WATERVILLE, Maine — The three gubernatorial candidates took the stage for the second time in as many days Thursday morning at Thomas College, where Democrat Mike Michaud and Republican Gov. Paul LePage had a heated exchange about bipartisanship and cooperation.
Michaud, who has sought to capitalize on LePage’s high disapproval ratings and reputation as a no-holds-barred fighter, criticized the governor for holding millions of dollars worth of voter-approved bonds hostage until the Legislature bent to his will, and for his record number of vetoes.
“You would not have to veto all those bills you’re vetoing if you worked with the legislative process,” Michaud said.
LePage, though, countered that even with his record of more than 180 vetoes during the most recent two-year legislative session in which Democrats held majorities in both chambers, the Maine Legislature has been far more productive than the U.S. Congress, of which Michaud has been a member for six terms.
“We have a congressman here talking about working across party lines. It’s so easy to work across party lines when you do nothing,” LePage said. He said that in the past two years, the U.S. Congress has passed only 181 of more than 10,000 bills. In Maine, LePage said, 700 bills entered the Legislature and 90 percent became law.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Eliot Cutler said Mainers should be fed up after more than a decade of Democratic and Republican administrations in Augusta. If their rule continues, he said, “the 11-year slide we’re in in our economy is going to continue to the point where our children and our grandchildren will never, ever come home.”
Thursday’s debate, sponsored by the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce, was the second of five. Unlike the first debate in Portland on Wednesday, the candidates had been given the questions in advance. The issues discussed on Thursday were largely the same as those tackled Wednesday, with a few new additions.
The debate moderator, Thomas College President Laurie LaChance, asked whether the candidates, if elected, would lift the 10-school cap on charter schools in Maine. LePage, the fiercest proponent of charter schools in the bunch, said he would.
“The only bad thing about charter schools in the state of Maine is we were the 41st state to do it,” he said.
Michaud said that while some charter schools, such as the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Hinckley, were success stories, he would not lift the cap. “I have concerns about charter schools siphoning money from the public school system,” he said.
Michaud has made funding local schools at 55 percent from state coffers for the first time in decades a key focus of his economic platform. Maine voters in 2004 passed a referendum calling for the state to fund 55 percent of the cost of public K-12 education, but the state has never met that mandate.
Cutler also said he wouldn’t lift the cap — at least until public schools were adequately funded — but said there was a key difference between his stance and Michaud’s.
“I have said to the voters of the state of Maine exactly how I’m going to pay for it,” Cutler said. “Mike has a $300 million plan, and he’s keeping a secret from us — if he knows how to pay for it — how he’s going to pay for it.”
Cutler and Michaud have both published manifestos about the policy agendas they’ll seek to implement if they’re elected governor, and Cutler has relentlessly criticized Michaud for not having specific funding mechanisms outlined for his spending proposals.
Michaud didn’t directly respond to Cutler’s criticism, continuing the trend of ignoring the independent in an effort to marginalize his candidacy. However, he did blast LePage for not having published any policy proposals for Mainers to inspect before the election.
“We have a lot of issues we have to deal with here in the state of Maine, and we need a governor we can be proud of,” Michaud said. “We need a plan. The governor does not have a plan. He hasn’t presented one at all during this campaign.”
LePage has focused his campaign not on what he will do with another four years (that conversation is limited mostly to generalities such as reducing energy costs and reforming welfare), but on his accomplishments as governor. He stuck to that theme Thursday in Waterville.
“My actions will speak for themselves,” he said. “I’ve reduced taxes. I’ve reformed welfare, I’ve created an environment that’s much friendlier to business.”
Two new polls were released Thursday, with disparate results: A CBS/New York Times survey conducted Sept. 20 through Oct. 1 showed Michaud edging LePage, 37-35, with Cutler lagging far behind at 10 percent. Those results were in keeping with most surveys of this race since in the past year.
However, Pan Atlantic SMS of Portland also released results of poll, conducted Sept. 23-29, showing LePage leading Michaud, 39-34, with Cutler up at 20 percent. Cutler and LePage rejoiced, but Democrats dismissed the poll as an outlier.
The candidates will meet again for a third Chamber-affiliated debate on Oct. 15 at the Augusta Civic Center. They will then participate in two televised debates. On Oct. 20, they’ll be live on CBS 13 for a debate co-hosted by the Bangor Daily News. Then, on Oct. 21, they’ll be live on WMTW-TV and WABI-TV.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
