Local Republicans gave Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage an enthusiastic reception at a sold-out fundraiser at the 1812 Farm in Bristol Mills Sept. 28.
After a dinner of prime rib and oysters on the half-shell, LePage made a brief speech followed by a lengthy question and answer session.
Dwight Tibbetts, a member of the evening’s band, Downeast Brass, said his brother, a dairy farmer, has been struggling to pay his taxes. Before he left for the event, Tibbetts spoke with his brother. “I asked him, ‘Do you want me to ask [LePage] what he can do for you? He said, ‘No. What can we do for [him]?'”
Later, in an interview, Tibbetts elaborated on the situation. Tibbetts’ brother, Dan, is the last dairy farmer in Windsor, he said, and another brother, Barry, is one of two remaining dairy farmers in Whitefield – the other is Tibbetts’ uncle. “I’d be a farmer if it wasn’t for music,” Tibbetts said.
“Taxes are out of sight,” Tibbetts said. “[Dan] hasn’t paid his taxes in two years… We’re losing our farmers.”
“Are we better off than we were eight years ago?” Tibbetts asked. “We need a businessman, not a politician.”
“I was the piano player at the Blaine House for years,” Tibbetts said, during the Angus King administration. “I’d love to be back there, playing for my man,” he said, gesturing to LePage.
In response to a question about the recent healthcare overhaul, LePage said, if Maine votes in majorities in the legislature, “We can become the 21st state to sue [President Barack] Obama” over the plan.
LePage also discussed the effect of Maine’s healthcare system on employees at Marden’s, the department store chain of which he is the general manager. In the past, over 70 percent of Marden’s employees had health insurance through the company, he said. Now, “It’s down to 29 percent,” he said.
Marden’s employees pay 25 percent of the cost for their health insurance, LePage said. Currently, that cost is more than $100/week for employees who are married or have children.
LePage sidestepped a question about the upcoming casino referendum. “Whatever the outcome of the vote, I will stand behind it as your governor,” he said. “Personally, I’m not a big gambler.”
LePage joked that he was avoiding a firm position on the issue in order to keep peace in his family, as his mother-in-law frequently travels to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
LePage answered questions about education, calling himself a “big, big supporter of homeschooling,” as well as vouchers and charter schools.
As for higher education, LePage spoke in favor of a system that, through collaboration between local high schools and the existing community college system, would allow students to “stay home and after 13 years of education have an Associate’s Degree.”
LePage argued that an extra year at home would allow students to mature before leaving for a four-year college, if they choose to do so. “I went to college right after high school,” LePage said. “Fifty percent of the students I started with, they started in September and were gone by Christmas.”
LePage said his energy policy would focus on reducing ratepayers’ monthly bills. Wind power, he said, “may be the wave of the long-term future, [but] it’s not ready.”
LePage also spoke about his plans to increase transparency in state government, beginning with the institution of Maine-SPAN, a television station, modeled on the C-SPAN networks, broadcasting the workings of Maine government.
“No career politicians need apply” for positions in the LePage administration, LePage said.
“I have no clue who’s going to be on my cabinet,” LePage said. “All I want you to know is, the party’s over. We want pros.”
LePage closed with a warning that, as the race nears its final month, “It’s going to get nasty.”
“Every day the office gets calls,” LePage said. “Is he really going to put a nuclear power plant on Popham Beach?”
In a brief interview after dinner, LePage credited Lincoln County with much of his success thus far. “I love Lincoln County. Some of my strongest support in the whole state is here in Lincoln County,” he said. “I think it’s because I’m a straight talker. I haven’t learned the politician’s way of speaking out of both sides of my mouth.”
The businessmen and women, volunteers and other supporters who made up the audience liked what they heard. “[LePage] seems to relate to the working man,” Scott Hilton, proprietor of Concepts in Cabinetry, said. “He’s someone who’s been through tough times like a lot of us have lately.”
Bob Spear of Nobleboro’s Spear Farms, a legislator for eight years and the Commissioner of Agriculture for six years under King and John Baldacci, said he’s “very heartened” about LePage’s agricultural policies.
“He said he’s going to put a big emphasis on the three f’s – forestry, farming and fishing. He sees a big future there economically,” Spear said. “If he can get the farmers and the loggers and the fishermen on solid footing, the economy will head in the right direction.”
Jim Mueller of Walpole owns a small business and represents a company from China as “their marketing arm in the U.S.,” he said.
Mueller spoke favorably of some of LePage’s ideas, but was critical of placing too much emphasis on the “three f’s.”
“We also need more diversity and more industry in this state to take on some of the burden,” Mueller said. “We want [college graduates] to be able to get a job in something other than the 3 f’s.”