments about abortion, his pledge to veto a hypothetical ban on abortions in Maine after 15 weeks seems like more a confused mistatement than a commitment.
We are too divided politically, and we do need to find more middle ground. I just don’t believe the man who spent years demonizing, insulting and threatening those who disagreed with him is the best person to lead such work.
