Eliot Cutler, the independent candidate in Maine’s gubernatorial race, continued his onslaught against incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s record on economic development and jobs but also charged LePage and Mike Michaud, the Democrat in the race, with abandoning the mill towns of Millinocket and East Millinocket, following the bankruptcy filing of the Great Northern Paper Co. earlier this week.
Michaud, who grew up in the area, serves as Maine’s 2nd U.S. House District representative and is a former employee of Great Northern Paper Co.
Cutler, who visited with residents of the region during a stop at a Millinocket cafe Friday, said he went to the Katahdin region largely because residents there face a situation with few jobs and an approaching winter. More than anything, they needed somebody to listen to their concerns, he said.
Cutler also repeated his assertion that LePage failed to lead or help in any meaningful way, despite the governor’s efforts to work with Cate Street Capital, an investment firm, and the company it formed to run Great Northern’s mills, GNP Holdings LLC.
Cutler, who spent time in the area earlier this year, said he returned Friday after rearranging his schedule, largely because he felt it was the right thing to do.
“I went up there, not so much because I have any answers — I don’t have all the answers or even many of them,” Cutler said. “But because I think (people there) feel incredibly abandoned and isolated, in that they haven’t heard from Michaud. They really haven’t heard from LePage, except LePage just defends this company that went bankrupt.”
Michaud released a statement Friday saying he returned to the region: “As I drove by the mill, it just broke my heart,” he wrote. He went on to commit support to the region, which has been home to him and his family and is where he plans to retire. He blames Congress’ failure to pass trade legislation that protects domestic manufacturing for the latest failure to keep the mill open. Michaud also cited his role in the establishment of a response team when the mill stopped making paper earlier this year and in procuring federal funding for training and employment services.
Cutler said the needs in the region, where unemployment is approaching 30 percent, were “emergent and long-term.”
In February, Great Northern laid off 212 of its 256 employees, throwing the region, which is heavily dependent on the paper industry jobs, into a deeper economic tailspin.
Cutler vowed he would create an economic development plan and personally would lead the effort to revitalize the region’s economy, if elected governor. He said that plan would focus on what people in the region wanted for their community but also would depend on forest products and increased tourism.
Cutler described the region as ripe with potential and said he would, within a week of becoming governor, be “personally leading” an effort to reshape the region’s economy for the long term.
On Friday, David Farmer, a senior campaign adviser to Michaud, accused Cutler of politicizing the misfortunes of people in the region. He said efforts to get new investors were ongoing and said Michaud did not want discourage that.
Farmer said Michaud also was not going to “politicize” the problems in the region, “because … to make it a chess piece in some election strategy is going to scare potential investors off, whose business model does not include getting involved in a gubernatorial election,” Farmer said.
In the past, Cutler has been critical of Cate Street and LePage’s work with the company, including the state’s involvement and financial support in an effort to bring a high-energy torrefied wood pellet mill to the region.
“LePage brought Cate Street in here, and it’s been one of the biggest failures in state history,” Cutler said again Friday.
Cutler added the global economy of today is far different than it was when Maine’s paper mills prospered. He said the message people in the region need to hear is that “other people in Maine and state leaders care.”
“They need attention in planning for an economy that’s different, that’s going to look different in the future than it does today,” Cutler said. “They need leadership, and they need help. I’ve promised to be there, and I will be there.”
Alex Willette, a spokesman for LePage’s campaign, also dismissed Cutler’s statements as attempts to politicize this week’s bankruptcy filing.
“While Eliot Cutler is out and about trying to do the political thing, Gov. LePage is fighting every day to bring Maine’s economy forward,” Willette said.
The Katahdin region’s economy would benefit from lower energy costs — a key statewide focus for LePage — according to Willette.
“Gov. LePage is still speaking with potential buyers of the facility and trying to prevent the Chapter 7 from going completely through, and he won’t give up,” Willette said.