Readers have had a lot to say about Gov. Paul LePage’s assertion Wednesday night in Orono that an unnamed company in southern Maine might shed 900 jobs largely due to energy costs.
“There’s a big company that hasn’t come out yet. I happen to know about it, and I’m sworn to secrecy until they make a public announcement, but we’re talking 900 jobs in the most prosperous part of our state — down south,” LePage said.
The majority of the commenters were skeptical. With more than 300 comments and counting, we collected some of the best.
[MORE: A community radio station fact-checked a LePage speech. Here’s what it found]
Some questioned whether the news is true
MEPac: It’s sad to say, but my first thought is, “Is he telling the truth, or is this another, ‘I received an email’ scenario”? I guess time will tell.
Shallot: Maybe he thinks that if he announces the closure as a secret, letting Mainers in on the secret and the “reason” (which is bunk), we’ll admire him for trusting us with this information and not see his smelly role in this. Energy costs, how amusingly lame!
Others thought LePage can’t be blamed
BlackRipleyDog: The governor can only work with the tools the Legislature gives him.
But then others disagreed
ShadyLane: Not true at all. All he needs to do is show an ability to be creative with economic initiatives, promote our awesome state, and, I know this is a stretch for him … demonstrate a willingness and ability to partake in productive and effective dialogue.
TimberedChoir: Maine can’t “compete” with the dreadful labor conditions, pollution and subsidies offered overseas, and we shouldn’t have to.
RedFaced1: People are becoming fatigued with angry, belligerent Tea Party talking heads like LePage and Trump. The Tea Party wave of 2010 will certainly make for an interesting footnote in American political history.
Some pointed out other job losses
Canton: More than 900 jobs will be lost statewide if he gets his rate changes for mental service reimbursements. Why would anyone want to do business in Maine with this regime in power?
SnowFox: Our state’s loss of jobs in the paper industry cannot, in fairness, be blamed wholly on the policies of Paul LePage. Our loss of case management, nursing and medical support jobs, on the other hand, has one cause, and one cause only — the economic policies of Paul LePage and his extremist Republican supporters in the Legislature.
Many comments were tongue in cheek
stringah: There’s a big secret that hasn’t come out yet. I know about it, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but I can’t help myself:
LePage is responsible for driving businesses out of the state of Maine, and he’s helpless and powerless to stop it.
Simple as that.
keenov: Wow, I guess the open for business signs aren’t working.
T1metraveler: “I happen to know about it, and I’m sworn to secrecy until they make a public announcement, but we’re talking 900 jobs in the most prosperous part of our state — down south,” LePage said. “Again, it’s about energy costs for that company,” he said.
So what is Don Quixote LePage doing about it, besides tilting at the windmills?
Albert Ross: So now Lepage is preemptively making excuses for his administration’s abject failure to deliver on his campaign promises.
I suppose if the 900 Maine jobs lost doesn’t happen, he will claim it is because he talked them out of it.
jdmur: “I have some secret information that no one knows about!”