LEWISTON, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday fielded some tough questions from a full audience during his Capitol for a Day event at the Green Ladle restaurant.
The toughest question, however, came from one of the people the governor believes he’s trying to help.
The governor parried inquiries from opponents wearing 61-percent stickers, members of the group Maine’s Majority. In doing so, LePage reiterated his administration’s commitment to a new energy policy and his desire to fold quasi-governmental agencies into state government. He also indicated that he was soon going to roll out a modified school-choice proposal.
LePage appeared comfortable when discussing those issues. However, he had more trouble when Lee Myles took the microphone toward the end of the 90-minute question-and-answer session.
Myles, CEO of St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, first thanked the governor for attempting to repay the state’s debt to the hospitals. But Myles had some pointed criticism of LePage’s controversial budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Myles, who runs one of the largest employers in the Lewiston-Auburn area, said the governor’s proposed reductions in Medicaid was a “nuke approach” that would remove health insurance for thousands of Mainers. The result, Myles said, was increased emergency room use that would have a $6 million impact on St. Mary’s.
“I applaud your efforts to address Medicaid,” Myles said. “But this isn’t just a fiscal issue. It’s a moral issue.”
He added, “You didn’t create this crisis, nor did the Republicans or the Democrats.”
LePage told Myles he had no choice; federal Medicaid reimbursement rates were dropping. The state, he said, was broke.
“We’re spending fourth-quarter money and we’re in the third quarter,” LePage said. “Come April 1st, we’re going to run out of money.”
LePage, describing the DHHS budget gap as a “runaway train,” told the audience that if the Legislature didn’t ratify his proposed budget he would be forced to close the state’s schools.
The governor has floated that scenario before, although it’s unclear what authority he has to take such a measure. Nonetheless, the comment illustrates the urgency that the governor has attached to the DHHS budget, by far the most contentious issue he’s faced since taking office last year.
The DHHS cuts were on the mind of the audience, which mostly comprised the governor’s supporters. About a third of attendees were opponents.
The Medicaid cuts dominated the questions. LePage defended his budget, saying his initiative wasn’t a “cutting proposal,” but one that attempted to fix structural issues in the system.
The nature of the DHHS shortfall remains a point of contention between the administration and Democrats, who speculate that the governor has amplified the crisis to advance a political agenda. So far, independent analysts have been unable to determine how much of the gap is one-time and how much is structural.
LePage on Thursday said some Democrats weren’t being truthful when they claimed he was overstating the funding gap. The crisis, he said, was real. He said Democrats’ expansion of Medicaid offerings and eligibility requirements made it so Mainers were shunning private insurance in favor of publicly funded health care.
The governor also repeated the claim that the DHHS budget gap was the result of ballooning enrollment. Democrats, meanwhile, cite the administration’s own analysis of the shortfall, which shows that DHHS officials underbudgeted for some programs and failed to account for the loss of federal funds.
Several audience members asked the governor what his plan was for those who would be left without health insurance.
LePage acknowledged that hospitals would see increased emergency room visits. However, he said he was working on a proposal that would require an individual to register with a primary care physician after his first emergency room visit. He added that changes in the state’s insurance laws would make private insurance more affordable to some of those who would be left without health care if his budget passes.
The governor also defended the tax-cut package he signed into law last session. While critics said that the cuts benefit the wealthy, LePage stressed the package benefited all Mainers, including about 70,000 of the poorest residents in the state.
“I’m proud of [the tax cuts]; I’m not ashamed of it,” he said.
He added, “[The tax cuts] have nothing to do with the structural problems the state is facing now.”
LePage acknowledged that the cuts would be painful. However, he rejected what he described as “emotional arguments about welfare,” which he said, were “inappropriate.”
“We need a safety net that we can depend on,” he said.
The governor also indicated that he favored looking at other reforms for public assistance. He said that currently, personal income is the only eligibility requirement to receive benefits. LePage said an individual’s assets should also be a factor.
The governor’s comments were well-received by the majority of the audience, which often erupted in loud applause.
However, opponents took issue with the governor’s remarks.
Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, said it was no wonder that DHHS can’t give lawmakers a true assessment of the shortfall when “the boss keeps changing his story every day.”
Carey said LePage was attempting “to bully the Legislature” into passing his budget.
“First it was fraud, then it was people flocking to the state to get welfare,” Carey said. “Now he’s holding Maine school students hostage. It’s his timetable, his terms, his numbers.”
LePage, describing the DHHS budget gap as a “runaway train,” told the audience that if the Legislature didn’t ratify his proposed budget he would be forced to close the state’s schools
The Grover Norguist Tax Pledge is a “Runaway Train” and Maine Line Conductor is Paul Lepage!
Really? So you think that the countless social programs that the state has are completely sustainable? Where do you suppose the money for those programs come from?
You need to see the reality that there is no more money.Democrats spent us into oblivion, they made Maine the best welfare state in the nation.And now, the minority cannot afford to support the majority.We are out of money, and cuts need to be made.
Landslide LePage is echoing the old VietNam position of ” we had to destroy the village to save it”.
He looks thirsty.
He has a long history of heartily quenching his thirst at seedy watering holes like the Bob In in Waterville. His handlers may be making him drink secretly now, but that is a very dangerous game.
It shows on his face and in his temperament.
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it
everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
― Groucho Marx
LePage, describing the DHHS budget gap as a “runaway train,” told the audience that if the Legislature didn’t ratify his proposed budget he would be forced to close the state’s schools in May.
Does anyone else see a pattern here? If you don’t give me your Halloween candy I’ll sit on you. If someone doesn’t pay for the Labor Mural (Again!) I’ll keep hiding it on you, and now if you don’t give me my cuts to DHHS (So my friends and I can pick the bones of the poor while taking middle class labor down yet another notch towards poverty) I’ll (With smirk on his face!) close your schools.
Everyone knows how to take care of a big fat stupid bully who thinks he’s more than he is, you punch him square in the nose. Now sure, we can’t literally punch Paul but we can take what little power and authority he has over us away. How? Start emailing your various representatives NOW and tell them you plan to vote for every Democratic candidate running for office this coming November. Then in November, instead of making cowardly threats (Like Mr. LePage) go to the voting booths and wipe away Paul’s current slim majorities in the House and Senate.
Lepage has threatened to close all public schools if he doesn’t get his draconian medicare cuts.
This could be an impeachable offense since the governor has no legal authority to shut down all local schools.
That is exactly what I was thinking. Who does he think he is? This isn’t the dictatorship of LePage. He is playing an awfully underhanded game if he thinks he can hold our school systems hostage, for a budget shortfall that he created himself through massive tax cuts for the wealthy and their estates. I applaud the democrats in our legislature for taking the time to go over this proposal with a fine tooth comb. Under no circumstance should legislators rush while kicking the poor and elderly off of the only form of affordable healthcare and prescription drug assistance they have.
It is not only Democrats who have made the decision to stop and review all of the facts. Republicans control both houses of the legislature so they could have moved the vote on Lepage’s cuts ahead immediately. The fact that this is moving through at a normal pace and requiring considerable fact gathering is 100% proof of Republican leaderships’ support in the Legislature.
Obviously many Republicans also recognize that Lepage is an out of control ignorant arrogant bully.
Good point, I’m glad some of his own colleagues don’t support his proposal, though I am willing to bet more are simply concerned with the likelihood of losing their jobs this Nov.
There are still some moderate sensible Republicans serving Maine in the legislature.
They are from the sane branch of the party and do not get the same amount of attention as the whining victim mentality tea party types, but they are in the process of reclaiming the party.
I agree. We heard from 13 of them at the outset of his reign. This man cannot be reasoned with and is like the 500 pound gorilla in the room. It just gets quiet when he’s around. It’s government by intimidation. Nothing like a common enemy to help both parties work together. I am an independent leaning toward Democrat but I know there are some good Republicans working in Augusta trying to make sense of what he’s doing.
The majority of the tax cuts don’t take place until 2013 the budget shortfall is now. How did a future tax cut cause a current budget shortfall?
That may be true, but if those tax cuts were rescinded, we would have a budget surplus next year of $150 million, and in the second year of $190 million, so we could then use those funds to put towards a growing healthcare debt, and cut less people from the system now.
You all have a strange characterization of a bully. By your standards, I bully my kids when I tell them they have to clean their room, do their schoolwork, help with the dishes or they face consequences. Teachers bully students, by your standards, when they say do homework or face detention. The governor states that action must be taken or there will be consequences, and that is now unversally called “bullying” by the Democrats.
I can just imagine all the Dems sitting in caucus saying: okay the buzzword with LePage is going to be he is a bully. Repeat is as often as you can. ‘Cause everyone hates a bully.
The trouble is, it is not “bullying” to work toward getting your proposals passed in the legislature. It is not bullying to warn people that lack of action will have consequences. It’s called leadership and initiative.
Telling the people of Maine to accept his proposed cuts or he will close down schools is not the same as you telling your offspring to eat their veggies, or a teacher expecting their students to complete their assignments. These are not the same thing.
He is not saying do it or I will close schools. He is saying that schools will be forced to close due to lack of funding from the state because he will have to find the money to pay the DHHS shortfall somewhere. Education is the next big expense for the state to find money. Comments need to be taken in context, even if they are not reported fully as such.
It is not taken out of context. He doesn’t have the ability to make a statement without posing it as a threat. The context is his. If that is not what he meant, he needs to “find his words” in order to express what he meant.
You often don’t understand someone’s comment and take it out of context. [Referring to Ms. Mayhew and her expressing how painful the cuts will be.] You took my comment as something I didn’t say and didn’t mean.
There’s one guy who could have fixed a lot in our state and is waiting in the wings, Eliot Cutler. Don’t just vote for any Democrat, vote for him. He will use intelligence to put Maine back together, not bullying.
Maine is so fortunate to have such a thoughtful leader as Gov. LePage. He has such a great vision of the future well being of all Mainers, not just “let’s promote the advantages of being on welfare” that came from the rich, liberal, elitist of the past.
“Rich liberal elitist of the past,” who developed a philosophy of “Promoting the advantages of being on welfare.” Such a statement could only be coming from someone who really has no idea how the world works or like Mr. LePage is simply mouthing words and phrases that seem to resonate with those among us who don’t really think to deeply about anything or anyone other than themselves.
Think about it Bonny, no really think about it. Who on earth would ever vote for Rich Liberal Elitist to run our government if that was their philosophy? No one right? And we know that the Democrats have always done very well in this state, so you can’t be talking about them. Republicans? Nope, not likely. Then there’s no one fitting that description other than some made-up people you have in your head or heard about on Faux News.
Please don’t bother us with the spiel if like LePage you can’t keep it real.
You asked:
” Who on earth would ever vote for Rich Liberal Elitist to run our government if that was their philosophy?”
Example:
Obama
Thank you for sharing.
If you’re part of the Tea Party, you’re suppose to be drinking the “special” tea, not smoking it.
LOL!!!
You’re kidding right?
Bonny, does the MS in your user name refer to Mississippi? And do you post on the BDN from there? If so, are you originally from Maine? Are you a retiree, “snowbird”, in the military? What is your connection to Maine? I assure you that my questions are sincere.
I don’t usually have time to revisit BDN but today slow. Am a Mainer from Portland area with lot of family there and in Presque Isle. Am currently active duty AF instructor pilot stationed in Mississippi.
Penguin has 3 approaches that he applies to every problem that he encounters:
1. Get angry and make threats
2. Lie
3. Blame someone else, then get angry and make threats.
4. When his lies are exposed; yell, stomp his feet and use profanities.
5. Go have a drink in secret.
6. Clean up the mess made by Baldacci and his administration.
7. Take out as many Democrats as possible while doing the clean up.
Or in public, like when all the new governors were invited to the White House after the election . . .
The drink comment is way over the line. You don’t know whether the governor drinks, in private or otherwise. Disagreeing with his policies is one thing; making personal attacks on his character is entirely uncalled-for. I rarely agreed with former Gov. Baldacci’s policies but I would never engage in character assassination- it is demeaning and cheapens your argument, so kindly refrain soing so.
Lepage was VERY well known for hours long drinking episodes at the Bob-In in Waterville until he got the governor’s nomination and was reeled in by professional handlers.
It was particularly bad during the winter months when his wife moved to Florida for the season and he stayed in Maine.
Quasi governmental agencies are not under the governor’s control by design. It is to keep them from being used as political footballs. Exactly and specifically to avoid just what Lepage wants to do.
The legislature has full power to oversee and control these agencies. They exist by statute and can be changed by statute. I seriously doubt that the legislature will give this proven failure of a governor more power.
Republicans legislative leaders will blame the Democrats, and/or claim they fear retribution when a Democratic governor takes the reigns in 2014, but they will find a way to thwart Lepage and keep him in check. Look for just enough term limited Republicans (or those in districts traditionally Democratic) to join with Democrats to vote to refuse Lepage petulant demands.
Go ahead LIEpage…hold Maine schools hostage…and I hope the legislature DOESN’T give you what the Maine Heritage Policy Center goons tell you that you want…Because I would LOVE to see what happens when you decree that Maine schools are closed…and parents across the state descend on the Gub-nah’s mansion…Go ahead fat boy…I d-a-r-e you…………..I bet you don’t have the guts to do it… chicken…chicken…bock bock bock…chicken….
As one of those parents, I am not so sure I would be on the Mansion doorstep…however, I would definitely attend a meeting with other parents (and you know there would be one) and hopefully there would be a way to handle this through the courts. The governor does not have the authority to deny mine or anyone else’s children of their education.
He is using blackmail .
30% Democrats are trying to inflate their numbers by claiming they represent the 30% of Independents as well?
The 61% ers do not represent 61% of Mainers anymore than the idiots calling themselves the 99% ers represented 99% of the US.
Just a bunch of sour grape Democrats who are angry their not going to get their free stuff anymore.
“Just a bunch of sour grape Democrats who are angry their not going to get their free stuff anymore.”. Did you notice what S. Carolina has done? Last night on [CBS]network news:
In S. Carolina – if you’re collecting unemployment and you refuse a job that pays 90% or more of what your last job paid within a month of starting unemployment = you lose your unemployment. If you’ve collected unemployment for 5 months or more and you refuse *any* job that pays minimum wage or greater you lose your unemployment.
And some think they’ve got it tough here in Maine.
It won’t matter. They’ll just do silly crap in the job interview to make sure they don’t get hired.
I gotta ask, and I’m not being snotty, but everyone wants to rag on people who have always been poor not taking minimum wage jobs, but with the past few years unemployment, do you think there are some white-bred republican engineers, or whatever college degree professionals out there that just won’t take minimum wage jobs because it is beneath them? Just as much as there are 20 something McDonald’s managers that wont hire them because of them being “over qualified”? I wouldn’t hire an engineer to flip burgers, and it would have nothing to do with them personally, it just makes sense not to hire them, they will be out the door tomorrow if they even smell a job in their former profession. So why invest in training when they won’t be there?
In the case you use to demonstrate your point the employer, as you said, would not choose to here the applicant, so they would not have to turn down the job and would not lose their benefits. Pretty simple isn’t it.
That being said any engineer who won’t travel to where the jobs are more available doesn’t deserve his or her degree any longer. You’re racial stereotyping doesn’t help your argument any by the way. There quite a few minority engineers and I work with many of them.
it wasn’t a reference to race, it was a reference to a way of life, upper middle class, too good to work for minimum… never mind. My point was that finding work isn’t as easy as everyone wants to make it seem. The laziness argument is true for some, but not all, just as the “too good to work minimum wage” for those used to be middle class who lost their jobs is true for some. The Gingrich “just work harder” theory doesn’t fly. Not getting a job because you are over qualified has the same results as a poor person not being able to take a minimum wage job cause it wouldn’t even pay for the child care they would need to be able to go to work. I love the “go to where the jobs are” argument too, that one works about as well fro both the poor and the middle-class unemployed. Who is buying houses so the middle classers can move? Where do the poor come up with first, last, and security? Go to where the jobs are isn’t an answer, it’s a slogan for a bumper sticker.
Funny you should say that go to where the jobs are doesn’t work. It worked well in the Great depression and was the secret to survival for many families but now all of a sudden it doesn’t work and we must pay them to sit tight where there are no jobs.
It worked well in the last south north job migration and on another occasion when the reverse happened and people were following the jobs to the south. Now we should pay them to sit for years as their condition becomes hopeless.
It worked so well for some areas of the United States over the last two years that their populations have increased to levels not seen since before the great depression and they actually don’t have any houses left for the people anymore. Here in Maine though it won’t work for them to leave a house which no longer has any real value or sell it for whatever little they can get and move. Here in Maine you are saying they should stay put until when?
Lol Really? The Dust Bowl migration helped during the Depression? I believe it was the introduction of social programs, you know like food stamps, that were a bit more helpful. There was the minor bit of spending that the government did building up for WWII also, that mighta helped some. I mean it was the migration, not a manufacturing boom that did it, how could i be so silly to think otherwise?
You seemed to have skipped the question about how long you pay them to stay where there are no jobs?
Forever?
How about we pass the Transportation Bill that has been battered around for years? Both sides want to fill it with pork, but its a great shot in the arm. I understand it’s not an original idea, it was after all Roosevelt’s but like Obama said, we build the badly needed roads and bridges, and guess what? Folks get to go to work all over the country! From laborers to engineers, from truck drivers to architects. It’s called being proactive, like Roosevelt was, so people don’t have to sit and wait for the 1% “job creators” to create jobs.
We gave them 1 trillion for shovel ready already and they blew that, so your plan is another stimulus while we are already so far in debt we will never get out?
Considering that the American people will not go for another waste of a trillion dollars you are saying that we should pay people to sit forever right?
You’re over bloated republican tea drinkers dug a hole during eight years of shameful rule. Two wars started by lies left Obama with a two trillion dollar debt for the wars alone. Teapublicans have nothing to brag about except for causing this recession and plunging the country into a massive debt.
Obama has validated everything Bush did by adopting 90% of his policies and actions as well as continuing his wars. Not that that is a good thing.
Obama has even upped the stakes by going from torturing enemy combatants and holding them without a trial to murdering american citezans without a trial.
You must be so proud.
You can share the pride for the Bush-Cheney pack of lies that led us into Iraq. Obama concluded this war as promised last November. How could you say this was a continuance? The Afghanistan War is being drawn to a close quicker than originally thought. The assassination of Osama Bin Laden along with the capture of numerous of secret Taliban documents is hastening the drawn down of military operations. Your Bush-Cheney clan dropped the idea of taking out Bin Laden. Obama took a highly calculated risk. He won.
The president stopped torture. That is something your Cheney and his daughter beg for on your Fox propaganda station. There is no evidence to substantiate your other claims, especially that ludicrous proclamation of murdering American citizens without trial.
It’s impossible for teapublicans to appreciate what this man has done. A common distaste has been shared by the teapublicans ever since he stepped into office. They have not the slightest inclination of bi-partisanship. Their goal which you obviously share is to see that this president – a good man – is not re-elected. But why? He has a different color skin.
Are you claiming we did not target two Americans with a drone strike and kill them without any trial to prove their guilt first?
Obama just decided they were guilty of acts against our country based on information by the CIA. Remember them? They are the ones that gave us all that solid info on Iraq nukes.
Do you trust this president and all future ones to decide on their own who gets executed and who doesn’t in the future?
Funny you were so upset with just torture but murder is ok.
Republican corporations manufacture the bulk of their goods overseas. Their offshore headquarters provide them with the best tax dodge anyone could get.
You may want to look at who is getting all the donations from “overseas corporations” this election.
I’m an Independent and I am siding with the Democrats in November…voting AGAINST the GOP until they smarten up and kick the radical tea drinking nut baggers out of their party.
I’ve seen your other posts here. You may not be a registered Democrat but there is nothing conservative or independent about your views. Just not registering with one part or another does not mean you are what everyone considers “independent”.
I believe in the death penalty…that’s conservative.
I despise ALL drugs…that’s conservative.
I support gun rights…that’s conservative.
I wouldn’t get an abortion even if I were raped because, for myself, I view it as murder…that’s conservative.
I don’t like frivolous government spending…that’s conservative. (I don’t find helping the elderly, children, disabled and poor to be frivolous, I find it the right thing to do.)
Doing the right, moral thing is THE most important thing to me…so social justice is at the top of my list in regards to what it most important. That doesn’t make me a Democrat or a liberal. It makes me a compassionate human being who cares about my fellow man. You should try it some time.
I have compassion but charity starts at home, not with the State and Federal Government. By taking from me before I have the ability to take care of my own you create a bad situation for everyone. How much longer must you live in the failed welfare state you have created before you admit your experiment failed?
As for issues:
I am for drug legalization and I am for abortion in some cases but I believe that a “legitimate father” should have an equal say in the life of his child since he will be held equally responsible if the child comes to term.
That being said, I don’t claim I am not conservative just because I can point out one or two hot button topics I don’t agree with.
That is just a political game played by the left so that they can have their cake and eat it too.
“Charity” that starts at home is selfish…and is not charity. I am struggling financially…but I would not hesitate to share what little I have with someone who needed it. I can do without a trip to the movies if it means I can contribute to keeping a child from going to bed hungry. I’ve lived on the other side and I KNOW what it’s like.
And when you see your money used for the child’s food so that the child’s irresponsible mother can then use “her money” for cigs, booze and concert tickets, how does that make you feel?
Charity begins at home can be taken literally and in a silly fashion as you just used it or it can be used to say that the people in a town know best who really needs their charity and who will use it as it was meant. The State and Fed takes our money and throws it out there so it can be wasted insted of being used to improve the lives of “the children” you claim our money is going to.
Funny but when yourside advocates for more of my money you always talk about the children and the elderly and avoid talking about the ways you waste it.
Typical tea party rot: Let them eat cake. You are much akin to Gingrich who believes that black kjds in Harlem should scrub school toilets. Food stamps provide food for the families of men and women forced out of work by the policies of Romney and other teapublicans. Democrats didn’t just invent food stamps. They became a necessity. They have always been under attack by republicans, just like Social Security and Medicare.
Your teapublican manifesto is the creation of a plutocracy – a country strictly for the rich.
Hoo-rah! Let’s sink ’em at the Polls. Enough of this tea party revilement.
What relevance does this have to the story above?
Relevance to Democrats claiming the Represent 61% of Mainers as is reported in the story?
Considering it’s a lie, quite a lot I think.
I believe the 61% is made up of more than just Democrats. It is all that did not vote for LePage. You are the one assuming that Democrats are claiming representation. I personally hope that LePage continues to galvanize the feelings of those other 61%. At least they can have one common goal; making The Governor’s reign only one term.
All that did not vote for LePage does not mean they do not now support LePage or that they belong to rabid group that hates anything our Governor comes up with to fix the mess the Democrats have created here.
A majority of Maine voters chose this man because we needed a change and he is doing what we wished for him to do. We also changed the control of both the house and the senate for the same reason. Dems have 30% of the pop and we have 30% of the pop. We didn’t claim your guy was illegitimate when you put him in with the same margins so the sour grape thing is pretty immature.
I’m not naive enough to believe that, of all the people who voted for someone other than LePage, some do not now support him, nor did I make such a statement. I simply stated that the group’s name is symbolic of the percentage of voters who chose a candidate other than LePage. My question to you now is, are you naive enough to believe that all those voters that made up 39% (which is not a majority) still believe that they made the right choice?
Actually I believe that even more who did not vote for him are on his side now that they have seen what he is doing. Not the any state leftist, that’s for sure, but I know real Independents (the ones who really can’t make their minds up until voting day, I never understood them either) who now say they like what he is doing.
If you listen to just the left he sounds bad but if you listen to just the right he sounds great.
I think the center is still pretty split and if you give them a 3rd choice in the next election I think you may still see the same sort of numbers we saw in the last.
You may be right. We will have to wait until the next election.
Amazing. Here’s a guy threatening to close Maine schools and you claim b y listening a little to the right “he sounds great?”
Another bit of tea party wisdom that echoes Scott Walkerism. He’s being recalled and this guy ought to be, too.
Probably, if he’d begin to act like a governor and govern instead of playing dictator, people might – just might – like an idea he proposes to the Legislature, instead of ramming it down our throats.
His tea party edict is as stale as as the politics that rotted Germany 73 years ago. His co-conspirators for total control of the country are losing ground every day.
LePage got elected as a result of exactly two conditions:
(1) the reactionary vote as a result of the national economic downturn.
(2) the Democratic vote was split between Mitchell and Cutler.
If BOTH of those conditions did not exist, LePage would not have had a chance in the election. Moderate candidates do well in Maine. LePage is not a moderate and never will have majority support here.
Funny but Baldushy got elected with the same numbers.
What was the excuse of the dem split then and will you be able to prevent a 3rd part from splitting the Is off from you radical agenda next time as well?
Keep in mind many of the real Is like what they are seeing here.
What’s funny is that people like you keep bringing up Baldacci’s numbers in 2006 as if there is a resemblance (beyond superficial) to the LePage election. Baldacci won with 38 percent — true. But Barbara Merrill (a Democrat running as an Independent) and Pat LaMarche (Green Party) captured another 31% of the vote.
LePage won because the Democratic vote was split. Baldacci won even though the Democratic vote was split.
It’s too bad that LePage has such extreme politics and is such a polarizing figure. After Baldacci, Maine was due for some change, and respectable moderate Republican could have done some really positive things in the governor’s office. After LePage, I don’t think we’ll see a Republican governor for a while though.
Funny, but I’m thinking the day of the Democrat went away as soon as people started to discover you lied to them.
They really believed they were getting something for nothing.
The sooner you drop your label stamping, you might be able to draw some relevance to the matter at hand – a dictator has taken over the state.
Let’s see no label stamping for me while you label a great guy as a “dictator”?
Funny.
Amen well stated. These Liberals think they represent the majority of the Maine people they do not. These folks are in a fog , they are in major denial of the fiscal problems in Augusta and the economic issues facing our state. These programs should be cut because we just don’t have the money to pay for these wasteful programs anymore. I would go a step further than the Governor give them a deadline to pass this budget or shut state government down for the rest of the year. That will send the message to all of the Liberals they need to get with reality that we can’t be everything to everyone anymore because the taxpayers are broke and have had enough.
The 99 % you call idiots represent a voice of the people who are protesting the inequality of taxes, and the gluttony of major corporations who use slave labor to manufacture their products.
Teapublicans shun the Constitution as it was written a few years back. They now have a tea party interpretation that requires they cater strictly for the rich.
Has anyone proposed another plan yet?
I have a plan…for the legislature to impeach LePage AND his three chins!
I have seen no reasonable alternative proposals brought to the “table” by any Democratic Legislator or any other business owner/operator in recent memory…..all that is done is critizing of the Gov’s proposals without sharing how those who criticize would themselves address the obvious “elephant” in the room…..which is the fact that the state is spending fourth-quarter monies in the third-quarter of the current fiscal budget…..
He’s proud of the tax cuts…Yet now says the state is broke and you poor slobs need to take it on the chin. This is like dad proudly quitting his job and then announcing the mortgage can’t be paid and the kids had better get paper routes…
… and that the kids can no longer go to the doctor even if they are sick or injured.
The state is broke now. Most of those tax cuts don’t take place until 2013.
LePage acknowledged that hospitals would see increased emergency room visits. However, he said he was working on a proposal that would require an individual to register with a primary care physician after his first emergency room visit.
Maybe the state’s governor has a great health plan. Maybe all of the state’s government has no problem finding a wonderful primary care physician. Congratulations to all of you. you are in a vast minority of Maine’s population that not only finds FINDING a primary care physician nearly impossible, but very little for choice. Most primary care physician now require an immediate physical from NEW patients. During those visits from people forced to register with one, they will EXPECT payment. If these folks being cut off Mainecare are now going to the ER and are then forced to sign up with a PRIMARY care physician before they may make another visit to the ER, isnt that a complete contradictory situation for why the “Good Samaritan” law was instituted in the first place? I am not sure this is even legal or constitutional. Once again, Mr. Lepage is confused with the time he is living in. THis is not ancient Rome, he is not KING of Maine, and he has to go through proper procedure before he decides to do something that effects so many. He would do well to remember that.
LePage is not confused…he is a neanderthal!!
If the governor can’t get the elderly, he’ll get the kids. Except the rich kids, of course. They’ll be in private schools. Go get ’em, gov.
I wonder what part of “the state is broke” everyone doesn’t understand?
there is no money. how can you run tons of programs that require money if you don’t have it?
cuts need to be made.
I agree. Well thought-out cuts, not ham-fisted beheadings sought by an under-age bully.
If you are broke and can’t pay your bills is your first action to cut your income?
That’s what Lepage and the legislature have done.
Their actions clearly belie their concern about being “broke”.
the governor of the state of Maine is already the lowest paid governor in the united states.
If that’s what you’re referring to?
No, I am referring to the big tax cuts that reduced revenues where most of the cuts go to the wealthiest Mainers.
. . . and simultaneously the most overpaid, based on effectiveness in office.
Ironic huh?
We are broke now. How have they cut the income? Most of the tax cuts don’t take place until 2013.
Uh huh – and the majority of the “shortfall” doesn’t either.
Really? $120 of the shortfall is in FY 2012 & $101 million in FY 2013. The majority of the tax cuts start in the second half of FY 2013.
If we’re broke, then how damned stupid is Lepage to be handing out millions in tax cuts to the rich and corporate? It’s all part of his BS agenda and all rigged with fake facts and figures.
LePage WANTS to make these cuts. He is a lackey for ALEC. These economic hard times play very nicely into the ALEC playbook of “make government smaller” so that corporations can have free rein to profit and pollute as much as they want and contribute little to nothing to the society and the infrastructure that makes their profit possible.
And if there isn’t yet a crisis, lie and create one — witness LePage exaggerating electricity rates in Maine or the test scores of Maine students or the reason (WELFARE, right, haha) Maine is last on the Forbes list.
America is still a very rich nation. Tell me that we have run out of money so therefore we have no choice but to close schools and kick old people out on the streets and I will call you a heartless liar.
The worst governor this state has ever had to endure. Come election day vote all of his lackeys out of office. Reject his total control ID card agenda. This ain’t Germany 1930. No governor has ever, or, would ever make such a statement that he was going to close schools if 68,000 Maine people didn’t lose their health care plan. Was he wearing a brown shirt in Lewiston?
Wow, when LePage and his ego fall they are going to fall hard. If he isn’t a drunk he sure plays the part real well. Close schools, come on how stupid are we. If Mardens is open the schools will be open.
Perhaps we could get the Marden’s lady to replace the governor.
We would be light years ahead of where we are now.
The bland truth is, if we do not reduce now, it will be shut off completely in the spring, no matter who the messenger is.
All of these problems would be resolved with jobs. You know those 600 jobs at Brunswick would….. oh yeah they’re not coming. We could create jobs by rebuilding infrastructure that benefits everyone but…… the Governor doesn’t want to float bonds. Run it like a business the Republicans say. I didn’t think they had Mardens in mind for their business model.
IMPEACH THE BAS???? you know what i mean.. This is wrong all these threats and bullying.. He cant even get the story straight for why he needs to make these cuts.. Now he is threatening our children’s education whats next to take away our homes and put us all in the streets? How can people like this guy? Why did they even vote for this lying you know what!!!
Threats, threats, threats. Is this how other governor’s acted? Not once did any of them threaten to close schools, tear down murals, insult the president, and kick the NAACP in the teeth with his vitriolic temper flare-ups. He should be our Number One priority for Recall.
….
if he dose close schools dose that include the umaine system an collages that get state money ??
Lepage is nothing but lies. He’s always blathering generalities with ZERO proof. Rescind the tax cuts and and stop pushing the Koch brothers agenda in Maine. The People’s Veto canceled out one stupid Lepage law; we’ll do it again…. and again.
Who is this guy?
Is insatiable appetite for causing the worse case of indigestion each morning, becomes worse with each passing day.
A former salvage and surplus store manager who kicked his way into office promising jobs and even more jobs, as done nothing but threaten, coerce, and damn everything and everybody he sees. Oh, yeah, he hung up a sign “Open For Business” and has been giving us the business for the past year.
I wasn’t around when Maine became a state, but I”ll bet there has never been a governor like this guy, who is more deserving of being known as the worst governor this state has ever had.
He’s not a governor. He’s merely enforcing the ideological goals of the not so great tea party – whatever that is? He’s copying the governor’s of some other states who are steeped in tea party ideology. His right hand tea party man Summers is continually attacking voters’ rights. His and Le Page’s attempts to cut unfavorable votes to their master plan – failed. Thus ended Round One: Blocking registration on Election Day. Now they’re stepping up the mandatory ID card gambit, designed to dissuade the poor and the elderly from voting.
This guy believes in the ultimate power of unilateral executive decisions – a dictator, like Scott Walker in Michigan, currently under siege by citizens armed with a trainload of Recall petitions.
Well, he said the patient would have to register with a primary care physician! Good luck to that one as alot of PCP’s are not taking on new patients. Why doesn’t he start slashing some other departments instead of fixating solely on DHHS? What about DOT, Inland Fisheries, etc.,?