Paul LePage says in debate Janet Mills was ‘fortunate’ COVID hit
By David Marino Jr., Bangor Daily News Staff
PORTLAND, Maine — Former Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday morning that his successor in office had “been very, very fortunate that COVID came” as he debated Gov. Janet Mills for the second time this week.
“Because with COVID came $15 billion, or nearly $15 billion, from Uncle Joe [Biden],” LePage said to an incredulous look from Mills, referring to a rough total of all the federal money that flowed into the state during the pandemic. “And that’s where the surplus comes from.”
That was one of many moments in which the two sparred over their respective economic records in a debate hosted by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Holiday Inn By The Bay.
Still, the debate was far more civil than Tuesday’s debate, where the two had bitter exchanges over abortion, one of the defining topics of the 2022 election. That issue did not come up in Thursday’s debate, which was almost entirely centered on economic issues, and the two smiled and shook hands at the end.
Mills fired back at LePage several times, noting what she characterized as failures during his tenure in office. She blamed him for the loss of a potential monumental deal with wind energy company Statoil, for example. Statoil had proposed a project off Boothbay Harbor but backed out in 2013 after last-minute changes demanded to the state’s energy policies by LePage.
“Under my predecessor, I think six paper mills closed in the last few years of his tenure,” Mills said. “That hasn’t happened to me, and I don’t want it to happen. I’m working my tail off.”
But LePage accused Mills of weakening Maine’s economy and said she had left prominent Maine industries behind, including lobstering. The debate came one day after a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meeting in Portland that LePage and Mills spoke at in opposition to regulations both see as unfair.
“The governor should be leading the charge,” LePage said. “Not being an intervenor but leading the charge.”
But Mills responded that NOAA had only held the Portland meeting because she demanded they listen to the fishermen.
There were matters on which the two agreed, though solutions differed. LePage said there needed to be more affordable housing in Maine and called for more public transportation in southern Maine. That would allow new Mainers to get to work, he said.
The two also agreed that the state should provide support to municipalities as they deal with homelessness and asylum seekers. For LePage, it was somewhat of a break from his past policy after his administration wrote rules in 2016 that limited state and local aid only to asylum seekers who had submitted time-consuming applications to the federal government.
In answering that question, LePage mentioned how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent around 50 primarily Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard. LePage attended a networking event organized by DeSantis earlier this year, but has been tight-lipped about whether he would support the Republican if he runs for president in 2024.
“If asylum seekers are here, and Joe Biden’s not going to enforce federal immigration law, instead of sending them to Martha’s Vineyard, I want to put them to work,” LePage said, although asylum seekers are barred from working for a long period under a federal law from the 1990s.
The debate was part of a regular “Eggs and Issues” series, though this one drew 500 registered guests. Before the debate began, Brit Vitalius, a real estate broker who chairs the chamber, called on Portlanders to vote “no” on referendums pushed by progressives in the city. Many clapped though others, including more liberal politicians, did not.
Thursday’s debate did not feature independent candidate Sam Hunkler. The next debate between Mills and LePage will be hosted on Oct. 24 by CBS 13 and the Bangor Daily News in the network’s Portland studio. Hunkler has not yet reached 5 percent support in a public poll, the key criterion needed to qualify for the debate.